This began as a lecture in the urt next to the outdoor activity center. (Both the building and the urt can be seen from our window):
It turned out that our guide for this activity was the same guide from "Meet the Herd" - Bob Stafford, who happens to be the resort's activities director, seen below in the black shirt:
During his presentation, Bob explained much of the back story of the family before what was documented in The Sound of Music. Much of the movie is basically true, but there were some "hollywood" liberties taken. Here are some facts:
- The father of Georg von Trapp was a naval officer in the Austrian-Hungarian Navy in the 1800s. He "saved" a battleship and all its sailors during a big storm by directing the ship to be grounded on a sandbar. For this amazing brainstorm he was "knighted" by the country's leaders. This is when the 'von' was added to the family's name. The family then may carry that distinction forever. (They still do!)
- Side note: When the family moved to the US in the '40s and started singing publicly, they found it better to leave the 'von' off of their name so it didn't sound so German because we were fighting the Germans at the time! So, you will see them advertised at The Trapp Family Singers.
- Georg von Trapp (first name pronounced "Gay - org") was also an important naval officer. During WWI, he did a lot to build and improve the submarine division of the A-H navy. He was also "knighted" by being given the title of "Baron" - which also allowed his wife to be a Baroness.
- Georg's first wife, Agatha Whitehead, had 7 of their 10 children (who had different names in real life than in the movie). She died of Scarlet Fever in 1922 after 11 years of marriage to him. Here is a photo of Georg with his first wife, Agatha:
- The novice nun, Maria, was actually hired for a year to be a tutor to one if Georg's daughters (also named Maria) because she had missed a lot of school from having Scarlet Fever herself.
- Unlike in the movie, Georg and Maria were not in love with each other. The children played Matchmaker when Maria's year was almost up because they wanted her to stay. Because Georg had promised Agatha on her deathbed that he would remarry "for the children", he took this as a sign that Maria was the right woman to marry. She then went to the Reverend Mother for advice and the RM gave her consent and told her to marry Georg. Maria later stated that she married Georg because she loved the children.
- Georg was 25 years older than Maria. They continued to live in Austria for 11 years after they got married. They had 3 children - 2 born in Austria, and the last was born here (Maria was pregnant when they came to the US.) This last child, Johannes, is currently the head of the family in Stowe, Vermont.
- The family didn't leave Austria by walking over the Alps. They left by train and went to Italy where Georg was a citizen. From there, they came to the US by ship, sponsored by a US promoter of their music. They came through Ellis Island in 1938 and initially settled in Pennsylvania.
- The family didn't leave during a singing competition, they left right before they were supposed to perform at Hilter's birthday party - where he had requested they perform. (There was no hiding at the convent or help from the nuns.)
There is a great deal of information online about the family as it currently exists. Here are some interesting links:
Here is a 2016 photo of the Stowe family that was hanging on the wall in the living room by our hotel room:
Lynne and Kristina were at the Family History Activity that we attended, and I was fortunate to get to talk with Kristina as she signed a copy of my book. (You can see Lynne with Bob in the urt photo above.) Kristina's husband Walter Frame also works for the resort, and their two daughters attend the public middle and high schools in Stowe.
I saw Sam and Johannes eating breakfast together in the dining room at least 2 of the mornings I was there, and we saw Sam, Becky. and Wolfie at the restaurant where we had dinner on this night (more about that later). Also, Becky is currently pregnant so there will be another little von Trapp in the near future.
The Family History Activity involved 3 phases - Phase 1 was the back story told by Bob at the urt. Phase 2 was a short walk to the family cemetery where both Georg and Maria are buried together, and many of the children are buried. (Georg died in 1947 and Maria died in 1987). Here is their shared grave:
Phase 3 of the Activity was a documentary that featured Maria in her last trip back to Austria in 1984. This documentary is only available at the Lodge - it is not available to the public. It is interesting to note that the family did not benefit financially from the profits of the Broadway or movie productions of The Sound of Music because Maria had previously sold the rights to their story to a German production company for $9000. The family lived a very quiet and somewhat normal life in Stowe until the story became famous around 1960ish. After that, their famous name was both a benefit and a curse at times.
I could go on about this story for another hour. If you want to hear more, let me know, and I will be happy to give you even more information. There are also many books available about the family.
On this evening, we decided to have dinner at the new Bierhall. In 2015, the von Trapp Resort opened their own state-of-the-art brewery for beer and an accompanying restaurant. We went to the building at 6 and attended a brewery tour - led by.... Bob! - and then stayed there for dinner.
The brewery tour was very interesting. All of the equipment is stainless steel and came from Germany (complete with German workers installing it all). We learned that there are artesian springs on the property which happen to be great for beer manufacturing! They do cold-brewing which is best for lagers (whereas warm brewing is better for ales - who knew!) Although the service was a little slow in the restaurant, the food was great, and we were happy with our choice of this for dinner.
What a fabulous "von Trapp" day this was for us. We both enjoyed all of the activities. I can't recommend this Lodge experience enough, especially for any of you who are fans of The Sound of Music. This place is absolutely magical. It is quiet, restful, beautifully maintained, and the staff bends over backward to take great care of their guests. You are really made to feel like you are in someone's home - not in a generic hotel.
Ok - a little more to come .... hang in there with me!
:)Amy
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