KINGFIELD, Maine — I lived for years on the Western Promenade in Portland before I learned the neighborhood had a ski jump back in the 1920s. The jumpers took off near the edge of the prom, tracked down the hill, and soared into the air toward St. John Street, all just a few hundred yards from the hospital now known as Maine Medical Center. What a sight it must have been.
That is one small chapter in the history of skiing in this state, and to learn more about the big story there’s no better place to start than the Ski Museum of Maine in Kingfield, just down the road from Sugarloaf. The museum’s mission is to “celebrate, preserve and share” that history, and it will check all three of those boxes on October 19 when it inducts the newest members of the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.
The inductees will include Seth Wescott, the winner of consecutive Olympic gold medals in snowboard cross, who dropped by the 207 studio to talk about the museum and what he’s up to these days (less racing down the slopes, more racing after his two-year-old daughter).
You can’t fire up the Wayback Machine and travel in time to the Portland of the 1920s when some patients at what was then called Maine General Hospital could look out their windows and see skiers flying through the air. But you can do the next best thing—check out the Ski Museum and see how the sport has helped define winter in Maine.