When asked out of context, Dave Courtney doesn’t recall the exact year he started working at the Quechee Ski Hill, but he does know that he recently retired in 2018. However, I’m not meeting with Dave to talk about his long, Quechee-based ski career. Dave and I are meeting to talk specifically about an exciting offshoot of his many years on the hill. Dave’s son, Will Courtney, who skied the Quechee Hill with his dad since he was three years old, was hired this year to be a member of the US Alpine Ski Racing Team as an assistant coach and strength and conditioning coach.… Read More

Strolling around the woods, contemplating my life as older people are inclined to do, hoping not to get lost in my own backyard, I asked myself, “Self, what talent would you have liked to have had which you are lacking?” It soon began to grow dark as the list grew longer and longer. I made my way home before Kim called the police but, you know something, I believe that the talent I lack most in my make-up is the ability to competently play a musical instrument. I’d also like to be much better at math, but music intrigues me more because I still naively think I have a chance at it: like golf.… Read More

The modern roads and bridges that crisscross the Quechee/Hartford/Woodstock area allow visitors and residents easy access to almost anywhere they wish to go. Want to go to dinner in Woodstock? Maybe attend the Quechee Balloon Festival? Or get to Northern Stage in WRJ for a performance? If you allow a bit of time to find a parking spot, or compensate for possible inclement weather, the actual travel is usually fairly easy and pleasant. Of course, being so familiar with quick travel, minor inconveniences get us frustrated.

Imagine the frustration, then, that might have occurred with those making trips throughout the area 100 or more years ago.… Read More

Clay Hillgrove is a welcoming and very familiar face to the members of the Quechee Club, who relied on his steady hand to pour cocktails and his knowledge of wines to stock member lockers. After 15 years at the Club, he has taken his expertise and experience to the craft beer, wine and spirits business at Woodstock Beverage on Route 4.

“My claim to fame, I guess, is my BMW motorcycle. We’ve been to every town in the state,” Hillgrove says. “And it happened by accident because I was trying to drive on every road on the highway map. I’ve got about three left to go up by the Canadian border.… Read More

Before the proverbial rooster crows, the dedicated and hardworking staff at Sugarbush Farm in Quechee are already prepping, feeding, displaying, haying, organizing, tapping, waxing, smoking, shipping… in order to open the doors and warmly greet the 100-500 visitors they welcome each day. The daily tasks on this 550-acre hillside farm are strenuous, time consuming, and some may say tedious, but the consistent hard work and positive attitudes have kept the farm running since 1945! The 2nd and 3rd generation Luce family members, including matriarch Betsy and husband Larry, and their sons, Ralph and Jeff, are leading by example for the next generation to carry on this time-honored legacy and way-of-life..… Read More

How does the dedicated lifelong artist keep creating art when their brain is losing gray matter? A recent exhibit at ArtisTree Gallery in
South Pomfret, called TRIO: Exploring Dementia provided a glimpse into this process. Three Upper Valley artists who had established themselves professionally with their vast array of works in many mediums were represented in this exhibit. All had some form of dementia. All were women and all recently passed away. A representation of their best works hung from the gallery walls, an impressive display of talent. Their later works told the story of decline in their ability to fully use the skills that were so vital in their lives as professional artists.… Read More

I was not a hiker. I was not a religious person. I was not trying to ‘find myself’ (although some might have thought I was lost).

Why did I walk the 500-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage….over and over again? Some might wonder. Some might question my sanity. But after walking six ‘Caminos’ in six years, most of my friends and family now FINALLY understand my obsession. There are many, many routes of the Camino de Santiago where ‘pilgrims’ have been walking since the 9th century. All routes (from origins all over Europe) end in Santiago, Spain, where legend has it that the remains of St.… Read More

Agriculture and farming has a long tradition in the Upper Valley and throughout Vermont. Until tourism became an economic engine for the area and the state, farming was the major industry. Even in places such as Hartford, Quechee, and Woodstock – where mills, transportation, and trains drove the economy – farming played a critical role in the lives and survival of early Vermonters. Orchards, grain fields, and livestock once covered the terrain and still play a major role in the lives of the residents and visitors to the Green Mountain State.

In his book The Natural and Political History of the State of Vermont, founding father of Vermont, Ira Allen, accurately describes the state’s people, and farmers, and their ingenuity in the following manner: “I am really at a loss in the classification of the inhabitants – they are all farmers, and again every farmer is a mechanic in some line or another, as inclination leads or necessity requires.… Read More

VINS New Canopy Walk Designed to Delight

Vermont Institute of Natural Science is expanding – upwards! Over the past few years, the local environmental education center has undertaken a project to design and construct a 900-foot-long canopy walk, and the project is expected to be ready for its grand opening in October.

Those who know VINS are no stranger to the flora and fauna at the center’s 47-acre campus, and may have even experienced them up close along the nature trails. Soon, though, visitors will be able to experience the forest from a new perspective: one that’s fifty feet or more above the ground.… Read More

The Prouty is billed as the largest charity challenge north of the city of Boston, and anyone in the Upper Valley witnessing the event, and the participants and volunteers taking part during The Prouty weekend in July, would not doubt that statement. Well over 3,000 bicyclists, walkers, rowers, and golfers take part in order to raise money for research, and services, for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at DHMC. One reason the event is so popular is that 90% of money raised stays local, and funds the work done at DHMC.

One of those over 3,000 participants is Quechee’s own Jenny Gelfan.… Read More