Ludlow, VT

Ludlow has two very different chapters that still sit side by side. It began as a Vermont mill town, with the Black River supplying power for manufacturing, and later became known for Okemo Mountain after the first ski tow opened in 1938. The village center keeps the older industrial shape, while the mountain defines the newer winter-and-summer economy. The town was chartered in 1761, and the 2023 flood put the river back in the foreground by damaging parts of the village and its infrastructure. Ludlow is a place where mills, a ski mountain, and a flood-prone river all belong to the same local map.