Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
The hills are alive: Trapp Family Lodge goes all out for Christmas “The Sound of Music” is always a family favorite movie to watch during the holidays, Even better is a visit to the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt. The atmosphere captures what Sam von Trapp and Kristina von Trapp Frame, grandchildren of Maria von Trapp, describe with the German word “gemütlichkeit.”
“It means warm, cozy, professional — but not pretentious — hospitality,” Kristina told “The Epoch Times.” “So that’s really the goal of us inviting people to come here to enjoy it.”
Her brother Sam said, “Singing is also always a big part of the holiday. For our family, having been professional singers, on Christmas Eve, when we sing with our guests, that’s just a really pure, fun evening for everyone.
“We stress that we’re singing with them. It’s not a concert, so we’re not performing. We’re all singing together, but singing the song ‘Silent Night,’ which was written in the state of Salzburg by two Austrians — that’s very powerful for us. We sing the first verse in German. I’ve learned to bring extra Kleenex, because Kristina and I always get a little bit choked up when we do ‘Silent Night.'”
The family’s story as portrayed in “The Sound of Music” is mostly correct, although many of the details are not accurate. “We often joked that the personalities of our grandfather and grandmother in the movie could have been switched,” Sam said. “She was the tough one and he was a bit more of the teddy bear in real life.”
Another detail changed for the movie. In real life, the family already was a renowned singing group throughout Europe, with offers from American promoters, before they escaped Nazi-occupied Austria. Like in the movie, the family had to covertly plan their escape, leaving behind their lavish home and all of their possessions, although they actually boarded a train to Italy rather than trekking through the mountains. The family’s connections to concert promoters aided them in their passage to America, because they knew that paying gigs would be arranged upon arrival. They eventually settled on a large property at the top of a hill overlooking the Green Mountains in Stowe in 1942.
Trapp Family Lodge is approaching its 75th anniversary. “Our motto for our hotel is ‘a little of Austria, a lot of Vermont,'” Kristina said. “When people come here, we say it’s either a retreat, because it’s such a calm, quiet hillside to be on, or it may be a pilgrimage if they are looking for ‘The Sound of Music’ connections. But all the people that come up here just kind of slow down and get present and relax, and really get grounded again.”
For more information, visit www.trappfamily.com
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
