As it turns out, the von Trapps lived a very comfortable life in the United States eventually, though they arrived without much money to their famous name. After settling in America in 1939, they took advantage of their considerable talent and performed across the country as the Trapp Family Singers. Despite a brief interval when their American visas expired and they had to head to Scandinavia to tour, the von Trapps soon returned to America for good, buying a home in Stowe, Vermont.
The family led a music camp on their estate, and Maria and the von Trapp children went on to become American citizens (though records indicate Georg never became a citizen himself). After quite a lengthy career as the Trapp Family Singers, they collectively decided to stop touring in 1955 — in part because many of the children had left the group. Georg died in 1947, but Maria lived 40 more years. Their biggest legacy beyond “The Sound of Music” may be that the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe is still operating as of this writing.
