“The Wentworth”
The Daily Evening Times
June 15, 1874

Not seen since 1874, this complete newspaper article offers little-known details about the opening of Wentworth by the Sea 130 years ago.Read the complete transcript and see rare photos from "Wentworth by the Sea: The LIfe and TImes of a Grand Hotel".

.

BUY our history of the hotel
SEE: our special section on Wentworth by the Sea history
MORE on the Campbell Family

THE WENTWORTH
EDITOR'S NOTE: THis is an original account from an 1874 newspaper. The article was recently discovered by historian Richard Winslow and contains information not included in our hardcover history of the hotel. It is reprinted here for the first time since 1874. The rare early photos did not accompany the article, but are courtesy of the Portsmouth Athenaeum and Matthew Thomas.

No spot of its size upon the Atlantic coast, can boast of more historic interest or greater attractions in local beauties, than New Castle. But few of our residents, however much acquainted with the village of New Castle, are familiar with the attractive points on the southerly shores of Great Island, and it has remained for Mr. Daniel E. Chase, a native of New Hampshire, to demonstrate the attractiveness of this spot soon to become famous as a summer resort.

Mr. Chase, while sojourning on the island last summer, was struck with the beauties of the southwest section of the town bordering upon Little Harbor, and foresaw, with a sagacity that has characterized his former business operations, its capacity for a spacious and commodious retreat for summer visitors. He accordingly purchased about forty acres of land, including the site of the hotel, the construction of which he began last season, and hardly had the preparations for building commenced, ere every one wondered that it was not done years before. The new hotel is called “the Wentworth.” It is a well-built and admirably planned house, constructed under Mr. Chase’s supervision by a master builder from Somerville, Mass., with an extensive hall and office, large general parlor, reading room, reception room, &c., on the first floor, with a cheerful and well-lighted dining room capable of seating 400 guests. Around three sides of the house is a piazza fourteen feet wide, allowing guests even in an easterly storm, a comfortable spot under shelter to watch the “ramp and roar/Of wild waves dashing on the shore.”

The peculiar attractiveness of the in-door arrangements at The Wentworth is, that every room, north, south, east or west, has an equally extensive and enjoyable prospect, so that one is at a loss to indicate which room he would prefer to another; all is fact having from their windows views of the sea, land and river, unsurpassed by any like establishment we have ever visited.

CONTINUE with 1874 Hotel Report