Lady of the Lake Gallery
As the Lady of the Lake was retired in 1893, before the postcard era began in 1901, no color images are available, except one.
Total Number of Images: 29
Last updated on 12/04/2011
Vessel Statistics:
126′ long
35′ beam
6.3′ draft
Top Speed: 16mph
Passenger Capacity: 400
If one looks closely at these images, one can see on the prow of the vessel the figurehead of the Lady of the Lake. This lifesize statue now resides at the New Hampshire Historical Society’s museum, in Concord. Ship modeler David Warren of Melvin Village has built a 1/32 scale model of the Lady, which is currently on display at the Lake Winnipesaukee museum. For more images of the Lady of the Lake docked at the Weirs Beach train station, click here for the first station and here for the second station. For images of the Lady and the Mount side by side in Center Harbor, click here. For images of the Lady of the Lake at Diamond Island, click here.
The distortion in the bow of the Lady in the above photo was caused during the scanning process (the photo spread across two separate pages of a book).
Here is the only color image of the Lady we have come across so far. This is a colorized postcard, dating from around the 1910’s, purportedly an 1880’s image of the Lady docked at the wharf in Wolfeboro. However, its authenticity is in doubt – the Lady may have just been painted into an old photo of the Wolfeboro wharf.
A 1976 bicentennial souvenir medallion shows a scene similar to the colorized postcard above.
The Original Lady
The Lady looks quite different in the following photos. The pilot house is squared off, not rounded; the smokestack has a bulge at the top; the semi-circular paddlewheel box is painted differently, with a large diamond shape; and the rear sundeck is shorter and squarer.
This was the original version of the vessel, which preceded a fire on November 13, 1867, while the Lady was berthed in Wolfeboro. After the fire caused severe damage, burning the Lady down to the waterline, she was rebuilt. Most photos of the Lady show her more elegant appearance that succeded the 1867 fire, or that followed after a more complete rebuilding in 1872.
Before her retirement in 1893, it was said that that virtually no original part of her survived, as she was overhauled and improved several times, including in 1882, when her hull was almost completely replaced while in drydock at Weirs Beach.
From a stereoview, numbered #2826, entitled “Steamboat on Lake Winnipesaukee, at Wiers, N.H.”, published by the Bierstadt Brothers, New Bedford, MA.
Engravings of the Lady
Engravings from the July 30, 1859 issue of Ballou’s Pictorial shows the Lady leaving Weirs Beach; and also leaving Wolfeborough. Initially, the Lady made one round trip a day from Wolfeboro; by 1890 the Lady was making three round trips a day, with stops at Long Island and Bear Island, as well as Alton Bay, Center Harbor, and Weirs.
According to the History of Wolfeborough by Benjamin Franklin Parker (published in 1901), the first captain of the Lady was William Walker, who designed the Lady, and was the majority owner before he sold his controlling interest to the BC&M railroad in 1851. Walker was captain for fifteen years, until 1862; then he was followed, in order, by the following captains: Eleazer Bickford, Winburn A. Sanborn, James Beede, S.B. Cole, then Captain Sanborn again, and finally, John S. Wadleigh.
The only serious accident during her nearly 50 years of service occurred in the 1860’s, when she struck a rock on the Witches and was beached on Davis Island.
Not Our Lady
There were actually two ships named the Lady of the Lake that coexisted at the same time. Clearly, the vessel seen in the photos below was a different, larger Lady, for she sports two smokestacks, an upper-level passenger deck on the prow of the vessel, and a paddlewheel box with a different design. From 1867-1917, this Lady plied the waters of Lake Memphremagog, which spans the US/Canadian border in Vermont and Quebec. So from 1867-1893, there were two ladies of the lake!
