Lost ski areaRhode IslandNortheast
Pine Top
Ran 1965–1980. A T-bar ski area on Escoheag Hill in West Greenwich that ran from the mid-1960s until about 1980.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Pine Top, also spelled Pinetop, stood on Escoheag Hill in West Greenwich. New England Ski History and Wikipedia give its first season as 1965–66; NELSAP dates the opening to the mid-1960s, and a reader's note there suggests skiing before 1965.1,2,3
Read the whole historyTodayThe land belongs to the State of Rhode Island as part of the Arcadia Management Area, where the ruins of a warming hut and a T-bar flywheel base remain.2,3
Timeline
5 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Pine Top, or worked there?
Tell us what you remember, or what this page has wrong. Memories show here, credited to you, after we read them; facts are checked against a source before they change a figure.
Lost near Pine Top
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Closed 1989 · 27.8 mi away · ConnecticutA small Christmas-themed ski area in Woodstock where skiers parked at the summit lodge and skied down, which closed in 1989.
- 1939–1981 · 32.4 mi away · Rhode IslandA ski area on state land on Diamond Hill in Cumberland, with rope tows and later two double chairs, skied from about 1939 into the early 1980s.
- 1961–1985 · 32.4 mi away · Rhode IslandA family-run ski area on the east side of Diamond Hill in Cumberland, open from 1961–62 until 1985, with a T-bar, rope tows and for a time a chairlift.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 4 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Pine Top, also spelled Pinetop, stood on Escoheag Hill in West Greenwich. New England Ski History and Wikipedia give its first season as 1965–66; NELSAP dates the opening to the mid-1960s, and a reader's note there suggests skiing before 1965. Two T-bars and two rope tows served four slopes, novice to expert, with 280 feet of vertical. The area made snow, ran at night, advertised parking for 1,200 cars and was reputed to be the state's most popular ski area in its best years. In the mid-1970s it had as many as 20 instructors.1,2,3
Poor snow years started a decline in the late 1970s, and a summer motorcycle park meant to raise revenue did not succeed. New England Ski History gives 1979–80 as its last season and says it likely closed in 1980; NELSAP says the early 1980s. Around the summer of 1981, Fred Egan of Ski Valley in Cumberland bought its lifts, snowmaking and grooming equipment. Vandals burned the base lodge in the early to mid-1980s.1,2,3,4
TodayThe land belongs to the State of Rhode Island as part of the Arcadia Management Area, where the ruins of a warming hut and a T-bar flywheel base remain.2,3
Sources for this history (4)
- 1New England Ski History · Pinetop History
- 2New England Lost Ski Areas Project · Pine Top Ski Area
- 3Wikipedia · Escoheag Hill
- 4New England Ski History · Ski Valley History
Photos
No photographs of Pine Top we may republish yet
Its old photos and trail maps live on the sites that collected them, and Google finds the rest.
Memories
What skiers remember of Pine Top, in their own words.
Facts
Location
41.6170° N · 71.7749° W · Rhode Island
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1965–1980
Closed after the 1980 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 3all 3, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain