Birchwood

Edward Misiaszek bought several parcels off Hardy Road in Londonderry in December 1962, and he and his sons David and Peter built a ski area there that opened around 1965. A family account on NELSAP says the hill was meant to keep workers of the family's construction company, Derry Paving, busy through the winter.^1,2

Birchwood had seven trails on about 250 vertical feet, served by two T-bars and a Poma; a new Poma T-bar likely came for 1969–70. By 1973–74 it offered night skiing and snowmaking on half its terrain. It also ran a ski school that local elementary schools took part in, a rental shop, and a racing team for children, the Birchwood Bombers. Birchwood Ski Area, Inc. was formed in 1980, the lodge burned that October, and the corporation took over the property in February 1981.^1,2

Around 1985 thieves took the snowmaking pipes, and with the sport in decline the area did not open again; NELSAP gives its years as 1965 to 1985. The corporation fell behind on property taxes, the land returned to Misiaszek in December 1986, and the company was dissolved in 1988. The Parrish Hills housing development was built over the grown-in trails in 2001.^1,2

TodayThe former slopes are a housing development called Parrish Hill.^1,2