Ludlow drone image by Daniel Buzan
In the opening lines of her 1964 hit single, “Downtown,” Petula Clark sang,
When you’re alone and life is making you lonely You can always go – downtown. When you’ve got worries all the noise and the hurry Seems to help I know – downtown.
While Pet Clark was referring to more urban places than Vermont’s Okemo Valley, she hit on the universal truth that going downtown—whether big or small— fulfills a need for connection with people and an escape from everyday life.
Subsistence farmers from Massachusetts and Connecticut trickled into the hills of Okemo Valley starting in the 1760s; that trickle became a stream following the Revolutionary War, with settlers pitching their farmsteads wherever there was level ground to grow crops and forested slopes that could be converted to pasture. These scattered farmers needed villages to buy supplies and to sell their produce. The earliest Okemo Valley villages were in the valleys near waterpower and consisted of a church— with or without a building—plus a tavern, a general store, a blacksmith shop, and a gristmill. Over time, other sorts of mills (sawmills, woolen mills, creameries) and artisan shops such as cooperage, tannery, and clothing were added.
What we in the modern era tend to forget was how slow getting around was in those days. A horse can walk at 4 mph but over hilly and rutted roads it may average 3 or even 2 mph. That meant there had to be a village with in a handful of miles from a farm to make the trip “downtown” and back within a day.
We in the modern era also often forget how isolating and lonely life on the farm could be in those days; no television or radio or telephones or even newspapers. The general store and Sunday worship were the only opportunities to meet friends, exchange stories, and learn about local events.
Profound changes to Okemo Valley and its villages came with the completion of the railroad through the valley from Bellows Falls to Rutland in 1849—when passengers could be whisked at the dizzying speed of 25 mph! Also integral was the “good roads movement” of the late 1880s, the motor car that overtook the horse and buggy in Vermont in the 1920s, the interstate highway system of the 1960s, and beyond physical transport, an era of information with today’s high-speed broadband.
Throughout the 12 towns of the Okemo Valley region there are more than 35 recognized places that once functioned as villages but are now clusters of houses with little commercial activity. Planners refer to these housing clusters as hamlets.
Nearly 30 years ago, the state of Vermont established a Village Center Designation program and there are currently 13 designated Village Centers in the Okemo Valley region that retain vital commercial and socializing functions of a downtown. The largest designated Village Centers are Ludlow and Chester, and between Ludlow and Chester are the Cavendish and Proctorsville Village Centers. To the north are the Plymouth Union and Tyson Village Centers. To the east are the Perkinsville and Ascutney Village Centers. To the south are the Grafton, Londonderry, and South Londonderry Village Centers, and to the west are the Weston and Belmont Village Centers.
For an unhurried summertime adventure, follow your GPS and meander the beautiful back roads that lead to each of Okemo Valley’s 13 designated Village Centers, each with its own character. Belmont is a picturesque village truly off the beaten path; Grafton has a timeless quality with lovingly restored historical buildings, while Weston features a playhouse and the beloved Vermont Country Store. Chester has a charming Common with shops and stone houses, and Ludlow—home to Okemo Mountain Resort—is bustling in the daytime and into the night.
Village Centers of today are no longer just a lifeline for subsistence farmers of the past, nor can they compete with today’s big box stores or home delivery services. Instead, they have survived and thrived by providing unique experiences and services to visitors and locals alike. They provide a break from the busy with overnight accommodations ranging from contemporary inns and charming bed-and-breakfasts to elegant hotels and luxurious resorts. Alongside the
social staple of taverns, Village Centers also evolved to satisfy modern palates with casual fare, farm-to-plate, and fine dining. The villages’ shopkeepers proudly stock locally produced libations and cannabis, artisan cheeses and maple products, plus clothing, arts and crafts ranging from custom-made jewelry to paintings and prints to chainsaw-carved bears. While touring Okemo Valley villages, you can even find historical museums sprinkled across the landscape and top-notch performing arts lighting up summer nights.
Living here, there is a shared understanding among locals that if you’re in town for an errand, plan for an extra 20 minutes because you will surely run into someone you want to chat with! While modernity rushes us forward, these timeless moments of connection underscore how our villages still serve their original purpose: to meet friends, exchange stories, and learn about local events.
Today, Vermont is facing a housing crisis, and it is Village Centers, including those in Okemo Valley, that are coming to the rescue. For decades, Vermont’s home production has been dominated by building large and expensive single-household dwellings on large and midsize lots. The result is that essential workers our communities rely on—teachers, nurses, firefighters, restaurant workers, childca
re workers, as well as seniors and countless others— cannot afford a place to live. As Vermont Housing Finance Agency Executive Director Maura Collins put it, “Vermont risks becoming a playground for the rich and famous while moderate-income workers struggle to live here.”
Vermont’s first salvo to tackle this crisis was the passage of the HOME Act of 2023, which mandated greater housing densities in Village Centers with public water and sewer. Manchester Rep. Seth Bongartz, who spent months negotiating consensus on the bill said, “It will pave the way for more construction in downtowns and village centers that have the infrastructure to support it.” Other legislative actions have followed, including Act 181, the land use (Act 250) reform bill of 2024, and creation of the Community and Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP) in 2025. Penn Law’s The Regulatory Review calls it, “A Land Use Revolution in the Green Mountain State.”
The towns of Ludlow and Chester, which have municipal planning staff and public water and sewer infrastructure, are opting-in to designate their downtowns as Tier 1B under the new regulatory framework of 2024’s Act 181. “With Tier 1B designation,” Erin Ladd, Ludlow’s Director of Planning said, “Housing projects can be approved locally without state land use (Act 250) review, facilitating housing development in our downtown and reducing the regulatory burden on developers.”
Other towns are also advancing local solutions— for example, Londonderry’s Housing Commission is developing multi-town collaboration and shared housing resources, increasing community awareness, and pursuing a planning grant to support feasibility work and future housing strategies.
Planning is already underway to develop “gentle infill” and “missing middle” housing such as accessory dwelling units, duplexes, courtyard apartments, senior housing units, age-friendly homes, and townhouses in Ludlow and Chester. Buildout will take years, and if they are well designed, one may not even notice them. But accessible housing in the compact, walkable, connected Village Centers of Okemo Valley are coming.
The final frontier will be providing accessible transit within and between these Village Centers and downtowns for those who cannot drive or afford a car. Rural Vermont will likely be one of the last places to see robotaxis because of its rugged terrain and weather. Nearby Springfield, Vermont, however, is experimenting with “microtransit”—a tech-enabled, shared transportation service that provides vans and shuttles on-demand rather than a bus that operates on a set schedule. Microtransit might just be the ticket for Okemo Valley as well. Visionaries even anticipate the day when our current freight-only rail line could once again whisk passengers in and out of Okemo Valley, but at speeds faster than 25 mph!
Petula Clark finished her 1964 hit “Downtown” with the closing lyrics:
So go downtown Things will be great when you’re downtown Don’t wait a minute more, downtown Everything is waiting for you.
Recorded more than 60 years ago, those words have become truer than ever for Village Centers and downtowns of Okemo Valley.
Preston Bristow is the town planner for the Town of Chester and a member of Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
