Though I'm not a skier, I'm interested in anyone who has any info on the site. I was up there on Fathers Day, took a few photos from the top. Couldn't get at the bottom. Too many bushes & weeds to get through. No one I spoke to knew any thing about it. Waiting to here from Braddock Heights Historical society for more info. Any one who knows anything about it, please pass it on.

Thanks
Louis E G

Hi folks!

Lou provided me with several photos he took while hiking at Braddock Heights. I placed three of the photos at the bottom of the DCSki Yearbook page:

DCSki Yearbook

In the photos, you can just make out some rusting chairlift towers, but nature is well on its way to reclaiming the land.

I found some details about Braddock Heights in some older DCSki Message Forum threads. Lou, if you haven't seen the following threads, they have some memories from readers about Braddock Heights and other defunct ski areas:

Charnita -> ??? -> Ski Liberty

"lost" ski resort - history

We've talked in the past about setting up a page on DCSki that provides information about lost ski areas in the Mid-Atlantic. I'm committed to doing that. When the "new" DCSki launches in August, it will have a section for this. If anyone would like to volunteer to write some sections or do some research, let me know -- even if it's just passing along a paragraph or two of memories from skiing at one of these historic places. You can either post to this forum or send me a private e-mail. I'd also like to have a graphical "resort map" for defunct areas, separate from the map for active areas, so exact location information would be helpful too. (To get my e-mail address, go to the Contact Scott page.

Thanks!

- Scott

Scott, I'll prepare some short comments about the 3 lost local areas I know a little about (in some cases very little); Cherokee VA, Rappahannock VA, and Braddock Heights MD. I may be able to scan and forward you a ski photo or two from Cherokee which closed only about 10-12 yrs ago. Never went to Braddock but often drove by. I believe it operated from the '60s to the '80s and closed about 20yrs ago. Visited but did not ski Rappahannock. It closed about 30yrs ago.

Just had this E-mailed to me. Thought I'd pass it on.

LOU

"In 1962, after carefully evaluating the climate for a year, Mr. Fischer (Hermann Fischer, owner of the Schley Inn) determined that the local conditions were satisfactory for a skiing opration if aided by a snowmaking machine. The Braddock Heights Skiway went intobusiness, with a beginner's slope behind the inn and longer slopes to the east. Soon afterwards Ethel Kennedy, wife of then Attorney General Robert F.Kennedy, brought her family for an entire day of skiing. They stayed as incospcious as possible, considering their arrival in a chauffered limousine, and according to their wishes received no special treatment. Supposedly they had become interested in the skiway after hearing President John F. Kennedy remark he had seen it while flying to Camp David.
Several years after Mr. Fischer's death, his second wife decided to sell the property, which was then bought in 1972 by a young businessman from the Washngton area, Patrick Weed. He renamed it the General Braddock Inn, obtained a liquor license after some local opposition (the Fischers began selling beer when the skiing operation started) and did some refurbishing. Recent mild winters have treated the skiway enterprise unkindly."