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Round Barn Farm Ski Center

Waitsfield, Washington County, Vermont

"Round Barn Farm, Waitsfield 05673.  802-496-6661.  25 km machine tracked, 12 km skating lanes, 25 km total trails.  Nordic instruction, retail shop, retail sales, equiptment repair, cafe/restaurant, lodging on site, ski packages.  $8.00 weekend trail fee." -Vermont Winter Guide, 1993

Location: E. Warren Rd., Waitsfield, Vt. 05673

Directory listings: 1993

Known operators: Gene Foley

Today: Round Barn Farm still operates an Inn but no longer offers cross country skiing

Round Barn Farm with alpine trails in the background

from: priceline.com

The Round Barn and Inn at Round Barn Farm

from: bnbfinder.com 

History

Round Barn Farm in Waitsfield offered 25 km of ski touring trail along with instruction, equiptment, and lodging at the Round Barn Farm Inn.  The Round Barn Farm touring center was listed in two 1993 directories, though most of the directories from the 1990s were not available.  

The Round Barn Farm got its start in 1910 when Clem Joslyn built the Joslyn Round Barn.  It was used as a dairy barn until 1969 and two decades later it was puchased by Jack and Doreen Simko who finished resoration in 1990 to make the barn a center for community and inn-related activities, according to the history provided on its website.  

Gene Foley, former manager of Round Barn Farm Ski Center current owner and operator of Ole's Cross Country Center, shares this with us:

"I was hired in 1977, initially to manage Round Barn Cross Country Ski Center.  In the Spring, 1998, I 'turned off the lights' at Round Barn Ski Center for the last time.  Why? Snow was much better ate Ole's.  Even thought it was just 4 miles up the road, it has slightly higher altitude.  Maple sugar lines ran all through the woods and crossed the ski trails around Round Barn (duck!).  Sugaring operations commenced about March 1 by plowing off the main ski trail.  I moved to Ole's in Fall, 1998, where I have worked since."

Today the Round Barn Farm still operates as a four-season bed and breakfast.  The Inn offers 80 acres of marked snowshoeing trails and full use of Ole's Cross Country trails a few miles away.