Woodbine Cottage Restaurant

There was a snug cottage here in 1820, a home to many of the earliest harbor families, and a beloved Sunapee restaurant for many years. The original restaurant is gone but the site remains with many fond memories of summer lovely gardens, hospitable dining, and butterscotch rolls. Another ideal spot holding a lot of history.

Woodbine Cottage was built about 1820 as a mill house by Robert Emerson who briefly owned 21-acres at the head of the Sugar River as well as several water-powered mills. By 1864 the cottage and the big lake house were owned by Isaac Stevens, who had an interest in the horse powered threshing machine mill on the river. He sold the cottage to Susan Cottrell, the recently widowed daughter of Susan and Robert Osborn, and was home to the Osborn family for the next 30-years. 

By 1893 the little house was in a prime location in the harbor, next to the new Ben Mere Inn and was sold at a good price to the owners of Sunapee’s hame works. The house was rented out and in 1910 became the Indian Tree Tea Room, then in 1921 the Poll Parrot Tea Room. In 1928 Eleanor and Robert Hill of Sunapee purchased the property and established a landmark restaurant business in the little house. 

Eleanor was a self-taught cook and baker, who became a competent restaurant owner. Her first menu established the standard of her business: “Substantial and Dainty Foods for Discriminating People.” Tasty meals were served at the new Woodbine Cottage, with food prepared on a wood stove. The entire Hill family worked in the business and their story is one of what it means to be an integral part of a community. Over the next 60 years there were many additions and changes to the building and the property.

There was a special feeling in this restaurant, with lovely gardens outside, fresh flowers on every table, and a delicious aroma that lured diners with thoughts great coffee and delicious butterscotch buns. In 1977 the Woodbine Cottage opened for its 50th year, employing 46 people and in one five month season in the 1980s, it served 50,000 meals. But a family business does not outlast the family. When Bob died in 1981, Eleanor continued to run the restaurant with the support of her family for a few more seasons. In 1994, she closed the restaurant and died three years later. 

The restaurant sat empty until 1999 when a new owner considered rebuilding. Then, nothing happened and for a number of years the property changed hands until 2008 when new owners demolished the building In 2015 the property was sold again, the old gardens began to be restored, and the only remaining building from the Woodbine Cottage days was renovated into a family summer cottage.  

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).