DCSki Editorial Overview
The story in brief
Guntertown Ski Resort operated near Cumberland, Maryland, about 18 miles west of the city along U.S. 40. Promoted in a 1949 Ski Club of Washington, D.C., publication as “the finest ski slope in the Alleghenies,” the resort stood at an elevation advertised as 2,875 feet. Its surviving postcards and a brochure from the 1946-47 season preserve the image of a small mountain lodge and slope from skiing’s early postwar years.
The available recollections place Guntertown among the roadside ski attractions of the era, with a slope associated with a restaurant — and with nearby Happy Hills providing another example of the informal ski businesses that once served travelers and local skiers. The lodge’s real-photo postcards have continued to circulate among collectors, giving the lost area an unusually tangible visual record. Although little operational detail survives, Guntertown’s advertising, brochures, and remembered setting offer a glimpse of a modest Allegheny ski stop that has disappeared from the modern landscape.
Generated from DCSki's historical profile and reader-contributed memories.
Linda Gray noticed an ad for a ski area named Guntertown in the Ski Club of Washington DC’s (50th Anniversary Collectors Edition, published in 1986.) Linda writes:
“[I noticed] on page 58 there is a 1949 ad for Guntertown Ski Resort (18 miles west of Cumberland). Claims to be the finest ski slope in the Alleghenies, 2875 feet in the sky.
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A postcard from Guntertown Ski Lodge. Woody Bousquet writes: “The left margin on the left reads Guntertown, 18 miles west of Cumberland Md, Dave Gunter, Prop U.S. 40.” Photo provided by Woody Bousquet.
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In 2026, Woody Bousquet provided the following scans of a brochure from Guntertown from the 1946-1947 season.
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