Day Dawn Café - Harbor Trading Post; 81 Main Street

The Day Dawn Cafe restaurant and souvenir gift shop was built by W. Wallace Flanders in 1889. It has had many owners and various names over the years but has always held a key position at the busy summer waterfront. It is now owned by Sunapee Harbor Riverway and home to Harborside Trading.

W. Wallace Flanders completed construction of this building in 1889 for his son-in-law, George Osborne, who operated the Day Dawn Café restaurant and souvenir shop serving Sunapee’s summer visitors and steamboat passengers. George and his wife Emma found the harbor a perfect place to raise their three sons Stanley, Rollo, and Leo. Following this first summer of operation, George died unexpectedly at age 36, leaving Emma to raise their three young sons.

From 1902 to 1919, Emma's son Stanley Osborne ran Day Dawn Café, followed by J. Fred Eastman, who changed the name to J. Fred Eastman’s Café. In 1929 Charlie Rowell bought the property and operated his Chris-Craft boat dealership from the restaurant docks. His wife Florence ran the Café until 1934 when the property was lost to bank foreclosure. The following year, Christine V. Williams bought the property and ran the restaurant as Williams Harbor Grille and Gift Shop until 1956.

In 1967, the property came full circle when it was purchased by Leo Osborne’s sons and grandsons and used as a showroom for Osborne’s Garage & Marine. The property was sold in 1991 to the Sunapee Harbor Riverway. Since 2003 this building has been home to the Harbor Trading Post.

Barbara Bache Chalmers, Sunapee's Historic Buildings & Places Vol 1 (Sunapee Historical Society, 1918 & 1919).