Hello world!
The Trapp family, largely fictionalized in The Sound of Music – based loosely on The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp — left Austria shortly after its annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938. Baron Georg von Trapp and his wife Maria settled with their family in Vermont in 1942. After the Baron’s death in 1947, the family expanded and operated their home as a 27-room ski lodge. It was destroyed by fire on 20 December 1980, forcing 45 people, including Baroness von Trapp, to flee in their nightclothes. The body of a 30-year-old guest was found later in the rubble. A new Austrian-style lodge with 93 rooms was opened in 1983.
By the time Maria von Trapp died in 1987, thirty-two family members shared ownership of the lodge. Johannes von Trapp instigated a merger to eliminate the interests of other family members in 1994. Family members were displeased by the terms of the merger and fought back with legal proceedings about the amount to be paid to them in exchange for their shares; a controversy which had to be resolved by the Supreme Court of Vermont.
Return to blog homepage • Edit post