Burke, Vermont and the Burke Mountain Ski Area

A Few Characteristics of Burke, VT
East Haven, Victory, Kirby, Lyndon, Sutton, and Newark border Burke, VT that is in Caledonia County. The town is located at 71E55′ W, 44E35′ N and approximately 900 feet altitude. The Town contains 34 square miles and 20,200 acres. The population is 1,423 and the Town has 759 year round housing units and 193 seasonal units (U.S. Census of Population & Housing Estimates 1995).

Burke’s most striking feature is Burke Mountain, called a Amonadnock mountain due to its solitary existence from other tall mountains and its resistance to erosion around it. This mountain is located in the southeastern part of Burke and is shared by the town of Victory, Vermont.

The mountain towers approximately 3,000 feet above sea level and is presently the site of Burke Mountain Ski Area and Burke Mountain Recreation Touring Center. The town is characterized by three main ridges, which run north to south. Burke also enjoys the benefits of the East and West branches of the Passumpsic River and several of its tributaries flowing through the town. Burke, VT is located in the northern portion of Caledonia County with Route 5 looping through the southwestern corner of the town. West Burke is located where Route 5a breaks off northwest from Route 5. West Burke Municipal Forest lies adjacent to the village of West Burke. Route 114 runs approximately north-south through the eastern third of the town and the Portland Pipe Line runs though the northern part of the town, marking about a quarter of the town to the north with its southeasterly to northwesterly course.

Burke Mountain Ski Resort
Bernd Schaefers and his wife were the owners of the Burke resort when they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the summer of 1995. Burke was bought out of bankruptcy and was operated in 1996 by the Northern Star Ski Corp., as Northern Star Burke Mountain. Despite efforts to boost the number of skiers, attendance through April 1996 was about the same as 1995. (Associated Press story in the Times Argus 4/17/96:5). The Burke Mountain Academy provides a training ground each winter for about 75 of the nation’s best young ski racers, some of whom have gone on to be members of the US Ski Team. The academy has no connection with the ski area, although its students (of high school age) live and study at a building on the mountain. Several of the 1996 U.S. Olympic ski athletes who went to Lillehammer were Burke Mountain Academy students.The Town maintains a municipal forest in West Burke.

Note: This series is available courtesy of the Center For Rural Studies, a nonprofit, fee-for-service research organization which addresses social, economic, and resource-based problems of rural people and communities. We would like to thank them for the use of this information and would like to refer you to crs@uvm.edu for additional info or comments.

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