Memories of a Mountain Top Hotel in Stowe
May 10, 2025

Hotels once crowned some of Vermont’s most iconic peaks—Mount Mansfield, Camel’s Hump, Snake Mountain and Mount Equinox.

Mary Skelton spent eight childhood summers atop Mount Mansfield, where her father, Clement Curtis, ran the Mount Mansfield Summit Hotel and served as the vacation getaway’s postmaster.

“It was magical,” she recalls. “It was a wonderful place to grow up.”

The hotel operated for 100 years before her father was hired to burn it down.

-Skelton with her brother and parents at the Mountain Mansfield Summit Hotel. Right photo: Skelton and her parents on Mount Mansfield. Courtesy / Mary Skelton

The hotel sat just below the “Nose” of Mount Mansfield—part of a ridgeline that, from the east, resembles a reclining face, with features like the Forehead, Nose, Chin and Adam’s Apple.

A view of the hotel on Mount Mansfield. Courtesy / Mary Skelton

“You could holler up at the Nose and get this amazing echo,” Skelton says.

Her father, a former 10th Mountain Division ski instructor in WWII, was hired by Austrian ski legend Sepp Ruschp to teach at Stowe and manage the summit hotel during the summer.

“My dad did everything,” Skelton says. “If the cook was drunk or didn’t show up, he stepped in. Later he told me it was the worst job he ever had—he was never home and always doing something at the hotel.”

Listen to the podcast episode

-A winter perspective of the Mount Mansfield Summit Hotel. Courtesy / Mary Skelton

The Mount Mansfield Summit Hotel opened in 1858, and from 1948 to 1956, Skelton spent her childhood summers there with her family. A few years later, it was shuttered and left to decay—until 1964, when it was quietly destroyed in a top-secret controlled burn.

Only later did Skelton learn that her father was the one hired to burn it down.

“He was hired for $3,000 to get rid of it,” Skelton says. “He did it under the cover of fog and rain, and that was the end of it. There’s no trace of it now.”

Subscribe to Happy Vermont 

-Hotel guests on Mount Mansfield. Courtesy / Mary Skelton

Happy Vermont Podcast

In this Happy Vermont podcast episode, Skelton talks about her summers at the Mount Mansfield Summit Hotel, the hotel’s demise and how the experience shaped her as a person.

Listen to the podcast episode

-The Notch on Route 108 is now open for the season. 

While You’re in Stowe

The Notch is Open
The Notch on Route 108 between Stowe and Cambridge is officially open for the season. This popular scenic route offers access to trails and Sterling Pond, the highest trout pond in the state.

Stowe Auto Toll Road Opens May 24
The Stowe Auto Toll Road—once a dirt road used to access the Mount Mansfield Summit Hotel—opens for the season on May 24, 2025. The road is open daily through October from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Price is $35 per vehicle and $13 per passenger. Visit stowe.com.

Stowe Events

• Stowe Farmers’ Market – every Sunday, May 11-Oct. 19
• Stowe Hot Air Ballon Festival – June 27-28
• Old Fashioned Fourth of July – July 4
• Gardens of Stowe – July 12
• Stowe Jazz Festival – July 18-20
• Music in the Meadow – July and August
• Vermont Antique & Classic Car Meet – August 8-10
• Race to the Top of Vermont– August 24

Become a Happy Vermont Patreon Member

Where in Vermont? Test Your Knowledge of Vermont Geography

The answer to last week’s quiz is Jamaica.

Winners
Suzie Reider
Kristina Stykos
Alan Phillips
Lisa Costa
Lou Cecere, Jr.
David Ertel

Can you name the town in the photo below? Share your answer by commenting below (be sure to give your name) or email me at [email protected].

Winners will be mentioned in my next email. Thanks for playing!

Subscribe to Happy Vermont