Opened In 1902 And Is Now A National Historic Landmark Housing Guests And Giving Tours
Drivers rolling down Hwy 302 in Northern New Hampshire often slam on their brakes as the Mount Washington Hotel comes into view. Surrounded by a white columned veranda and topped with a red roof glinting in the sun, the huge hotel seems like a mirage from another, more gracious age. Framing the hotel is the most magnificent of backdrops - Mt. Washington itself, at 6,288 feet the highest peak in the Northeast and the Presidential Range, often topped with snow.
“People say it looks like a cruise ship locked in a sea of green,” says Craig Clemmer, a 10-year veteran of the resort’s staff. “We had to create a pull-off so people can stop and take pictures safely.”
What many people don’t realize, he says, is that the hotel, a National Historic Landmark, is open for tours. Free guided tours are conducted by community volunteers at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily. Or, Craig says, visitors can pick up a free booklet outlining a self-guided tour at the concierge desk anytime.
Opened in 1902, the Mount Washington was the dream hotel of New Hampshire native Joseph Stickney, once the owner of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He spared no expense, constructing his hotel with a fireproof steel frame and an electrical system installed by the Edison company. Each of the 200 guest rooms had a bathroom with hot and cold running water, a real luxury at the time. Stickney employed 250 Italian craftsmen who created lavish plaster embellishments for the ballroom and dining room, and brought in the Tiffany company to provide stained glass accents throughout the hotel.
Tours gather in the hotel’s Great Hall, in front of an ornate antique grandfather clock that once kept time in Stickney’s New York townhouse. The nearly 200 year-old timepiece has been here since the hotel opened. For many years, the first guest of the season wound the clock, while the last guest would stop the pendulum on closing day. This tradition continued until the year 2000, when the newly winterized Mount Washington opened as a year-round resort.
“It’s one of our gems,” says Mac McQueeney, a volunteer guide. “One of the only original pieces we have.” He points out another gem in the nearby Conservatory, an 1882 rosewood Steinway grand piano. The oval shaped Conservatory with its mountain views and Tiffany-decorated dome is a popular spot for weddings and other events, Mac says.
Another stop on McQueeney’s tour is the Gold Room, where the members of the International Monetary Conference met in July, 1944. The agreement they signed here established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and made the U.S. dollar the preeminent world currency. “A lot of how we live today was determined at that conference,” McQueeney says. “The fourteen nations seated in the Gold Room later became the first Security Council of the United Nations.”
The hotel’s brief brush with government control had another, less welcome outcome. “To get ready for the conference, they brought in 150 workers from Washington and gave them each 50 gallons of white paint,” McQueeney explains. “They painted everything that didn’t move, including the mahogany doors, Tiffany glass and brass doorknobs.” Though most of the damage has been repaired, Mac says you can still see bits of paint on some doorknobs.
In recent years, the hotel, now owned by Omni Hotels and Resorts, has been completely restored and decorated with reproduction furniture based on early photographs, including wicker lounges on the 903 foot long veranda that circles the building. Historical photos and paintings line the corridors, along with rare Currier & Ives prints. “They’ve spent $90 million or more in the ten years I’ve been here,” Craig Clemmer says, “including the new $7 million roof.”
More money was spent on expanding the resort’s activity offerings. Bretton Woods, New England’s largest ski area, occupies an adjacent mountain, with 11 lifts carrying skiers and snowboarders to 42 trails in winter. In summer and fall, visitors can take a complimentary chairlift ride up to the Latitude 44 restaurant halfway up the mountain. Canopy tours, horseback riding, carriage and sleigh rides, rock climbing, fly fishing, and, in winter, more than 100K of cross country skiing and snowshoe trails, are open for the public to enjoy. Ditto the resort’s many restaurants, where options range from formal meals in the hotel dining room to drinks in The Den, a Prohibition-era bar hidden under the hotel where whiskey was once served in teacups.
Throughout the many ups and downs of the Mount Washington’s more than 100 years of operation, one aspect remains constant. According to Mac McQueeney, one of the resort’s earliest residents has never checked out. Princess Caroline, the widow of Joseph Stickney, inherited the hotel before marrying a member of the French royal family. Despite owning numerous castles and hotels in Europe, she continued to visit the Mount Washington every summer until her death in 1936. Since then, the Princess’s ghost has been a permanent resident.
She maintains a prominent presence at the hotel even today, her portrait occupying a balcony overlooking the Great Hall. Her private dining room is now an intimate cocktail lounge. A place is set for her, using her special china, in the dining room each night. And guests in Room 314, furnished with her favorite four poster bed, often report ghostly visits of a lady in evening attire.
For McQueeney, the situation is simple. “The Mount Washington is the place to be,” he says. “Always was, still is.”
Renee Wright
A graduate of Franconia College in Social Psychology, Renee has worked as Travel Editor for Charlotte Magazine and has written three travel guidebooks for Countryman Press among other writing assignments. She enjoys food and camping.
Make Sure To Stay At:
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