Author: By Linda Matchan, Globe Staff

Date: SUNDAY, January 24, 1999

Page: M1

Section: Travel

I'd known Molly for all of 90 seconds. She is 32, lives in Ipswich, and just happened to be the person waiting ahead of me in the line for the toboggan run. But that didn't stop me from pleading with her to let me squish behind her and her older brother Barry, so I wouldn't be alone as I plunged to what seemed probable extinction on what the Eastover folks say is New England's longest and fastest toboggan run.

It's 1,500 feet long and all ice, and you travel the run, they say, at 52 m.p.h. It's constructed of 300 three-hundred-pound blocks of ice, laid end to end inside a narrow chute, which makes your ride a lot like the one your groceries get at certain supermarkets after they're bagged and pushed along metal rollers toward your car. Except my ride was downhill all the way.

In we scrunched, we intimate strangers, digging our fingers into each other's Gore-Tex. ``You'll go like a hammer from hell,'' the toboggan-run employee assured us before taking a step back and letting us fly.

We took off -- in much the manner he promised -- on what had to be the most scary, bumpy, and yes, exhilarating toboggan ride I'd ever experienced. ``It was terrifying,'' concluded Barry O'Brien once he'd shakily extricated himself from the toboggan.

But I'd survived it. After all, conquering fear was what this three-day visit to Eastover was supposed to be all about.

The Eastover Resort, to be sure, hardly seems like a scary place. It's a pristine and manicured year-round vacation spot on almost 1,000 acres, with indoor and outdoor pools, cross-country ski trails, hiking, tennis, horseback riding, and numerous other activities. But several weeks and weekends a year, the resort sponsors so-called Family Weeks with special family rates and activities. (At other times of the year, Eastover sponsors singles weekends and couples weekends.)

For many families, however, the big draw is downhill skiing, since Eastover has its own beginner's slope, ski rentals, and instruction. Indeed, the slope -- with its tame 84-foot vertical drop -- is kind of a sheltered workshop for novice skiers.

But the truth is that one person's bunny slope is another person's Everest, and that person, alas, is me. Although I've always been envious of those sturdy alpine types who cavalierly dangle lift tickets from their zipper pulls, the truth is I've stayed on level ground all my life. The older I get, and the more friends and colleagues I see hobbling around with ski-induced injuries, the more terrifying I find the prospect of taking to the slopes.

But with our son and daughter now 13 and 9, it seemed only fair that we introduce them to the sport that their friends were already mastering -- and at the same time show them there's a little life left in the old folks yet. Eastover was a good place to begin, since its ski package deals include meals, lodging, entertainment, and social programs.

So off we went the weekend after Christmas, with a minivan stuffed with boots, gloves, hats, and sweaters; with another family in our neighborhood; and, in my case, with a lot of dread and anxiety. I confess that my hopes of being spared at the last minute were raised when we arrived at the Berkshires and found: no snow. But no, the folks at Eastover graciously offered us transportation to the nearby Bousquet ski area in Pittsfield, which has snowmaking equipment. Eastover even threw in a box lunch for us.

So there we all were, on skis, on a sparkling crisp December day. The kids took to it immediately; our son was off the bunny slope and whizzing down the intermediate slope called Drifter in no time. My own start was less auspicious. First, I mangled my long-coveted lift ticket when I tried to attach it to my zipper. Then I stumbled and fell on the rope tow, holding up a long line of impatient bunnies. And then -- according to my son, who thereafter called me ``Psycho Skier'' -- I flew down the bunny slope at a ridiculously fast speed (I didn't know how to stop), dodging children and snowboarders and screaming ``I'm out of controllllllll'' at the top of my lungs.

I don't remember any of this -- nor do I remember much about how, when I foolishly decided to promote myself to ``Drifter,'' I caused the chairlift operator to have to stop the lift twice. Once was when I couldn't figure out how to get on it, and the other was when I couldn't figure out how to get off.

But did it really matter? No. Even Psycho Skier enjoyed the day. And then it was back to Eastover to soak my weary bones in a hot tub.

The resort was built in 1910 by Harris Fahnstock, a stockbroker from New York, who designed it as his summer home. It included a brick Georgian mansion that is now used, among other functions, as a dining hall and offices, and a stable that is now a recreation hall called the Tally-Ho. Fahnstock sold Eastover in 1941, and in 1946 it was purchased by an Italian emigrant named George Bisacca, who lived in Danbury, Conn.

Bisacca, the owner of a successful tire business, was the kind of eccentric thinker who is sometimes discreetly referred to as a ``character.'' As a one-time roustabout for the Ringling Brothers Circus, Bisacca, who died in 1983, developed a certain sense of showmanship, according to Bob McNinch, Bisacca's son-in-law and one of several members of the family who now operate the resort.

Bisacca's sense of showmanship and quirkiness is still evident at Eastover. It's in the revolving stage he ordered up for the Tally-Ho, inspired by one he'd seen in Las Vegas. You can see it in the resort's pet buffalo, grazing quietly on the property. (There are 16 of them now, the descendants of the original two he purchased in Oklahoma in 1961, just because he had a hankering for them.) You can see it in a subtle detail in the resort's indoor swimming pool -- two portholes installed inside the pool wall, so that you can have an audience when you swim underwater, just like a sea turtle at an aquarium.

You can see it most dramatically in one of Eastover's hidden treasures -- the American Heritage Room, an underground museum that houses one of the largest privately held Civil War collections in the United States. The Civil War was another of Bisacca's passions, and he collected a vast number of artifacts, including an authentic 12-pound Dahlgren cannon and an 1861 Gatling gun.

The Civil War theme also carries over into the rest of the resort, says Bob McNinch's son Rob, who is general manager of Eastover. Thus, the guest cottages have names like ``Carolinian,'' ``Georgian,'' and ``Virginian.'' ``It provides a motif is what it does,'' he says.

If the theme does seem rather un-Berkshire-like out in the rarefied world of Tanglewood, well, so what? The resort gave us a much-appreciated break from the daily routine of family life. Although with the unexpected additional cost of Bousquet the price of a visit seemed steep, we definitely enjoyed having meals without worrying about settling the bill, having someone else vacuum up our children's Cocoa Puffs, and having our activities planned for us. (They include swim races, movies, dancing, and water aerobics; there is a kids' camp for younger children and a pool table for older ones, although the hours were restricted. It seemed that there were more activities for younger kids than older ones; our teenager reported he was ``bored'' a couple of times.)

Accommodations were comfortable, if not elegant. We stayed in the Virginian, a carpeted, pine-paneled motel-like building: The kids had their own room next to but not adjoining ours. The staff was friendly, and the food abundant and hearty American fare, though by no means designed for the gourmet. (Sample entrees: roast beef and pork loins, and for the kids, pizza bagels and chicken nuggets.)

Warning to parents: Eastover is a BYOB zone. Warning to children: Eastover is a TV-free zone, except for the one television we saw in the mansion library. Give it up and try skiing. Or wedge yourself into that scary toboggan, and have the ride of your life.

February ski week and weekends are Feb. 12-14, Feb. 14-19, and Feb. 19-21. There is a flat rate for families: Weekends are $95 per adult per night; three-fourths of that rate for children ages 8-13; and half the rate for children 7 and under. The price includes all meals, full use of resort facilities, entertainment, and social programs.