The New England Ski Museum

Nestled at the base of Cannon Mountain, just down the way from the longtime home of New Hampshire’s Old Man of the Mountain rock formation and the slightly further Flume Gorge, a converted maintenance garage offers an ideal educational escape from the slopes. The New England Ski Museum is small, easy to take in on a single visit, but deep and varied enough to keep you coming back, too.

On the day of my visit, the weather was clear and cold, with temperatures hovering around zero. Turning up my collar against the wind, I hustled up the pathway, ducking into a small entry hall connecting the main building to one of Cannon’s original tram cars, now enjoying retirement as part of the permanent structure.

Inside, I was greeted by museum shop manager Linda Bradshaw and executive director Jeff Leich, who took turns showing me around and pointing out the collection’s many highlights, ranging from the book containing the first known printed illustrations of skiers to the Olympic medals of champion New Hampshire alpine skier Bode Miller, who basically grew up on Cannon’s slopes.

When skiing came to the U.S. from Europe in the late 1800s, it took fast root in the mountains of New England. As a result, many of the traditions and innovations that we now take for granted originated on our slopes.

 New England’s place in the modernization of skiing is honored in the museum’s permanent exhibit, “From the First Tracks to the Fall Line: 8,000 Years of Skiing,” which traces skiing’s development from its prehistoric origins and Northern European utilitarian uses through its emergence as the recreational pastime and competitive sport we know today.

In addition to the permanent display, a second exhibit rotates annually, highlighting materials in the the museum’s vast collection, which includes what may be the largest archive of ski photographs in the country. The current exhibit is “Green Mountain, White Gold: Origins of Vermont Skiing,” on display throughout the 2015 ski season.

The museum proper occupies one large room, with an attached screening room (the Lowell Thomas Theater, so named because the Thomas family donated the funds to purchase the museum’s first A.V. equipment). Much of the museum’s vast archive is housed in a separate facility not far away.

While I was there, the tram lodge next to the museum was closed, which meant that lunch required a short trip down the road to Cannon’s Peabody Base Lodge, where the Cannonball Pub proved to be the perfect antidote for the day’s cold weather.

 Admission to the New England Ski Museum, open 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day from Memorial Day until the end of ski season, is always free. New England Ski Museum. 135 Tramway Drive, Franconia, NH. 603-823-7177; skimuseum.org This post was first published in 2015 and has been updated. 

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