Smugglers’ Notch Patch (Named Peaks) — c. 1970s

A vintage Smugglers' Notch ski patch from Jeffersonville, Vermont, estimated to date from the 1970s, featuring a jagged green ridgeline running the width of the face with each summit labeled across it: MORSE at the left, MADONNA in the center, STERLING at the right. Round, white ground, blue merrowed border, Smugglers' Notch, VT. in navy script beneath.

The notch got its name from people moving goods over the mountains into Canada back when doing so was a crime — first under the embargo, later under Prohibition, always in winter, always on foot.

A modern resort would have built a whole brand on that. Smugglers' has mostly let the name sit there and do its own work, which is a restraint the marketing department of almost nowhere else would have managed.

The border runs are still called what they are called, and the stories are still told on the lift, mostly by people who heard them from somebody else.

Embroidered on twill, merrowed edge. Photos are the condition report.