Just before Christmas my wife and I went out to dinner at Idletyme. While we were there I had a nostalgic attack thinking back to the days when it was The Shed. You may be familiar with nostalgia attacks. That’s when one memory triggers another and another and … well, you get the idea. So naturally I had to revisit The Shed in a column.
The Shed opened two days before Christmas in 1965. I have friends who believe in spirits from the past that visit them. I’m not saying that I believe, but the thought did cross my mind that the spirits of those that started The Shed were there celebrating the 60th anniversary of that opening while I was having dinner!
In the summer of 1965 two Stowe ski instructors, Ted Ross, a New Yorker, and Ken Strong a Vermonter, decided to open a bar. The chosen property was “a small, 130-year old building on a half acre on the Mountain Road, originally the town blacksmith shop, then a cider mill, and later a youth hostel with a small store and a gas pump.” After securing the property, Ted and Ken provided “sweat equity” in turning the building into a bar with a goal of opening by Christmas.
There were a couple of hurdles they needed to clear to get their liquor license. They needed a name for their business to put on the application, but they had thought they were going to sponsor a contest to name the new business. So their lawyer David Stackpole suggested, “Hell, it’s not really much more than a shed. Why not call it The Shed?”
The second hurdle was they had to serve food. Well, Ted Ross had a recipe for making hamburgers with beer and Bob Swanson who lived down the road owned Thomas’ English Muffins. So the bar would open with one item on the menu: the Shedburger!
The Shed established itself with locals and the stories are legendary! There are past Stowe Reporter articles by Peter Miller and Nancy Wolfe Stead that tell some of the stories and name names.
The Shed Requiem for a Skier’s Bar – Peter Miller
The Shed’s place in local history goes back to ’65 – Nancy Wolfe Stead
My first visit to The Shed was in 1969. By then Ken Strong had bought out his partner Ted Ross and was the host, bartender, and master-of-ceremonies! The crew that introduced me to Stowe skiing also introduced me to The Shed. We’d drive from the Burlington area for a day of skiing at Stowe and of course, stop at The Shed on the way home. It was still its original size which is approximately the size of what I believe Idletyme calls The Lounge. It was small, but we always seemed to be able to get a table.
In the 1970s and 80s, The Shed kept expanding in size and popularity. As one who still primarily used The Shed as an après ski stop, it appeared that the pattern was to build an outside patio then enclose it as an addition to the building. This led to the modal set of rooms you still see at Idletyme
On January 26, 1994, The Shed would burn. It was a total loss, but 11 months later The Shed was back having been rebuilt in its own image! There was a new feature as well, The Shed Brewery!
Despite the fact the bar and restaurant were back bigger and better, The Shed faced financial challenges to pay off the resulting debt. In 2006 they sold the building to a third party from whom they would lease it back. When the lease came due, the owner decided not to renew it!
So when did The Shed close? I had several correct answers to last week’s trivia question. Chuck and Jann Perkins knew the exact date October 17, 2011, for an interesting reason! Chuck says, “Jann had surgery the morning that The Shed closed, and she wanted one more serving of their famous Shepherd’s Pie. I picked her up at the hospital after her surgery, and we went directly from the hospital to The Shed.”
Norma Stancliffe also had the answer. She says, “I had my 1st drink at 16 there when they opened in 1965!! I also tended bar there for Ken in 1978!” She also commented on the night of the fire when her daughter was living upstairs at The Shed!
Walter Frey and Ron Waxman also knew it was 2011. Ron added that The Shed had the “Best fried chicken around!”
Since people were mentioning their favorite meals at The Shed, my son would add the French onion soup to that list. One of my regrets was that I never got the recipe for the homemade relish that was so good on the Shedburgers. There was a little bowl of the relish on each table and it was really good!
Do you have memories from the Shed, food or otherwise? I urge you to post them as Comments
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