White Mountain Grand Hotels

Many years ago among the White Mountains of New hampshire, there stood some of the grandest resorts ever built in the United States. Over the last two hundred years such enterprising families, as the Crawfords, the Fabyan's, the Barrons, the Greenleafs, and the stickneys, have made this beautiful land into a mecca for the traveling elite of society. The first hotel built north of lake Winnipeseogee, was built near the site of the present Mt. Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods. This place, known as the Moose Head Tavern was built by a native Vermonter by the name of Eleazor Rosebrooks. His daughter Hannah married a man who would come to be known as the Veteran Pilot, Mr. Abel Crawford. Abel Crawford with his sons Ethan Allen , and Thomas Crawford would set up there own respective hotels in, or around the Notch that still bears their name. The Notch House was built around 1826 on the shore of Saco Lake, across from the present Appalachian Mountain Clubs, Highland Center, at crawford Notch. The Highland Center itself stands on a small piece of the footprint of the famed Crawford House Hotel, which occupied the site from 1859-1977 , when it was lost to fire. The next notable family to take over the hotel business from the Crawfords, were the Barron's of Hartford vermont. Asa Taylor Barron was a wealthy land owner , who ran a succesful merchantile , and hotel business at White River Junction, VT. He and his brother Oscar F. Barron soon saw the need for accomadations, for the travelers through the White Mountains, N.H. In 1868 the brothers Barron built the Twin Mountain House , at Carroll N.H. Soon after they leased the Fabyan House, and purchased the Crawford House. Oscar F. barron passed away at the Crawford House in 1879, leaving his elder brother as sole proprieter. The Twin Mountain House would soon become known for it's service and cuisine, as well as it's impeccible manager, asa's son Col. Oscar G. Barron. By the time of asa barron's passing at the Twin mountain House, in the summer of 1887, he had ruled over a hoteldom, of five grand hotels, those not yet mentioned were the Mt. Pleasant, and the Summit House, atop Mt. Washington. After the death of the patriarch Asa Barron, his sons Oscar G. and William A. Barron would carry their fathers torch well int the next century. The Barron dynasty would come to an end nearly eighty years after it was started with the building of the Twin mountain House. Col W.A. Barron sold the Twin Mtn House in 1947, and the Crawford House the following year. These hotels are now long gone. The first victim of the fire bug was the Summit House, perched atop Mt Washington, which was destroyed in 1908, taking with it the presses of the famed mountain newspaper, Among The Clouds. The next to go was the Mt. Pleasant, which was made obsolete by the building of the collosal Mt washington Hotel. The Mt Pleasant was torn down in 1938, never to be rebuilt. Next to go was the fabyan House, built by Joseph Stickney in 1872, this grand hotel was also lost to fire in 1950, just days after the season had ended. Then came the old Twin Mountain House, which was torn down in 1960. The final victim was the Crawford House, which after 118 years of unequaled service, was just left to rot, and finally burned, under questionable circumstances, in 1977. The last of the Mohicans, so to speak is the Mt Washington Hotel, which was built by Joseph Stickney in 1902, and still stand proudly over a century later.

Crawford Notch New Hampshire

I remember when I was a kid I was taken by my father to the location where the famous Crawford House Hotel had stood. By this time only some remanants of foundation, and the old carriage house, were all that remained of this magnificant old place. I didn't really grasp the history of the place at that time, thogh I have come to realize it since. the Crawford House was built by Col. Cyrus Eastman in 1859, just after the first hotel on that location had sucumbed to fire. Around 1870 it was purchased by Asa T. Barron, a wealthy farmer and landlord from Quechee,Hartford,Vermont. The Barron family would come to turn Crawford's as well as the surrounding grand hotels, into international destinations, for the traveling elite. Presidents, poets, heads of state, and royalty were all entertained within those walls. With that being said I can not fathom how they could let that place be torn asunder, and eventualy burned. I fully understand the times, and the fuel crisis, which must have made it tough to heat a large, drafty hotel, but I also understand it's historical and cultural significance. It is too bad that such a beautiful old structure was just abandoned to the elements, and the locals. I have tried since to collect any items pertaining to those grand hotels and my collection is becoming impresive. it includes floor plans from Crawford's, as well as stationary, and china, from several of the Barron hotels, including Crawford's, Fabyan's, Mt. Pleasant, Summit, Twin Mountain and Tip Top House. I also have items from the Profile House in Franconia Notch, and the Maplewood in

Bethlehem, N.H. And I will continue to collect as long as I can. I have met with the families of the people who ran and owned those hotels, and that has been a great experience. I met the grandchildren of Colonel William Andros Barron, who ran the Crawford House for half a century.

The grandchildren lived on the coast of Maine, and I had lunch with William Andros Barron IV, and talked about our family connections, and history. i have also spoken with the great grandsons of Cordeanio Harley Merrill, who had worked for Asa Barron at the Twin Mountain House since 1868, and went on to run the Crawford House, untill a few years before his death in 1908. By the time he died he was known as one of the great hoteliers of the time, and had become an owner of the hotel firm, with the incorporation of the Barron, Merrill, & Barron Hotel Co. around 1880.His grandson still lived at 22 Mechanic St, Shelburne Falls, MA The same place that his great grandfather Coordeanio had lived and died. To both the Barron and Merrrill families I have given them back the personal documents of their families, that I have collected over the years. I believe that they will be better appreciated by the family of origin. They were both very happy to recieve the documents, and that makes it all worth it in the end. I hope to continue to tell the story of the grand hotels of the White mountains New Hampshire, and the people who made them grand.I would be interested in anyone connected to the hotels in any way. I also remember meeting Mr. Ray Evans of Twin Mountain, N.H. who had been the caretaker of the Crawford House for many years. When I met him around 1996, he was quite elderly then, though he had a keen memory of the glory days. He remembered working for Col. W.A. Barron during World War II, and for the new owners there after. He had a great collection of Crawford items, including the original sign, that had hung above the entrance to the Crawford House, which he had out behind his shed, exposed to the elements. I drove up to his place a few years past, and the place had been cleaned up , and nothing of Mr. evans remained. He died in 1997, not long after I met him. I am very glad that I was able to gain one of the last insights into the grand hotels. Col. William A. barron sold the Crawford House in 1948 to a syndicate of residents from Littleton, N.H. He retired from the hotel business that his family had built for nearly eighty years. He retired with his wife to Newburyport, MA and died there at age ninety six on October sixth nineteen sixty four. One hundred and fifty years after the birth of his father Asa T. Barron who had started it all. may they all rest in peace.