Lodgings in the Upper Village

Lodgings in the Upper Village
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THE CAVE MOUNTAIN HOUSE: 1890 - 1905 (below) was originally the summer home of one of the Jose brothers, owners of Bartlett Land and Lumber Company.
The Hotel was managed by one Edgar Stevens, whose specialty was entertaining the guests both at the Inn and with excursions through the mountains. Mr Stevens was a fabulous story-teller and enjoyed personally escorting his guests on wild rides through the mountains. The Inn's rooms were advertised as large and airy, with electric lights, hot and cold running water, and excellent views from most rooms. There was also a large farm connected with the hotel that provided fresh eggs, meat and vegetables. All this could be had for prices ranging from $7 to $12 per week. (in perspective, an average family earned about $35./ month in 1895). On May 1, 1905 the Cave Mountain House and barn were totally destroyed by fire caused by a defective chimney. The insured loss amounted to $10875. The site remained empty until 1912 when the Howard Hotel was built on the same site.

The Color Photo Below is The Howard Hotel, Dated about 1912.

The Bartlett House was built in 1856 by Franklin George, first as his residence and shortly thereafter, as the town became a stopover for travellers on their way through Crawford Notch, he operated as an Inn. (There was no railroad in 1856). During the next 15 years several additions were made and in 1872 it became known as The Bartlett House. (Not to be confused with The Upper Bartlett House which was about half a mile further west).

After the railroad was constructed through the Notch Franklin leased the Mt Crawford House for a period of five years beginning in 1872. It's location directly on the railroad line was ideal.

Franklin was an industrious man, laying out a bridle path to the summit of Mt Langdon, operating a building and loan association and owning vast tracts of land stretching from the Saco River to the Albany Town Line. He also established the Bartlett Water Company and found time to be a Bartlett Selectman for six terms. He served as a State Representative in 1878 and was the Town Tax Collector as late as 1890. .

The Cave Mountain House burned in 1905 and was rebuilt as The Howard Hotel. Owned by G.K. Howard it opened in 1912. It was a first class hotel in its prime. Every room on the second and third floor connected with a bathroom, hot and cold water, and a room telephone to the front desk. The dining room seated 75 people. It provided drivers. See the original 1912 sales brochure for the Howard Hotel HERE

The hotel was eventually purchased by Matt Elliot and Realand Hart and renamed the Bartlett Hotel. Matt operated the Hotel until his death in1985 at which time it was purchased by the Yannones of Brockton Massachusetts. In the winter of 1989 the Hotel was destroyed by fire caused while thawing frozen pipes.

Source credit: The Latchstring was Always Out Aileen M. Carroll

The Maple Cottage Owned by George Chesley from about 1920 to 1939. He could accommodate both summer boarders and auto parties. After World War 2 it was purchased by the Stoatemaiers and is currently operated as The Lawrencian Ski Club. See a different angle here

The current Mountain Home Cabins originated in the early 19th century, probably as a stage stop. It was originally part of the Stillings family land It became the property of James and Emeline Nute They sold the business to Clifton and Lucille Garland. The cabins were built two per year starting in 1931.

In the 1920's, before the cabins, it operated as a campground. Cabins being a seasonal operation allowed Lucille to be a school teacher in Bartlett and Clifton tended milking cows. The property continues to be operated by Clifton's grand children who also operate Bear Notch Ski Touring Company from the site

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The Woodbine Cottage was operated by Mrs A.F. Bergeron in the 1930's. It is occupied today (2014) by Richard Jones and retains nearly all the character now as then. It is the second house east of the school. Just Across the street is the former Elms Inn operated by Mrya Smith and now the home of Cheryl and Richard Nealley. The building just to the east was a Sunoco Gas Station and repair shop operated by Elwood Dinsmore from the mid 1940's to the early 1960's.

The Bide-a-Wee is the second house on the left on River Street in the Village. It was operated by Charlotte and Frank Lobdell from 1920 to 1941. They catered to railroad workers and tourists alike.

The Thompson's Inn is recognizable today as the Chippanock, across the street from the Post Office. (photo above and below) It began as a private residence but by 1918 was operated as an Inn/Restaurant by Gertrude Thompson whose husband worked as a fireman on the railroad. In 1945 it was purchased by Sanford Hill who renamed it the Chippanock (bright north star). He continued to operate it until his death in the early 1990'S.

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Silver Springs Cottage was actually a large farm operated by James and Emeline Nute...(not to be confused with Silver Springs Lodge further west on Rte 302) Folks would come to spend the summer on a rural farm. It burned years ago but it's cellar hole is still visible just east of Mountain Home Cabins. The property was eventually inherited by Carrie LeBar, Upper Bartlett's only black resident in the 1960's, who operated the Lone Maple which was located about a half mile closer to the Village Center. It also burned in the late 1960's and has been replaced by the home of the Gerry and Eileen McManus.

Sky Valley Motor Court

The former Bartlett House is located in the center of the Village at the blinking light. It is now the residence of Bert and Gretta George. It operated as an Inn from 1856 to 1892.

Reference Material for this Tourism Section comes from:
The Latchstring was Always Out
by Aileen M. Carroll 1994

In 1790 Obed Hall's Tavern was probably located at the junction of today's Bear Notch Road and Route 302, today's park. Obed came to Bartlett from Madbury as an early Bartlett pioneer who became a prominent citizen, serving as Selectman, Town Treasurer, and was elected to Congress in 1810. In 1819 he ran for the Senate but did not win that election. Read the Hall Ancestry Here

Travel at this time was hazardous and Tavernkeepers considered themselves benefactors to the traveling public rather than businessmen. Mr Hall was one of two appointed as Surveyors of Highways and he was among those who petitioned the General Court in 1793 for a tax of one penney per acre to be used for the improvement of roads within the town.

Obed first married a woman 20 years his senior and second time a woman 20 years his Junior. After Obed's death his wife moved to Portland Maine and re-married to Richard O'Dell.

Obed's Tavern was operated at various times by William White and Benjamin Gould.

In addition to the Tavern Mr Hall also tended a large farm which was located partially on the property that is todays Sky Valley Motel. It was probably 100 acres or more. It was thought that he also operated a lodging establishment at the farm.

Mr Hall's brother Ebenezer also lived in Bartlett and was a school teacher in the local school. From 1811 to 1829 he was Judge of Probate for Coos County

(Joseph S. Hall was NOT related to Obed, but he was the builder of the first summit house on Mount Washington in 1852. Joseph Seavey Hall of Bartlett was one of the most important participants in mid-nineteenth century events in Crawford Notch (or the White Mountain Notch as it was known in those days) and on Mt. Washington. Yet most people have never heard of him. Read the Story at the White Mountain History web site, HERE.)

Obed 1st was the uncle of this Obed.

OBED HALL 2nd. 1795 -1873 Son of Hon. Ebenezer L. and Lydia (Dinsmore) Hall ; born, Conway, February 23, 1795 ; (Ebenezer was Obed 1st's brother) practiced, Bartlett and Tamworth ; died, Tamworth, May 21, 1873.

In the war of 1812 Mr. Hall was in the military service for a short time, in a company of militia at Portsmouth. His early education was imperfect, and he studied law three years with Enoch Lincoln of Fryeburg, Maine, and two years with Lyman B. Walker of Meredith. He first set up in practice at Bartlett, and about 1820 changed his residence to Tamworth.

He was representative in the legislature in 1840 and 1841, in which latter year he was appointed register of Probate for the new county of Carroll. That post he occupied ten years. In 1854 and 1856 he was a state senator.He was a lawyer of respectable acquirements, but preferred to give his time and attention to politics, which did not conduce to his legal progress nor to his pecuniary profit.

He gave much attention to his farm, being partial to agriculture. He was public-spirited, and in private life benevolent and kindly.His first wife was Elizabeth Gilman of Tamworth, who bore him one daughter; his second was Caroline E., daughter of John Carroll of Maine. She left him a daughter, who outlived her father.

SOURCE: The bench and bar of New Hampshire: including biographical notices ... By Charles Henry Bell

Andrew and Anna Arendt operated The Maple Dale, which is now the Penguin Ski Club. Andrew died first in 1959 and Anna only stayed at Maple Dale for about three years after Andrews Death. She died some 10 years later although there is no date of death on the stone, which is located in the Catholic Cemetery in Bartlett. See story above under the Sky Valley description

Sky Valley Motor Court:

In 1945 Alan & Libby Eliason came to Bartlett from Chestertown, Maryland, where Alan operated a professional photographic studio. Alan and Libby intended the cottage business to be a summer only endeavor so he could keep himself busy while he escaped his allergies, then known as ‘hay fever.’

In 1946, Alan and Libby purchased the property and established Sky Valley Motor Court on the former French Farm about one mile east of Bartlett Village. This same property was a part of the 1793 farm of Obed Hall, one of Bartlett's first pioneers. A part of it was also known as The Timothy George Farm. In 1898 Ida Hall (a descendant of Obed) sold a part of the property to Edgar Stevens, who at that time was the proprietor of the Cave Mountain House in the Village. In 1921 Edgar Stevens’ heirs (Don and Blanche Hobbs and James and Bertha Cook) sold the property to Orin A. Cook.

Orin operated a farm and an inn known as Maple Dale Cottage. By the 1950's Maple Dale Cottage was operated by Andrew and Anna-Marie Arendt, who came to Bartlett from Germany shortly before the beginning of WW II. Andrew was a meticulous flower and vegetable gardener and the area that is now the parking lot was once filled with flowers and shrubs of all varieties. The Arendts are both buried in the Catholic Cemetery just down the street, (see headstone picture below) and Maple Dale Cottage is now the Penguin Ski Club. Another 88 acre section of Obed Hall's Farm, later known as the Maybury lot, passed from a John T. Wentworth to Nathan French in 1855. That section remained in the French family until 1908 when it passed on to Lavinia Maybury by will. Lavinia sold the property to Orin Cook in 1918.

It's interesting that when the Eliasons were looking for property to buy, they almost purchased the abandoned property then known as the Stilphen Farm, today's Storybook Inn, but the superb mountain vistas from the French farm swayed the decision, even though Stilphen's was a better location. Alan said most of his business decisions were often made for the wrong reasons, but personal preferences usually ruled over business sense. Not a bad credo. Sky Valley first consisted of nine cabins that were popular at the time. By 1955 ten modern motel units were added, along with the first swimming pool in the area. Since there were very few eating establishments in the immediate area at that time, Alan and Libby also built and operated "The Poolside Restaurant" on the property, along with a gift shop added about 1958.

Many folks in the Village worked at Sky Valley at one time or another. Lillian Sanborn made all the pastries and desserts for the restaurant, and her daughters, Evelyn and Ellen, along with the daughters of farmer Harry Rogers, (Rogers’ Crossing) and Harry's niece Betty Jackson, were among the housekeepers. Lillian’s son Henry ran what may have been the first trash collection business in Bartlett. Alan’s son, David, remembers the big old truck loading up all the trash, with separate containers for anything suitable to feed the pigs Henry kept. Donna Ward worked at Sky Valley for at least ten years, first tending to Eliason's children and later on the front desk. The "summer only idea" did not last - by 1956. With full backing from their children, Alan and Libby moved the family from Chestertown permanently to Bartlett, although the business did not open for winter guests until the early 1970's.

To supplement his income, Alan became a real estate broker first working with Wimpy Thurston, who briefly owned a store in the Village at that time. Alan was later associated with Leland Realty in the development of Tyrol Ski Slopes, and later with Country Squire Realty in North Conway along with Ellsworth Russell, who was a prominent citizen of Eaton.

Alan continued to operate the business until 1968 when it was sold to Mr. John Chase. However, by 1971 Alan was once more the owner when Chase defaulted on the mortgage. About this time Alan's son, David, was in college and helped out in the business as time permitted. In 1975 Alan retired from Sky Valley and David took over the operation full time.

Thirty-four years later, Dave is still running the place, making him one of the longest serving innkeepers in the Mt. Washington Valley! Dave is also your humble Bartlett Historical Society Web master and editor. Alan returned to Maryland permanently in 2008, where he now sleeps in the same room in which he was born. It seems with the advent of air conditioning his allergies are no longer such an issue.