It took us 100 years to finally visit the historic Mt. Washington, one of New Hampshire's last grand hotels. We went to imagine how it must have been for visitors to the many SeacoastNH hotels of the 19th century - at Wentworth-by-the-Sea, the Farragut in Hampton, or at the Appledore or Oceanic Hotel on the Isles of Shoals. The big difference - those places all closed for the winter, and so did the Mount Washington throughout the 20 the century.

This is only the second year that the grand hotel in ritzy Bretton Woods has opened for winter. Joseph Stickeny imported 250 Italian craftsmen (most of whom left) to New Hampshire and created this giant structure in 18 months from 1901 to 1902. Then he promptly died, leaving it to his eccentric wife who then married into European royalty. When other hotels charged $5 for a night, the Mt Washington charged $20. The price and the NH version of luxury has been artfully restored by a group of investors who saved the building from possible destruction.

You have to be a real International Monetary Fund fan to dig the historic room where the Bretton Woods agreement was signed. Still, the building itself, and the lifestyle feel historic, Renovators have uncovered hundreds of wooden doors (painted white with government funding) and Tiffany glass windows. A live operator runs the little elevator. Electrical fixtures installed by the Edison Company are still in use. The stark open atmosphere of the 1902 hotel is back. Dozens of similar hotels operated throughout New Hampshire, but the old wooden giants simply could not survive.

New Hampshire residents should be required by law to spend time in the White Mountains every few years. We didn't find the traffic to be a problem, except along the woodsy trails near the Basin and the Old Man of the Mountains. There annoying, loud, aggressive "personal snow machines" filled the pine-scented air with gas fumes and jostled for position on the paths. There oughta be a law. -- JDR

Photos by J. Dennis Robinson
(except the one of JDR by Maryellen Burke)
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