Beginning as an icy trickle in the Green Mountains of Vermont, the northward-flowing
Mad River and its scenic valley have changed little since being settled after the Revolutionary War. The valley's dairy farms, terraced meadows, upland forests, nineteenth-century villages, country inns, and classic ski resorts attract a half-million tourists each year. The historic photographs in The Mad River Valley show slices of daily life in the valley's five towns: Warren, Waitsfield, and Moretown, which lie in the river's path; and Fayston and Duxbury, on the valley's western slope. The area's economy, driven and sustained by river-powered mills and logging, plus sheep, then dairy farming, eventually gave way to the more spirited pastimes of skiing, hiking, fishing, and biking, all dictated by the lay of the land and the flow of the river.