The Livery at Sunapee Harbor; 58 Main Street

The Sunapee Harbor Livery, now in the care of the Sunapee Heritage Alliance, has served many roles through the years. Although built as a livery for the Harbor Hotel, since the 1920s it has served as a fire station and Town Hall, and as a meeting and work space for many community organizations. Once thought to be of little further use to the town, it is now preserved as a valuable cultural center.

Originally, this historic building was the stable for the Harbor Hotel located next door. Thomas Smith built this a 50-guest room hotel, first called Hotel Guelma, in 1888. Within a year the hotel was enlarged and a new stable was constructed to accommodate 30 horses (today’s Livery). The stable was built for carriages on the street level floor and horse stalls on the floor below, connected by a novel semi-circular horse ramp which still exists inside the building today.

In 1910, Herbert Sawyer bought the stable. Herbert had the roof rebuilt into the building we see today, but over time it became apparent to him that the need for horse stables was quickly fading. In 1920 he sold the livery to the Town of Sunapee for use as a central fire station. Renovations to the building were made to accommodate the fire trucks and other firefighting equipment. The town selectmen soon began holding their meetings in the building, transitioning it from a livery to the Town Hall. In 1926, Moses Knowlton gifted a clock tower to the town and it was added to the fire station roof where it could be seen overlooking Sunapee Harbor and the whole village. In 1949, the Harbor Hotel next door to the fire station caught fire which destroyed the hotel's 1889 wing.

In 1951, the fire department knew they needed a more modern station. The town voted funds and a new station was completed in 1953. After the fire department vacated the building, it remained in use as the office until 1989 and in 1993 became home to the Sunapee Thrift shop. 

In 2008, the old livery was recognized as an important historical asset worthy of preservation and was added to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places. In 2015, an agreement was struck with the Selectmen to sell the property to the Sunapee Harbor Riverway Corporation with requirements for preserving historic features in the building such as the clock, horse ramp, and livery doors, and to provide public use space. The Riverway then signed a lease with the non-profit Sunapee Heritage Alliance, making the group responsible for the building’s use and maintenance and guiding it to serve the community into the future. In 2020 the Livery was purchased by the Sunapee Heritage Alliance.

For a deeper look into the stories of all that has happened here over the years, check with the Sunapee Historic Society. Look for Sunapee's Historic Buildings & Places Vol. 1 .

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