Maria von Trapp

One of my all time favorite movies is The Sound of Music.  The movie ends with the audience watching the von Trapp family climbing over the mountains into Switzerland.  I always wanted to know what happened to the family after that famous ending scene and here is what I found out.


First of all, I have to mention some of the real life facts which did not appear in the movie version of their life.  The real von Trapp children are named differently.  They are Rupert, Agathe, Maria, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna, and Martina.  Maria and Georg von Trapp also had three children of their own named Rosmarie, Eleoanor, and Johannes.  The von Trapp family lost most of their money during the Depression and were forced to lay off their servants and take on boarders.  Eventually, they started singing publicly and toured Europe as the Trapp Family Singers.

The von Trapp family did indeed leave Austria because they did not approve of Germany annexing their homeland.  But they did not climb over the mountains, carrying their luggage with them.  They boarded a train and went to Italy.  They continued touring with their musical act and eventually moved to America.  They purchased a farm in Vermont and ran a singing camp.  Georg died of lung cancer in 1947.  The family decided to build a ski lodge on their Vermont property and it still exists there today.  Maria von Trapp ran the lodge for many years with the help of her son Johannes.  She died in 1987.