Wintergreen

Wintergreen grew from land near Spring Green that Ben Graves, manager of the Taliesin estate, and the architect Wes Peters bought in the early 1950s. They sold it in the late 1960s to Willard Keland's Wisconsin River Development Corporation, and a ski run opened in December 1969. Peters designed a five-story lodge for the summit, but only its foundation was built.^1,2

The Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project lists a 400-foot vertical, a J-bar and two chairlifts in 1978, with the lodge at the top of the hill. Green Growth Realty bought the property in 1976 and British Land of America in 1982. In the late 1980s it passed to Euroactividade, an international development company, which in 1989 had Taliesin Associated Architects design a new lodge on the old foundation. The lodge opened in 1990, but the ski hill stopped running in 1991, hurt by unreliable winters and high insurance costs.^1,2

Later efforts to revive the ski hill failed, and the lifts were dismantled. After several more owners, the Driftless Area Land Conservancy has permanently protected the 245-acre property, including the lodge, now a 15,000-square-foot event center.¹

TodayThe land is now Wintergreen Preserve, with trails for hiking, fishing, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and the lodge serves as an event center.¹