Lost ski areaConnecticutNortheast
Woodbury Ski Area
Ran 1963–2016. A family ski area on Washington Road in Woodbury, opened as Tapawingo in 1963 and run for decades by racer Rod Taylor, that last operated in 2015–16.
Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Kermit Adams and Thomas Brownell spent two years looking for a site before opening Tapawingo Ski Area on Washington Road in December 1963, with a T-bar, a rope tow, snowmaking and night skiing. When the area ran into money trouble in 1972, local residents turned to Rod Taylor, a Hartford native and U.S.1
Read the whole historyTodayThe ski area land has new owners, and there are no known plans to ski there again. (2024)1
Timeline
8 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Woodbury Ski Area, 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 Woodbury Ski Area
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Closed 1987 · 24.9 mi away · New YorkA small ski area off Route 52 in Stormville that ran from the 1950s until an arson fire in 1987.
- Years not yet collected · 30.1 mi away · New YorkA small ski area in Fahnestock State Park beside the Taconic State Parkway west of Carmel, which Lost NY counts as the first to make snow full time.
- Years not yet collected · 36.8 mi away · New YorkA ski area on North Beacon Mountain by the city of Beacon that grew to three double chairlifts and an advertised 1,000 feet of vertical.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Kermit Adams and Thomas Brownell spent two years looking for a site before opening Tapawingo Ski Area on Washington Road in December 1963, with a T-bar, a rope tow, snowmaking and night skiing. When the area ran into money trouble in 1972, local residents turned to Rod Taylor, a Hartford native and U.S. Ski Team racer. With partners he took it over and renamed it the Woodbury Ski and Racquet Club for the 1972–73 season.1
Taylor ordered a Hall double chair for 1976–77 and rebuilt the lodge after it burned in May 1980. The hill had 300 feet of vertical. Over the years it added one of New England's early half pipes, a large skate park in 1998 and two magic carpets in 2005–06. Locals called it Rod's, and Taylor liked to be the first area in the state to open each winter.1,2
Taylor died in July 2014. The area ran two more winters; its last day of skiing was March 12, 2016, and drought and an uncertain future kept it closed in 2016–17. A lender foreclosed in October 2021, the tubing property sold in 2023, and the ski area land sold in August 2024.1,2
TodayThe ski area land has new owners, and there are no known plans to ski there again. (2024)1
Timeline
- 1963Tapawingo Ski Area opens in December with a T-bar and rope tow1
- 1972Rod Taylor's group takes over and renames it Woodbury1,2
- 1976Hall double chairlift ordered for the 1976–77 season1
- 1980Lodge burns in May and is rebuilt1
- 1998A large skateboard park opens1
- 2014Rod Taylor dies on July 51
- 2016Last day of skiing on March 121,2
- 2024Ski area property sold on August 291
Sources for this history (2)
- 1New England Ski History · Woodbury History
- 2Wikipedia · Woodbury Ski Area
Photos
No photographs of Woodbury Ski Area 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 Woodbury Ski Area, in their own words.
Facts
Location
41.5898° N · 73.2558° W · Connecticut
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1963–2016
Closed after the 2016 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