Recollections From a Reader….

The Summer 2008 issue of Ridge Lines included Daan Zwick’s recollections of hiking in the Mt. Mansfield area while he was caretaker at Taft Lodge in 1940. Sylvia Holden of Burlington wrote to say that she enjoyed the piece and the memories it brought back. The nine-year-old “Binney” whom Daan mentioned was Sylvia’s cousin, Norman Snow. Thanks to mentors like Daan, Norman went on to become an executive in the Boy Scouts in Maine. He later settled in the Rochester NY area, near where Daan now lives.
Sylvia wrote, “I also remember the Summit House and how welcoming it was after a long hike from Taylor or Butler Lodge”. The Summit House was built in 1858 under Mt. Mansfield’s Nose. For almost a century, it was a destination for hikers on Vermont’s highest mountain. Summit House closed in 1957 and has since been torn down.