WATERVILLE — Having a four-season outdoor recreation area nearby was important to Carol Kennedy and her husband, Michael Dostrow, when they were looking for a home in Maine.

Kennedy, a registered nurse, and Dostrow, a physician, lived at a large alpine ski resort in California and decided to move to Winslow in the fall of 2024 to retire. As skiers, bikers and hikers, they were excited about the 216-acre Quarry Road Trails, located across the Kennebec River, close to Interstate 95 and Colby College in Waterville. The recreation area offers all sorts of activities, including Nordic (cross country) and alpine (downhill) skiing, as well as snowshoeing, sledding, running, walking, rock-climbing — and canoeing and kayaking on the adjacent Messalonskee Stream.

Much to their surprise and delight, Dostrow and Kennedy learned that the city-owned recreation area also has a snow-making system for all the trails, including Nordic, whose tracks are well groomed.

“It’s very rare for Nordic skiing areas to have that,” Dostrow said. “For us, Quarry Road Trails has been a godsend. To be able to come here every day and have perfect tracks is like the pièce de resistance.”

The couple, now Quarry Road volunteers, was taking a break in the two-day Roy Varney Memorial Eastern Cup Nordic ski event Jan. 17-18, where some 300 skiers from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and New York were competing.

The recreation area was hopping, with skiers sailing along the trails as their families and coaches stood by to watch.

Kennedy, 66, a former competitive Nordic skier and Empire State biathlon champion herself, said she and Dostrow spend a lot of time at Quarry Road, both summer and winter. They love the fact that the coast, Sugarloaf ski area and Belfast and Portland are easily accessible.

“The people are so welcoming and beautiful here,” she said. “There are so many volunteers. I can’t believe how many volunteers they have — a very, very nice group of people — talented, and from all walks of life.”

The couple is now entrenched in the community. Dostow, who was an exercise physiologist before becoming a physician, owns AMP Wellness, which focuses on fitness, nutrition, supplements and lifestyle management.

“Waterville and Winslow have been an incredible place for us to live,” he said. “We have been so blessed.”

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DRIVER

The recreational area has value that extends beyond recreation.

Quarry Road Trails, through the city of Waterville, was recently awarded a $249,000 grant from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, to be used for trail improvements. It is a Maine Trails Program grant.

Jennifer Kierstead, executive director of the nonprofit organization Friends of Quarry Road, which helps to fund and develop the recreation area, has worked to help raise money and garner such grants. Kierstead was a grant consultant for the Friends group before becoming executive director.

Since efforts began in earnest in 2007 to develop Quarry Road, more than $4.2 million has been raised, Kierstead said; the interest in and passion for Quarry Roads by area residents, donors and some 50 volunteers has been remarkable.

Many who helped support the effort, including Colby College students and alumni, remember skiing on the hill there many years ago. People in the area recall it as a special part of growing up.

“The goal was to do exactly this — restore the love of outdoor recreation and winter sports in Waterville and to make it a year-round recreation area,” Kierstead said.

Economic development advocates including Kimberly N. Lindlof, president and CEO of the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, recognize the impact Quarry Road has to the region, drawing in visitors, and people who choose to move to central Maine because of it.

The grant award represents more than just a capital investment — it’s a testament to Waterville’s commitment to community betterment and quality of place, according to Lindlof, who also serves as executive director of the Central Maine Growth Council.

“While many world-class Nordic and alpine facilities are tucked away in rural, privately owned pockets of Maine, Quarry Road stands as a rare gem: a municipally owned, world-class recreation hub located just 2 miles from a revitalized and thriving downtown,” Lindlof said. “It is the perfect complement to the arts and dining scene in Waterville.”

Waterville Mayor Mike Morris also described Quarry Road as a gem, saying events like the Eastern Cup bring a lot of people to the city and serve as a significant boost to the local economy.

“Waterville is incredibly fortunate to have this unique recreational facility in our backyard,” Morris said. “It’s hard to believe one can enjoy this tranquil location just minutes from the hustle and bustle of other activities in Waterville. It almost seems out of place, in a good way.”

With more than 8 miles of trails, a beautiful meadow and surrounding forest, Quarry Road draws about 100,000 visitors a year, according to Kierstead, who cited a study done by Camoin Associates on the economic impact of Quarry Road. The study says 65,000 of those people come from outside the city.

Visitors contribute about $2.8 million annually into the region by visiting Quarry Road, spending money at hotels, restaurants and other businesses, according to the study.

Jeff Tucker, director of Quarry Road, said the trails grant money will be used for three specific projects: to invest in summer mountain bike trails by having new, single track beginner and intermediate trails that also will be for hiking and snowshoeing; building a new multipurpose trail head building at the edge of the site’s new parking lot that can be used for various purposes including events and maintenance; and completing improvements to cross country ski trails.

The Eastern Cup event was the largest event of the year for Quarry Road, which hosts a range of events that draw people from near and far, Tucker said. Real estate listings for homes in the area often mention their proximity to Quarry Road as part of advertising the quality of life, he said.

“You have access to the outdoors, right in the back yard in Waterville,” said Tucker, the only person at Quarry Road who is paid full time. The rest of the workers are from the city’s Parks & Recreation Department, and those who volunteer many hours to make snow, staff events and do other tasks.

“It’s a great team and we make it work,” Tucker said.

Pat Cote, the Eastern Cup volunteer race director, said Quarry Road is one of several venues in New England that have snowmaking systems for cross country skiing. It is unusual, however, to have such a recreation area inside a city, as most are in rural areas.

“The athletes and coaches love coming here because of the city of Waterville being right here,” Cote said. “They wake up in their hotel room and they can be at the venue five minutes later. The competitors really like the courses. They’re on the challenging side. They are some of the more difficult courses.”

Three different courses at Quarry Road are International Ski Federation certified. Tucker said that youth ski programs are the heart and soul of Quarry Road, where children get to learn how to ski, both downhill and cross country.

A RICH HISTORY

Quarry Road’s history goes back many years. In the 1930s, people skied on the hill that had a rope tow. The ski area closed during World War II, but Colby College and area veterans reopened it in the late 1940s. Colby operated the area in the 1960s and ’70s.

In 2006, John Koons, a Colby alumnus, avid skier and local dentist, launched an effort to revive the ski area and world-class Nordic trails were built.

Koons worked at the time with City Manager Michael Roy and Matt Skehan, director of the Waterville Parks & Recreation Department, to collaborate on the development of Quarry Road and form the Friends of Quarry Road group. Koons donated land for the effort and the city acquired land from Colby.

Foundations, private donors and individuals have supported the recreation area over the last 18 or so years, enabling lots of improvements, including the building of a warming yurt, clearing and developing trails, adding a rope tow, mitigating a wet area and turning it into a large parking lot, acquiring equipment and making snow.