"Easter" in the White Mountains

We celebrated Easter last weekend with a belated getaway to the White Mountains in NH.

Yes, you read that right. This trip, which had been scheduled in April, was cancelled when the COVID-19 virus struck. Hotel accommodations were shut down, and our reservation at the Mountain View Grand in Whitefield, NH, was cancelled too.

In recent weeks, restrictions have eased here. Hotels can operate at limited capacity mostly for in-state residents and out-of-staters who have quarantined. I'm not sure how they can attest to that.

Internet source, aerial view

So last weekend, we had a belated holiday at our favorite in-state getaway destination (We've stayed a couple of times before.) The Mountain View Grand Resort is one of only four grand hotels remaining in NH, the others are: The Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch (now being converted to condo ownership) and Wentworth By the Sea in Portsmouth.

While hotel activities were limited, it was an enjoyable trip. Saturday was a national ham radio field day and Grenville set up his portable ham radio rig in a back corner of the parking lot.

The hotel's history began in 1865 on a dark and stormy night (like every good story). A stagecoach going from Boston to Montreal overturned in Whitefield. Two travelers walked a half mile up a dirt road to a farmhouse owned by William and Mary Jane Dodge who took them in and provided a hot breakfast. The guests enjoyed the hospitality and 360-degree mountain views and asked to return the next summer for a few weeks.

Word of mouth spread and the Dodges further expanded the farmhouse as more guests arrived and some stayed the entire summer. In 1866, the farmhouse became the Mountain View House with an added 2-story addition and full veranda. More guests meant more building on. Each expansion had a new mortgage, ceremonially burnt at pay-off. Affluent families sought to escape summer heat, poverty and crime in their cities and went for a simple stay. Not sure how simple that was as they brought many trunks and staff.

Hotel accommodations vastly differed back then. Lighting was by oil lamps, baths were taken in tin tubs brought into guest rooms, heating was from fireplaces and wood-burning stoves. Mrs. Dodge ran the kitchen and food was supplied from the Dodge farm.

In 1922, a west wing was added with a new kitchen and dining hall with a round appearance so all tables were equal with no corner table. Known as the Crystal Ballroom it was the hotel’s only dining room for years. 

Hotel ownership passed down through the family. Travel changed from stagecoach to train to automobile. Some guests and their families stayed all summer, returning annually. Chauffeurs dropped them off under a covered entrance, which is gone now. Drivers lived in chauffeurs’ quarters in a building still onsite and now used for storage.

Mountain View Grand archive photos

Summer stays meant regular bridge games in the parlor or under shade trees, garden walks and afternoon tea on the veranda. By 1900, a nine-hole golf course was added. The property was still a working farm; animal feeding came before golf playing. In 1946, a heated outdoor pool and tennis courts were added.

Mountain View Grand archive photos

By the mid-960s, returning guests were aging and the hotel was known for an elderly clientele. In 1979, the Dodge family sold the hotel to the Mountain View Associates group. Many of the region’s grand hotels had closed or burned down as they were hard-pressed to transition to four-season, short-stay travelers. It was sold again and by 1986, the Mountain View House closed its doors despite unsuccessful attempts to reopen. A NY bank bought it in 1987 and auctioned off the entire contents of the hotel with no acceptable bids for the building, which was boarded up. Sold in a 1990 foreclosure auction; it remained dormant.

In 1998, a Massachusetts contractor purchased it to recreate the splendor of a grand resort in the White Mountains. After a $20 million restoration, the Mountain View House reopened as the Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa in 2002. Its current owner, American Financial, purchased it in 2005.

New additions included a health and wellness studio, 17-seat movie theater, family game room, regulation-size croquet lawn, and clay tennis courts. Mountain View Grand is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It claims to have the oldest operating elevator in NH dating to 1931. 

There's a working farm with chickens, ducks, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, and Scottish Highland cattle. While several indoor activities were closed during our stay due to the current COVid-19 virus, the farm was open for visits.

We spent several hours sitting on the front porch to see views of the White Mountains which include Mt Washington and the Presidential Range (named after U.S. Presidents Adams, Eisenhower, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Pierce) in order of height. 

Famous guests have included U.S. Presidents Grover Cleveland, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower; writers Robert Frost, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Stephen King; Hollywood actors Betty Grable, Bette Davis, the Marx Brothers. Other personalities who stayed were Norman Rockwell, Babe Ruth, Nelson Rockefeller, Neil Armstrong. And,we're also included in that distinguished list.

Welcome to a new month and Happy 🇨🇦 Canada Day to our northern neighbors. Here in the U.S., it's a major holiday 🇺🇸 weekend. There's no local festivities in Nashua, NH. The July 4th parade and fireworks 🧨 have been cancelled.