The Stowe Village Historic District encompasses most of the village center of

Stowe, Vermont Stowe is a town in Lamoille County, Vermont, United States. The population was 5,223 at the 2020 census. The town lies on Vermont Routes 108 and 100. It is nicknamed "The Ski Capital of the East" and is home to Stowe Mountain Resort, a ski faci ...

. Since the 19th century, the village has been one of Vermont's major resort centers, and its center is architecturally reflective of this history. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1978.

Description and history

The town of Stowe was settled in the early 19th century, with the first building in what is now village center a tavern built in 1811. This area was better suited for both industry and the growth of a village than older settlements to the north and south, and it was recognized in the 1840s as the town center by the placement of the post office. The tourist trade arose early in the town, with visitors drawn to the mountain scenery, promoted by W.H.H. Bingham, builder of the large Mount Mansfield Hotel in 1864 (burned down in 1889), the Summit Hotel on

Mount Mansfield Mount Mansfield is the highest mountain in Vermont with a summit that peaks at above sea level. The summit is located within the town of Underhill, Vermont, Underhill in Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County; the ridgeline, including som ...

, and roads to Mount Mansfield and

Smugglers Notch Smugglers Notch (alternatively Smugglers' or Smuggler's) is a mountain pass in Lamoille County, Vermont. The notch separates Mount Mansfield, the highest peak of the Green Mountains, from Spruce Peak and the Sterling Range. Most of the notch is ...

. The result of this growth in the 19th century is a streetscape diverse in 19th-century architecture. with The historic district is roughly centered on the three-way junction of

Vermont Route 100 Vermont Route 100 (VT 100) is a north–south state highway in Vermont in the United States. Running through the center of the state, it travels nearly the entire length of Vermont and is long. VT 100 is the state's longest numbere ...

(Main Street to the south and Maple Street to the northeast) and

Vermont Route 108 Vermont Route 108 (VT 108) is a north–south state highway in northern Vermont, United States. Its southern terminus is at VT 100 in Stowe, and its northern terminus is at the Canada–US border in Franklin, where it continues in ...

(Mountain Road), which leads to the

Stowe Mountain Resort Stowe Mountain Resort is a ski resort in the northeastern United States, near the town of Stowe in northern Vermont, comprising two separate mountains: Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak. The lift-served vertical drop of Mount Mansfield is , the f ...

. It extends from Palisades Street in the south to just beyond Cemetery Road in the northeast, and along Mountain Road roughly to where it bends away from the West Branch Little River. It further includes properties on side streets just south of Main Street. The architecture of the village is characterized by wood-frame construction in a diversity of popular 19th-century styles, with a uniformity of setback and scale in many areas. There are some brick houses, and the 1833 Green Mountain Inn is also a prominent example of brick Federal architecture. Civic buildings of note include both the town's 1818 and 1902 town halls (the latter still in use for that purpose).

References

{{NRHP in Lamoille County, Vermont Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont National Register of Historic Places in Lamoille County, Vermont Stowe, Vermont Historic districts in Lamoille County, Vermont

Description and history

See also

References