Stonehurst Before: The Warming Hut aka Tool Shed when this property was a southern Vermont ski area called Pine Top. Today Stonehurst has been transformed into a fine furniture and art gallery showcasing the best of Vermont's handmade made home decor items.Here's a fun set of before and after pictures of Stonehurst, taken at the "Warming Hut". I guess this before snapshot must have been taken around 1950-1960 when Stonehurst was "Pine Top" a local ski area. At that time, before mega ski resorts came along, about 2/3 of the towns in Vermont had their own local ski area. Vernon's Pine Top had 3 rope tows and prior to that a couple "horse tows" (isn't that awesome-- I'm trying to find a picture of that!).
Pine Top's "tool shed" aka "warming hut" was located behind the Stonehurst house we currently occupy as Vermont Woods Studios Fine Furniture. Inside the shed there was room for a few tables and a grill where our friend, Chris Howe cooked hamburgers for hungry skiers.
Our friend, Chris Howe at the moss-covered stone foundation that use to be Pine Top's Warming Hut. She's remembering her job as a cook, grilling hamburgers for hungry skiers.Chris visited us a couple weeks ago and reminisced a bit. She and I walked out to the stone foundation where the warming hut used to be. It's now covered with beautiful green moss. That's Chris sitting at the picnic table, looking over the hills that she and her family used to ski through to get home after work.
What fun! Customers coming to Stonehurst to shop for fine furniture in the winter should pack their cross country skis and maybe a bottle of Bailey's or a hot toddy. Then we'll give Chris a call and see if we can't tap a few more of those memories of Pine Top's heyday.
