Podcast: The Magic of Blueberry Hill in Goshen
March 11, 2023
Listen to the Podcast
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.
Support Happy Vermont on Patreon
-Snowshoeing at the Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center in Goshen.