undated
85 M. Standard-size photographs-New Hampshire-Sunapee\n
GUSN-380828
Undated black-and-white photograph of the Ben Mere Inn on Lake Sunapee in Sunapee, New Hampshire. Image was taken from the water and shows the Inn, docks, buildings, boathouses, and several boats.
tourism
inns
vacations
black-and-white photography
1 black-and-white photograph ; 4.5 x 6.5 inches
PC001
General photographic collection
PC001.02.01.USNH.1580.0010.002
Undated black-and-white photograph of the Ben Mere Inn on Lake Sunapee in Sunapee, New Hampshire. Image was taken from the water and shows the Inn, docks, buildings, boathouses, and several boats.
Sunapee Lake (New Hampshire) [lake]
Sunapee Harbor (Sullivan county, New Hampshire) [bay]
Sunapee (Sullivan county, New Hampshire)
black-and-white photography
Photograph was unframed but is still adhered to acidic board. Acidic backing paper of frame was in poor condition and was copied. Copy is included in folder. Manufactured by E. Schoepflin & Co. - Picture Frames and Gilt Mouldings, 55 Sudbury St. , Boston, MA. No. 6043-2.
The 4.5 x 6.5 inch black-and-white photograph is unframed but adhered to acidic card stock. The photograph is yellowing and brittle.
Backing paper of frame was copied and shows a sticker by the framer. "E. Schoepplin & Co. / Picture Frames and Gilt Mouldings / 55 Sudbury St., Boston, Mass. / No. 6043-2". Included in folder.
Item
85 M. Standard-size photographs-New Hampshire-Sunapee
The Lake Sunapee Hotel Company investors considered several names for their new enterprise and settled on Ben Mere meaning "high hill lake" in Gaelic. They opened the Ben Mere Inn during the summer of 1890. The new hotel included reading rooms, a large parlor with fireplaces, a broad porch overlooking the lake, a rooftop observation tower, and 100 guest rooms with toilet and bathing facilities for men and women on each floor. The Ben Mere Inn offered tennis, bowling, billiards, band concerts, dancing, horseback riding, sailing and boating. Business was best in during the 1920s when thousands of people arrived each summer to vacation. But the growing use of autos reduced train and steamboat travel and by 1930 the era of the big hotels on Lake Sunapee was nearly over.
In 1930, owner Lewis Dudley also purchased the Woodsum Steamboat Company, but business would continue to decline. By the end of 1940, the Ben Mere property was owned by a Newport bank and the US entered WWII.
The Ben Mere Inn closed in 1967, and was destroyed in 1968. Owners of the property sold the remaining land to the Sunapee Conservtion Commission to be used as a park. Today a park, bandstand, and parking exist on the site at Sunapee Harbor.
Admin, Clio and Sunapee Historical Society. ( 2021, June 19). "Ben Mere Hotel, Runals House, Sunapee Waterfront Park." theclio.com/entry/126009
Bache Chalmers, Barbara. (n.d.) Sunapee's Historic Buildings & Places Vol. 1 (Sunapee Historical Society, 1918 & 1919).
Levine, David. (n.d.) History Stands Still. The Background of Bandstands throughout New England Blogspot. Sunapee, NH. bandstands.blogspot.com/2009/03sunapee-nh.html
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