What “Ski Area?”

Print More

This editorial is not an opinion piece, but a description of a mystery. When I moved to West Suffield in the early 1970s, I often drove on Mountain Road (then Route 190, now Route 168) to and from the center of Suffield. One day as I drove home, I noticed a sign that piqued my interest. Just beyond the West Suffield Congregational Church was a signpost with three green signs. The signs from top to bottom read “Congamond 6”, “Southwick 7”, and “Ski Area”. I knew about Congamond and Southwick, but wondered where the ski area was. Based on the order of the signs, I assumed that the ski area was beyond the other two. Some days later, I drove west on Mountain Road, over the mountain, through Ebbs Corner, between the Congamond Lakes, into Southwick, crossed Route 10/202, and continued west on Vining Hill Road until I came to a T at Loomis Street, south of Granville. I found no signs that mentioned a ski area. Another time, I turned right at Ebbs Corner, then left into Southwick, crossed 10/202 again and followed Route 57 up the mountain until I got to Granville. These were beautiful, hilly drives, but I found no indication of any ski area.

In the 1970s and 1980s, I did a lot of bicycling. During that period, I biked on every road within a rectangular area defined with its corners at Granville, Mass., Feeding Hills, Mass., Bloomfield, Conn., and Canton, Conn. I was biking for pleasure, not in search of anything specific, but on those bike trips I never noticed any reference to a ski area. I think that the nearest ski area is Ski Sundown south of the Barkhamsted Reservoir, but I doubt that the Suffield sign was referencing that.

It’s now fifty years later, and I still see those same three signs as I drive west through the center of West Suffield. I wonder if any Suffield resident knows what ski area is/was being referred to.

Comments are closed.