The hills are alive … with the sound of rebranding and renovation at the Trapp Family Lodge

Boston Globe

07-03-2025

Advertisement
True lederhosen-loving 'Sound of Music' fans know that after the von Trapp brood escaped from the Nazis in Austria (they departed by train, not on foot) in 1938, they came to the United States. Eventually, the family settled in Vermont, which reminded them of the mountains of Austria. The von Trapps lost everything in World War II and toured continuously throughout the 1940s, singing to make ends meet. During these tours, Maria told the audience they should visit the family at their home in Stowe. Lo and behold, they did. The family rented out rooms in the house in the late 1940s, making it the first unofficial Airbnb in Vermont and laying the groundwork for the Trapp Family Lodge, which opened in 1950.
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
Seventy-five years later, the Lodge has a new name and look. Last month, it was rebranded from the Trapp Family Lodge to the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort. It's currently undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation with refreshed guest rooms and common spaces. The lodge retains an old-world feel despite the new carpets, upholstery, and wall coverings. It's still intended to evoke the feeling of staying at a classic chalet in Austria.
A newly remodeled room at the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort in Stowe, Vt. The hotel recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation.
Kate Carter
Adding 'resort' to the name is fitting because the Lodge is more than a place to rest your head on a pillow and dream of Edelweiss. It has a fitness center, indoor pool, sauna, hot tub, disc golf course, tennis courts, pickleball courts, a climbing wall, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. You can also tour the sugar house — the Lodge produces its own maple syrup — visit with the herd of Scottish Highland cattle, or meet the sheep. It sits on 2,600 acres, complete with a microbrewery and kaffeehaus. Before you ask, yes, there is a resort fee of $35 per day, but did I mention you get a chance to mingle with the cutest cows in Vermont?
Advertisement
'We realized that people are interested in a lot of the things that we do daily, things they wouldn't have access to in their own lives, so we started offering things like visiting the cows and meeting the sheep,' said von Trapp Frame.
She was born Maria Kristina von Trapp, and in addition to her grandmother, she also has an aunt named Maria von Trapp. She goes by her middle name of Kristina because another Maria von Trapp at the Lodge might cause some confusion or overexcite guests already giddily walking about crooning, 'When you know the words to sing, You can sing most anything.' von Trapp Frame's grandmother passed away in 1987 at 82. Her father, Johannes von Trapp, is the sole surviving child of Maria and Captain Georg von Trapp. He is retired and, from all accounts, is 'Sound of Music'-ed out.
A herd of Scottish Highland cattle roam the fields surrounding the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort in Stowe, Vt.
von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort
The Trapp Family Lodge probably would have remained a small guest house, just another family-run hotel serving fine apple strudel. But when Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein adapted the von Trapp's inspiring saga into 'The Sound of Music' for Broadway in 1959, new guests began arriving, some more interested in the singing family than Stowe. When the film adaptation premiered in 1965, the Lodge became a mecca for fans who wanted to see the real-life von Trapps and experience some 'Sound of Music' feel-good magic.
Advertisement
Because the movie airs annually on network television, regularly returns to theaters as 'The Singalong Sound of Music,' and was revived for NBC as 'The Sound of Music Live!,' it remains a presence in our collective
The von Trapp family, after arriving in the United States in the 1940s. The family's story was told in the 1965 movie "The Sound of Music."
von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort
'I've wanted to come here for decades,' said Mary Mosher, a retired special education teacher from Saratoga Springs who began glowing when the prodigal granddaughter/von Trapp royalty entered the wine cellar for the tasting. 'I've always loved 'The Sound of Music,' and coming to this place is like a dream.'
I took an informal poll of every guest I encountered, and each said, without hesitation, that they were here because of 'The Sound of Music.' Guests eagerly asked von Trapp Frame to pose for photos with them or inquired about growing up in Stowe among her famous family.
Kristina von Trapp Frame, granddaughter of Maria von Trapp, is director and executive vice president of the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort.
Christopher Muther/Globe Staff
'It's quite powerful for people,' said von Trapp Frame, 54, who oversees the Lodge with her husband, Walter Frame. Her brother Sam has temporarily stepped aside from the Lodge to focus on raising his family. 'People want to share their memories with me. It could be a story about watching 'The Sound of Music' with their late grandmother or a family trip to Salzburg. But it's something I hear every day.'
There's also a well-attended daily history tour, which includes an introduction with stories from a staff member who worked at the hotel when Maria von Trapp was still alive. That's followed by a film featuring Maria returning to Salzburg. At the end of the program, von Trapp Frame comes in to answer any remaining questions.
Advertisement
Some guests are surprised when they check in and find that the film isn't playing on a loop and that there isn't a nightly singalong of the Broadway score. But von Trapp Frame sees this as an opportunity to educate guests about her real family rather than the film. The Trapp Family singers didn't belt Broadway show tunes. They sang traditional folk songs. She grew up without a television and admits that she's never seen the entire movie, just bits and pieces, although she has seen the stage version.
'I call 'The Sound of Music' my sci-fi parallel universe family because the movie was filmed in different locations from where my family lived,' said Kristina von Trapp Frame, granddaughter of Maria von Trapp. Here's her sci-fi family in a scene from "The Sound of Music."
The Boston Globe - The Boston Gl/Boston Globe
'I call 'The Sound of Music' my sci-fi parallel universe family because the movie was filmed in different locations from where my family lived,' she said. 'They were different people. All the kids had different names in the movie. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote all the songs for the play in 1959. They're brilliant songs, but none of that is what our family sang. So, there's 'The Sound of Music,' and then there's the von Trapps. We're not the same.'
She also points out that her family didn't profit from the blockbuster movie. In 1955, Maria von Trapp sold her life rights and autobiography to a German film producer for $9,000. In doing so, she did not receive royalties from two German films, 'The von Trapp Family' and 'The von Trapp Family in America,' and also nothing from the Broadway and theatrical incarnations of 'The Sound of Music.'
Advertisement
An aerial view of the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort. The hotel is celebrating 75 years in business in 2025.
von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort
A plan to build a museum on the grounds is taking shape to clarify the distinction between factual and fictional stories.
Remarkably, the family still owns the hotel independently, with the help of 'a significant investor' who is a family friend. Von Trapp Frame has two college-age daughters. She said neither has shown an interest in joining the family business so far, but she points out that when she was that age, she also was not planning to return to Stowe. But, as corny as it may sound, she said she finds joy in giving people an escape, whether they care about 'The Sound of Music,' the von Trapps, or even if they want to surround themselves with scenery.
In German, the word to describe it is
gemütlichkeit
. There's no English equivalent, but it means conveying a feeling of warmth, coziness, and contentment.
'There's so much happening in the world that weighs heavily on people. If we can provide people happiness, no matter where they find it here, then I feel like we've succeeded,' she said.
Rooms start at $235 a night. von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort, 700 Trapp Hill Road, Stowe, Vt. 800-826-7000,
A cross-country skier traverses the trails at the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort in Stowe, Vt.
von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort
Christopher Muther can be reached at