Source: VT Golf Magazine | Issue: Summer 1999 | Author: Brian Siplo
Synopsis: This article is about the laid-back Mountain View country club and how it became to be the country club we see today.
Given the relatively recent establishment of golf in the United States, a Vermont golf club celebrating its 100th birthday should be something to fuss over. That’s precisely what was not done in Greensboro for the centennial of Mountain View Country Club. There was some recognition of achievement, a modest pride in a century’s accomplishments, a resolute commitment to future improvement and even a few celebratory events, but all “very, very low key,” according to Club President John Hasen. Why not whoop it up? To discover the answer, we must look back to the founding of the organization and its parent community.
The escalation of summer vacationing in the 1890s helped to develop Greensboro. Visitors from Vermont mingled with East Coast residents seeking escape from sweltering urban conditions. Families camped on Caspian Lake’s shores in sylvan leisure, though the working patriarchs often would commute back to the city for business.
The original vacationers were businessmen, ministers, judges, publishes and especially education from Princeton, Harard, Yale, and other prestigious schools. Away from the academic environment, these deans and dons preferring simple outdoor activities: hiking, fishing, gardening and, eventually golf and tennis. Many like to write in the morning and recreate the remainder of the day. Greensboro citizenry had no desire for the grand style of entertaining common in Newport, Rhode Island, Bar Harbor, Maine, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire or similar Victorian watering holes. Rather a communal dinner, amateur theater or a music gathering would be adequate entertainment. The joy of simple pleasures continues today with a refreshing lack of pretension at Mountain View- as evidenced by its reserved historic birthday.