White Oaks Road
The many views below were taken from the Captain Sanborn farm on White Oaks Road. The farm was located where there is a trailer park today, across White Oaks Road from the former Surf Coaster property. According to Weirs historian Edgar H. Wilcomb, Captain Winborn A. Sanborn “…was a deep sea captain and went away every winter to engage in the southern coast trade, coming back every summer to take charge of one of the lake steamers, first the Belknap, then the Chocorua, and lastly the Lady of the Lake.” Captain Sanborn built the Hotel Weirs in 1880, which was initially called Sanborn’s. Captain Sanborn’s bio can be read here. After Sanborn passed away in 1882, his son-in-law, Captain John S. Wadleigh, took command of both the farm and the Lady of the Lake. Captain Wadleigh died in 1895; his wife Ellen (Sanborn’s daughter), died shortly after, in 1896. It is unknown who the heirs of the farm were at that point, but the postcards below indicate the property was kept up as a farm for several more decades, with the viewscape lasting at least through the late 1930s.
In the landscape view below, the original Music Hall can be seen in its location at what is today Endicott Rock Park. The photo was taken by F.J. Moulton circa 1895.
A white border colorized postcard also shows the original Music Hall. High up on the hill is the Winnecoette. The postcard was based on a photo taken years earlier, as white border postcards were not produced until 1915, but the music hall was gone by 1902.
Taken from further downhill on the farm field, this circa 1905 “Steamboat Landing” postcard focuses more the Weirs Beach waterfront. This card shows steam pouring from both the train and the steamboat. Beyond the steamboat, the Weirs Hotel Wharf projects into the lake.
A view in the early 1920s. The Winnipesaukee Pier can be seen in the distance.
A 1928 brochure produced by the Laconia Chamber of Commerce used an old photo of the view for its front cover. The image showed the Winnipesaukee Pier in the distance. However, the Winnipesaukee Pier had already been replaced by Irwin’s Winnipesaukee Gardens in 1925, so the 1928 brochure cover was out-of-date.
A real photo postcard of the view, postmarked in 1927, shows the new Irwin’s Winnipesaukee Gardens.
White border postcard, late 1920s or early 1930s, titled “Lake Winnepesaukee, The Weirs, N.H.”
White border postcard, similar dating as previous, mentions the view is “from White Oaks”. Note the stone wall lining the road. Sections of the stone wall still remain on the road today.
Linen postcard of the view, late 1930s.
A linen postcard of the view “from White Oaks road”. Postmarked in 1943.
This view, a detail taken from the photo on pages 110-111 of Warren Huse’s book “The Weirs”, shows the third, 1893-1929 train station, the original, 1886-1902 Music Hall, and above it all, the Captain Sanborn farm and farmhouse, circa 1895. The fieldhouse, seen at the bottom right of the field in many of the above postcards, is visible in the lower corner of the field in this photo detail. White Oaks Road is seen clearly, with stone walls lining the road on both sides. Today, sections of the stone walls remain on both sides of the road.
A contemporary photo from the trailer park of the former view from the farm. The trees have grown tall on both sides, blocking most of the earlier expansive view of Weirs Beach and the lake.
