Quechee Lake Resort Real Estate - Area Information for Quechee Homes For Sale in Vermont


	Quechee Lake Resort Houses for Sale

Quechee Lake Resort

Some 13,000 years ago, the Quechee area was covered by a glacier. As the glacier receded, the melting waters slow and steadily cut away the bedrock ridge creating Vermont's most spectacular natural wonder -- the Quechee Gorge. While the gorge continues to provide residents and visitors with spectacular beauty, it made for a huge obstacle for early settlers. For more than 100 years, the gorge separated the town Quechee from its New Hampshire neighbors in the Upper Connecticut River Valley.

During the 1800s, the area's mills thrived gaining particular attention for fabric. J.C. Parker and Co. (the property now occupied by Simon Pearce Glass) developed a fabric ("shoddy") made of new wool and reworked soft rags, gaining a reputation for producing some of the country's finest white baby flannel. Another woolen mill, Dewey and Company, was establishing its reputation providing fabric for making baseball uniforms for the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. More than 64 buildings sprang up around this company creating the village of Dewey's Mills, just downstream from Quechee Village.

In 1875, the Woodstock Railroad Company built a bridge (an engineering feat of its day) to span the Quechee Gorge. For the next 50 years, the train traveled back and forth between White River Junction and Woodstock, Vermont carrying people and commodities from the mill to those in the Upper Valley and beyond. Progress brought the automobile resulting in the train's final run in 1933. The rail bed was converted to highway use. Today, it is Vermont's only direct east/ west roadway.

In the 1950s, due to shortage of an affordable labor force and the enticement of the South and its less expensive labor force, the mills started closing. Quechee lost the economic base that had existed for almost 200 years. The once booming community became a village of abandoned buildings with broken windows, fallen roofs, brush and bramble covered walls and crumbling foundations.

To add to the decline of Quechee Village, a project to address flooding in the lower Connecticut River was initiated in 1962. As a result of this project, the village of Dewey's Mills and the mill itself ceased to exist. In its place, the Army Corps of Engineers built a causeway between Dewey's Mills Pond and the Ottauquechee River which today provides residents with a walking trail and wonderful wildlife sanctuary.

In the late 1960s, a group of investors arrived in the area looking for that quintessential Vermont land to build a four-season resort community. The result is Quechee Lakes -- a majestic 5,200-acre community with two private championship golf courses and an active club lifestyle. The resort features golf, skiing, tennis, a clubhouse and multi-level restaurant. Housing includes townhouse-style condominiums and mountain homes with new construction available on the golf course and model homes for the resort.

Each June, the highways, byways, hills and valleys of the area fill with residents and visitors from near and far as part of the annual Quechee Hot Air Balloon Festival. Visitors fill lodging and dining facilities in a 40-mile radius and there is a waiting list for balloonists wishing to attend. Entertainment groups vie for inclusion and there is a wide assortment of events for the entire family.

A major added ingredient with true Vermont flavor is the craft show. Scores of local vendors and artisans attend the Festival with displays of jewelry, woodworking, stained glass, paintings and photography, quilts, specialty foods, clothing, ceramics, dried flowers and herbs and much more. A classic car show is also held as part of the event.

With its shops, restaurants, restored homes and wealth of annual events, the village of Quechee is just a five-minute drive from the Quechee Lakes Resort. Together the communities truly represent the best Vermont has to offer.