Kingfield, Maine, a community served by TDS Telecom, was once described as “the most beautifully preserved ski town east of Aspen” by Ski Magazine. It is the gateway to Sugarloaf Mountain and one of the best ski and golf resorts in the country—but that’s not all this small town has to offer.
Kingfield has a population of less than 1,000 people and has a long history. Founded in 1826, Kingfield became a hot spot for mills and industry because of the two rivers that connect nearby. Today, the rivers continue to be an attraction for businesses. In fact, Nestle opened their Poland Spring water factory in 2008 and uses water from Kingfield’s Bradbury Spring.
Nearby Sugarloaf Mountain is home to Sugarloaf Resort. To take advantage of its peaks, the first ski trail was cut into it in 1950 by The Bigelow Boys, a local group. They slowly transformed the area into the largest ski resort east of the Mississippi. Skiing is such a draw here, that Kingfield is also home to the Ski Museum of Maine. Devoted to preserving and presenting the history and heritage of skiing, the museum has artifacts and documents relating to skiing throughout the state of Maine. It includes about three dozen pairs of Maine-made skis—dating back to the early 20th century—as well as numerous examples of leather ski boots and ski accessories.
In addition to skiing, Kingfield is home to the Sugarloaf Golf Club. The course was named the number one course in Maine by Golf Magazine in 2014 and it also repeatedly appears on Golf Magazine’s annual Top 100 of America’s Greatest Golf Courses list.
Despite only being partially finished, another popular attraction in the area is Maine Huts and Trails. When it’s completed, it will be a 180-mile network of cross-country ski trails with up to 12 green-energy wilderness huts, each sleeping up to 45 guests. Three huts and a portion of the trail are open now, year round, for day visitors and overnight guests with opportunities for hiking, paddling, and biking in the summer and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter.
Kingfield is also home to the Stanley Museum which features one of the original steamer engines and many family artifacts. The Stanley family, of Stanley Steamer fame, settled in Kingfield in the early 1800’s. Twins Francis and Freelan O. Stanley founded the Stanley Motor Carriage Company after selling their photographic dry plate business to Eastman Kodak. They made their first automobile in 1897 and sold about 200 cars, more than any other U.S. carmaker during this era.
For more information about Kingfield, visit the official Kingfield website.
