Sunapee Harbor Historical Walking Tour
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Description
Take a walk with us through the early stories of Sunapee Harbor.
1. The Anchorage, 71 Main Street
This building has been the place to go for food since the early 1900s. The signs over the doors have changed from Ice Cold Temperance Drinks, to Morgan’s Store and Ice Cream, to The Anchorage. No matter the name, visitors have come by foot, by car, and by boat for over 100 years for refreshments and the variety of activity along this Sunapee waterfront.
2. Moses Knowlton House, LSPA; 63 Main Street
The lovely Queen Anne style house sitting prominently above the Harbor is the second house to be built here. It was the home of Moses Knowlton, a philanthropic, civic minded selectman and state representative for Sunapee. It has been a home, a farm, a guest house, and an event center. In 2008 it became the lake environmental center of the LSPA.
3. 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.
4. Knowlton Tenement at 59 Main Street
This rental property is one-half of a house built in 1851 on the site of today’s LSPA building. The property was owned in 1889 by Moses Knowlton who, wanting a larger home, decided to divide the original house and move the sections to alternate corners of his property to be used as tenements. This was a wise move at a time when there was a serious shortage of housing for factory workers in the area.
5. The Tin Shop, Hardware Store, Restaurant; 45 Main Street
Todays Wildwood Smokehouse is remembered by many as the site of the old Laskey’s Hardware store. But years before Laskey's there were other skilled craftsmen working in this building making items by bending tin, soldering iron, and threading steel pipes. This was an 1800s Tin Shop, an important resource for the many local mills and small businesses.
6. Leo Osborne Reflecting Pool
This site is dedicated to the memory of Leo Osborne for his significant civic contributions to the town. Summer resident William Baird Jr contributed funds to remove the vacant and deteriorating mill buildings at the heart of the upper village and funded the creation of this reflecting pool memorial. Baird participated in the 1958 "Plan for the Improvement of Sunapee Harbor" was finalized.
7. Sunapee’s Water System & Water Pumping Station; 66 River Road
This brick building at the end of River Road is owned by the town and is the control center for Sunapee water. The Water Department is charged with providing water from Lake Sunapee to homes in the area with the help of pumps and systems in this building. The pumps were not always here in this building. There is a story...
8. 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.
9. Ben Mere Grill, Holly Cottage, Stacy's Smoothies
The Ben Mere Grill, located in the heart of Sunapee Harbor, is the sole surviving structure of the Ben Mere Inn and Runals Hotel properties. There are many visitors to the Harbor who remember this for burgers, gift items, or smoothies. With key location, it’s no surprise it is still being used for businesses today.
10. Ben Mere Hotel, Runals House, Sunapee Waterfront Park
The Gazebo at Sunapee Harbor stands at the former site of the grand hotel - The Ben Mere Inn. In the 1800s the green lawns, shrubs, and walkways led a multitude of vacationers from rooms in the big hotel down to the steamships at the woodsum wharf at water's edge.
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11. Sunapee Town Wharf
Access to the lake for many at Lake Sunapee Harbor is the wharf located at the intersection of Lake Avenue, Burkehaven Hill Road, and Main Street. Today it is a busy area between the boat launch and the big tour boats. This has a colorful history back to the era of lake steamboats and grand hotels in the 1870s.
12. 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.
13. Colby - Flanders Homestead; 77 East Main Street – Sunapee Harbor
This house, built by Stickney on property owned by Elijah Peasley in 1836, became the homestead of Isaac Colby in 1855. Since 1871 it has been in the Flanders/Osborne family for more than 100 years. It is currently owned and maintained by the Sunapee Harbor Riverway, Inc. and opens in the summer as a gift shop.
14. Lake Sunapee Outlet and Dam
The only outlet of Lake Sunapee and the head of the Sugar River is in Sunapee Harbor. The Sugar River flows from the Lake through the screens on one side of the road and over a dam on the other side. Water level is controlled now by the State of NH but control began in 1820 when a private corporation of down-river industries built the first dam and controlled the flow.
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15. Sunapee Historical Society Museum
The Sunapee Historical Museum is located in what many remember as the Osborne's Marine building in the center of Sunapee Harbor. Built originally as a stable it has been proudly preserved by members of the Historical Society as an ideal place to share artifacts of the farming, industrial, and tourist industries of the region. Today you can see machinery that kept the old steamships running, dishes from the old hotels, equipment from local farms, items from all aspects of life and even the names of the horses once stabled here.
