CABIN CREW
Unpretentious Vermont lures New Yorkers in search of affordable weekend retreats
NEW Yorkers have always looked beyond the five boroughs for a reprieve from city life, flocking to places like the Hudson Valley for bucolic escapes. But as the popularity — and cost — of typical weekend getaway areas surge, some city dwellers have reassessed what they want from a vacation home.
In the popular riverside town of Beacon, NY, the median single-family home price increased by 57 percent over the last five years, according to data gathered by Zillow. It’s a similar story in the upstate towns of Cold Spring and Hudson, where the same metric has jumped by roughly 25 percent.
But just a two-hour drive north of Hudson (itself a two-hour drive from Manhattan), in the lush southeast corner of Vermont, some New Yorkers have discovered you can get more house for less — and be even closer to nature without the trendy trappings of those upstate weekend retreats. In Windham County, home to the year-round resorts of Stratton and Mount Snow, the median single-family home price has increased just 5 percent over the last five years to a modest $180,000.
Compared to the ritzier Hudson Valley, Windham County is less fussy — with fewer high-end boutiques and restaurants in its towns of Wardsboro and Jamaica — and presents a lower barrier to entry. That’s why Jenny McClary and Allie Leepson, both 30 and partners who run content strategy team The 1909, decided to bypass Hudson when looking for a weekend home.
Even though they love the artsy, shopfilled town where they tied the knot in 2015, they found it was a microcosm of their weekday lives. “It’s like the West
Village up there,” says Leepson, adding that she’s observed some folks get dressed to the nines for mundane errands in Hudson.
So in October 2017, the couple spent $170,000 on a three-bedroom Adirondack-style cabin in Wardsboro, Vt. McClary says they were drawn to the area because, unlike Hudson, it “doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard.”
They hope to visit the cabin, a four-hour drive from their Park Slope apartment, one or two times a month. But since they first listed it on Airbnb in February from $200 per night, the property has been consistently booked on weekends. After their closing, McClary and Leepson installed new lights and a vintage freestanding fireplace, which lend the space a comfortable midcentury modern-meetsski chalet vibe that’s proven appealing to vacationers. “We forgot to pencil ourselves in,” McClary says. “Our renters have stayed longer than we have.”
Their property sits in the state’s Green Mountain National Forest, and fulfills their dream of being secluded in scenic surrounds without settling for a “scary cabin in the woods,” McClary says. Their location puts them a 15-minute drive from Mount Snow, with hiking trails minutes away from their front door.
Windham County’s proximity to the forest, and the ski areas within it, has proven a draw for tristatearea weekenders looking to leave the commotion of their everyday lives behind. With a location that is a straight shot north from New York on I-91, it’s emerging as a favorite Hudson Valley alternative.
Second-home buyers are looking for a different kind of property than in years past, according to Ellen Mallia of Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty’s Stratton office. “We had a lot of people coming from the Connecticut area looking for ‘statement’ homes” like newer-build mansions, Mallia says. “What we’re seeing right now with our younger buyers is they’re looking for experiences,” like trekking and winter sports, “rather than grand possessions.”
A similar desire for a humble getaway from the city drove Lauren Hudson and Chris Krieger to purchase their home in the small town of Jamaica. The couple from Trumbull, Conn., paid $235,000 for a contemporary three-bedroom in August 2017. “We were looking for something truly four seasons,” says Krieger, 35, a lending director who likes to snowboard and hike. Jamaica fit the bill, putting them about 30 minutes from both Stratton and Mount Snow.
The couple turned to Vermont rather than the Hudson Valley because they were “looking to get a little further removed from the tristate area,” says Hudson, 36. They don’t even mind the spotty cell service and slow Wi-Fi. “We can detach there,” Hudson, a creative director, says. “At first we were nervous about it, but now we’re really thankful for it.”
Like McClary and Leepson, Hudson and Krieger have listed their home on Airbnb from $350 a night. The couple plans to make the three-hour drive from Connecticut to Jamaica more often this summer, now that the house’s booking requests from winter sports enthusiasts have let up. They are also looking forward to connecting with neighbors. “The sense of community — you just don’t get that in Connecticut,” says Hudson, adding that after just nine months of homeownership in the area, “everyone knows our names.”
There’s perhaps no better evidence of Windham County’s friendliness than North Country General, a Jamaica restaurant and bar serving up locally sourced food and drink alongside Vermont-made wares. Alexandra Fraser opened the hospitality venture in 2017 with her husband, Dean, 30, after leaving the West Village to make a permanent home in Vermont, where Fraser, 34, spent much of her childhood. In the year it’s been open, North Country General has become a gathering place where locals and weekenders mingle. It doesn’t hurt that, by Fraser’s estimate, it’s the first new bar in town in 30 years.
Fraser’s decision to move back to Vermont was influenced by her pregnancy. “Vermont has a lot of therapeutic ways of helping people connect with the earth and disconnect from a lot of the things in life that keep us out of focus,” Fraser says, noting that she often felt isolated in New York. That’s not so in Jamaica. “There’s a sense of community here that’s still genuine and authentic.”
The morning after Roosevelt Islanders Elizabeth Erickson, 37, and Jeffrey Escobar, 41, closed on their Jamaica vacation house, a new neighbor introduced herself in North Country General. “There’s a thousand real stories like that here,” Erickson says.
Erickson and Escobar weren’t initially drawn to Jamaica because of the close-knit vibe, but it’s become a real benefit to owning in the town. The two attorneys started thinking about buying in Vermont after visiting a good friend who left Brooklyn for the Green Mountain State. Erickson says she was shocked to see how much $200,000 could get them in Vermont compared with other second-home spots.
After just two appointments in 2015 with Mallia, their broker, they dropped $167,500 on an updated Cape Cod-style house dating to 1839. Its closeness to the mountains was important to the couple, who bonded over their shared love for skiing, as was the property’s gated yard, where they could let their young daughter, Madeline, explore.
This past winter, the family made the trek to Vermont every weekend, making the best of their season passes at Stratton. Over the summer, they’ll visit just one or two times a month, often hosting friends who, like them, revel in the area’s tranquility while drinking coffee or sipping wine on the front porch.
For Erickson, the best part of owning in Vermont is the freedom that being outside of the city gives Madeline. “She’s only seven, so in New York, we keep her really close to us,” Erickson says. “She’s such a city kid, but the first thing she does when we get up there is take her shoes off.”
Now that’s something you can’t — or at least shouldn’t — do outside a New York apartment.