6-1-2014 Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe, VT

6-1-2014 Stowe,VT

The drive north from Bridgeport is beautiful once you are out of the city. You do have to watch out at the caution signs, though, "moose crossing" and "bear crossing," but they weren't up yet, I guess.  We can't tell you much about Bridgeport because we weren't in the city but overnight.  This part of the trip is an exercise in mileage efficiency.  Our intention is to visit the VT and ME state capitol buildings in a rather short period of time.  Since the VT capitol is not open on Sunday, we drove on a bit (~20 mi.) to Stowe.  Here, our room for the night was at the Trapp Family Lodge.  Yes, the genuine article von Trapp family as in the movie, "The Sound of Music."

Trapp Family Lodge Stowe, VT 

That Maria left the nunnery to marry Baron Georg von Trapp, a widower with 7 children, and they left Austria is about as close to actual fact as the movie gets.  The Baron was fiercely opposed to the Nazi ideology and instead of being conscripted into their military, the family now numbering 11, chose to migrate to the USA.  That was in 1938. 

Maria and Capt. Georg von Trapp

Originally, their intention was to take up farming but they found that touring about the world six months a year as a singing troupe was easier.  Because of Maria, each child was required to know an instrument.  They all had a musical ear and a priest became the composer and director of the Trapp Family Singers.

In 1942, the current Trapp property in Stowe was settled by the family and farming became a lifestyle while singing was their profession.  Maria gave birth to their third and last child, Johannes, in Philadelphia, bringing the total number of children up to 10 when they arrived on the 2,500 acres.  They took to farming the land and with the visits from family and friends, the lodge began to emerge.  The Trapps had and still have a mentality to be completely independent, what is known as "farm-to-table" and to that end, hardy Scottish Highlander cattle,

Scottish highlander cattle

pigs, chickens, vegetable gardens and fruit orchards are nurtured, and where would a bunch of Krauts be without a brewery? The cattle are long-haired and the babies are cute as a bug's ear.  It is very likely that one of them is next week's wiener schnitzel on the hoof.  I didn't know that "farm-to table" was legal.  I thought the feds and the FDA and the USDA had to stick their noses into everything.  Not in Vermont, apparently.  When we asked about this, a lady employee asked, "Where are you from, anyway?"  "Obviously, we're from a less free country than you."

Maria's grave                             Capt. von Trapp's grave

Baroness Maria was 25 years younger than Baron Georg and he didn't live long.  In 1947 he died at the age of 67 of lung cancer and is buried, as is the rest of the family, in the family graveyard on the Lodge property.  Maria died in 1987 at the age of 82 outliving him by 40 years.  Their daughter Maria died at the age of 99 last February.  Johannes is the last child living and he is the President of the lodge.  We had the honor of meeting him in the bar and he grins ear to ear.  We can tell that Johannes' Trapp Family Lodge and farm in the beautiful green Vermont mountains are alive with the sound of music.

The lodge, rooms and restaurant are perfectly appointed to the last detail. 

While claiming to be casual, the tables in the dining room are draped with pure white linens and there are crystal vases of fresh flowers and candles in silver holders everywhere.  Wiener schnitzel and sauerbraten were on our minds and for dessert, apfel strudel and black forest cake.  We ordered the desserts "to go" with a cup of delicious hot coffee as our next day breakfast.  Then, we said, "auf wiedersehen" to the von Trapp family and hit the road.  Major drawback:  we couldn't stay for a month.