About Us

We're Sam Parsons and Katharine Mangold, the husband and wife team behind Highwood Retreat. We designed it, built it by hand, and run it ourselves. A true project of ongoing passion.

Our backgrounds are in film and theatre, which turns out to be excellent training for creating a world you want people to get lost in. Every detail here is intentional: the lighting, the textures, the way the forest frames your morning coffee. This is a place where considered design, collected treasures, and wild landscape meet and get along beautifully.

When you arrive, we'll be here to greet you. Throughout your stay, we're on call: replenishing your water supplies, delivering treats to your tent, or just giving you the space and solitude you came for.

This is a family business, deeply personal and decidedly not corporate. That's the kind of thing Vermont does so well, and part of what drew us here. If you're lucky, you might even catch one of our little daughters "helping out" at check-in, perhaps with a stuffed animal entourage.

We are a pair of romantics with a real vision and heaps of hustle.

Let us take you on a journey.