Podcast: The Magic of Blueberry Hill in Goshen
March 11, 2023
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On a dirt road in the small town of Goshen is where Tony Clark bought a run-down farm and eventually turned it into an inn and trail center. The Blueberry Hill Inn is a bright yet soothing shade of blue that’s hard to forget.
The same went for Clark, who befriended many guests and visitors over the years and loved sharing stories. Born in the U.K. and raised in France, he found his way to Vermont in the late 1960s, buying the farm with his then-wife Martha in the middle of nowhere in Addison County.
-In the 1970s, Tony Clark turned an old farm into an inn and cross-country ski center in Goshen. He died in March 2022. (courtesy of Britta Clark)
The ski center is now a non-profit organization called the Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center. His daughter, Britta Clark, is the president of the center’s board.
She says her father, who died in March 2022, wasn’t much of a farmer and didn’t start cross-county skiing until later. “He mostly just rang the bell at (ski) races and encouraged other people to ski. But I know he also loved it,” she says.
The inn is still in operation, and the outdoor center includes about 35 km of trails for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, mountain biking, gravel biking, and trail running.
The network of trails, built mainly by Clark, played a large part in the New England ski racing scene in the 1970s and 1980s. Today the trail center relies on donations and volunteers to keep the trails accessible to the public year-round.
One of his most significant legacies was helping to establish the 16,000-acre Moosalamoo National Recreation Area in 2007.
“He loved these trails so much. He thought this was an undiscovered, underutilized, intensely beautiful place,” his daughter says. “He was definitely a man who wanted to leave his mark.”
-Britta Clark with her father Tony Clark, who died in 2022. (courtesy of Britta Clark).
Happy Vermont Podcast
Listen to Britta Clark share memories about growing up at the Blueberry Hill Inn, her father’s legacy, and life in Goshen.
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-Snowshoeing at the Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center in Goshen.
STR
Posted at 00:08h, 15 Marchwonderful podcast and story and interview. thank you…
Erica
Posted at 08:10h, 15 MarchThank you so much, Suzie. I’m glad you enjoyed the episode/story. -Erica
Maya Dines
Posted at 22:05h, 21 MarchErica, congratulations on your 50th podcast. What an incredible and so dear to my heart and soul story to choose for this milestone. I had the pleasure of doing an internship at Blueberryhill inn back in 1999 and then in 2002. Tony was an extraordinary man. He taught me so much and i will forever cherrish the memories with him. While in Vermont I learnt what it takes to run an inn, how to plan and run a wedding for hundreds of people, how to build a lavish cheese table with imported from Europe cheeses, what hospitality was. He was not afraid to cook breakfast, to make bagged lunches and dinner for his guests. He was the most amazing host one would ever meet. He loved the Inn to Inn hiking program and BBH was a big part of it. He showed me all of these trails that Britta talked about. He was extremely passionate about them and maintaining them. Tony or TC as we called him also taught me cross country skiing. He loved travelling, preserving the trails for the future generations and i had the pleasure to hear him lecturing students at a few of the community colleges in VT. I live in Canada now but I hope to visit Vermont one day and show the inn, and the Ski center to my family.
Erica
Posted at 09:18h, 22 MarchHi Maya – thank you so much for your kind words. I know how beloved Tony was, and Britta was incredibly generous to share his story. I’m glad you had such a special experience on the trails and at the inn with TC 🙂 It’s a wonderful, unforgettable place, and he made it that way. Thanks for listening to the episode! -Erica