Brookline Ski Area

Brookline Ski Area in Brookline, New Hampshire, was a ski hill on the east face of Potanipo Hill, a few miles north of the Massachusetts line on Route 13. It opened under that name in the winter of 1935-36, with a gas-powered rope tow about 950 feet long, and it is counted among the first lift-served ski areas in New England. Wes Blake and Don Reynolds added a second tow the next season. By World War II there were two tows, about 1,200 and 500 feet long, and a handful of trails.

Arthur DeRosa took over in 1959 and expanded the area in 1962-63 with a 1,400-foot T-bar and new trails. Its trail maps of the 1960s listed runs called Go Devil, Snake Back, Cut Back, Boot Hill and the Depot Trail, along with night skiing, a snow machine, a ski school and a restaurant at the base, and the area billed itself as an hour from Boston. Published figures for the vertical drop ranged from 248 to 600 feet over the years.

In 1973 the area became Big Bear, with a seated bear for a logo and trails named Panda, Koala Run, Grizzly, Polar and Big Bear Run. A T-bar, a pony lift and rope tows served the hill, and the lodge added a lounge with dancing and function rooms. A fire destroyed the snowmaking system in late 1976, and the business fell behind on its property taxes for much of the rest of the decade.

James Swisher, with Dave and Bonnie Gucwa, bought the area in 1982 and renamed it Musket Mountain. They added snowmaking, a new rope tow, rentals and cross-country trails, and the 1983 trail map renamed the runs after the Revolution: Pitcher, Molly's Meadow, Revolution, Independence, Yankee, Doodle, Cannonball, Uncle Sam, Musket and Paul Revere's Ride. It closed after the 1983-84 season and never reopened. The old slopes are now the Andres Institute of Art, a sculpture park with walking trails, and the base lodge has been reused as a function hall.