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Steamships

In 1852, in a shrewd business move to increase rail passenger traffic to Weirs Beach, the Boston, Concord, and Montreal railroad purchased the steamship the Lady of the Lake from the Winnipesaukee Steamship Company. She had been launched without her engines on May 16, 1849 from the shipyard in Lake Village (Lakeport). By the middle of June of 1849, she was completely ready, and made her first voyage to Weirs Beach, where she was an instant success.

The BC&M moved the Lady’s home port from Lakeport to Weirs Beach, where she offered regular, comfortable service to the Lake Winnipesaukee ports of Wolfeboro and Center Harbor (but NOT to Alton Bay!), until her last excursion on September 14, 1893.

On April 30, 1894, the Lady was towed from Weirs Beach to Lakeport for dismantling, but that never occurred. Only her engines were removed. Then, on June 14, 1894, she was towed to Glendale Cove. There, according to a Laconia Democrat article, she was “…to be used for several months by Mr. Andrew Smith, contractor, of Plymouth, with his crew of men, who are to put in a foundation for the new house to be erected this season on Locke’s Hill by B.A. Kimball of the C&M railroad.” After her use as a floating hotel for workers building Kimball Castle, she was purposely sunk. The plan had been to sink her in deep water near Rattlesnake Island, but the old ship never made it out of the Cove. Now, she is Lake Winnipesaukee’s most famous dive wreck, lying only 30 feet deep in front of NH Marine Patrol headquarters. Later, Glendale Cove was named after Mr. Smith, the contractor, becoming Smith Cove. The exact year of the sinking of the Lady needs further research, as the Castle took several years, not months, to build.

The Lady approaching the wharf at Weirs Beach while passengers await. The figurine of the Lady is clearly seen on the prow of the vessel.

Who was the Lady of the Lake? Not as well known is the origins of her name. She was Ellen Douglas, the immortal Scotch lassie with the paddle in her hand, from Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake, first published in 1810. The heroic, full-size figurine of the Lady, which had adorned the prow of the namesake Lake Winnipesaukee steamship for so many years, now resides in the New Hampshire Historical Society Museum in Concord, NH.

Below is a rare, 1885 map of Lake Winnipesaukee, showing the route of the Lady of the Lake. The map was bound into the first edition of the Boston & Lowell Railroad’s “Summer Saunterings“, a guidebook to “pleasant places among the mountains, lakes, and valleys of New Hampshire, Vermont and Canada.”
Below is a postcard of the original Mount Washington. Click here to see additional postcards showing the Mount picking up hoards of passengers and loading their mounds of luggage at the Weirs wharf and other wharves around the Lake.

The original Mount Washington, owned by the competing Boston and Maine railroad, was built and launched from Alton Bay on May 30, 1872, where she began service on July 4. She was longer, faster, and more luxurious than the Lady of the Lake. And for 67 years, she carried thousands of passengers every summer on her decks.

The Mount’s original home port was Alton Bay, where she had replaced the B&M’s original steamer, the Chocorua. From there, the Mount offered service to Wolfeboro, Center Harbor, and occasionally, Meredith – but NOT to Weirs Beach! The B&M’s northern terminus was in Alton Bay. Here are 1870 and 1884 B&M system maps showing the line to Alton Bay. In 1863, the B&M had leased the Dover & Winnipiseogee RR, which had been created on June 1, 1862, from the Cocheco RR, which had reached Alton Bay in September, 1851. In June, 1892, the B&M purchased the line. At that time, the line included the Lake Shore Railroad branch, which ran from Alton Bay to Lakeport from 1890-1935.

For a period of about 40 years, there was an intense rivalry between the competing railroads that serviced Weirs Beach and Alton Bay, and their competing steamships. Neither steamship was allowed to dock in her rival’s home port. However, both steamships docked in the neutral ports of Center Harbor, Long Island, and Wolfboro. Click here for Calvert’s 1885 Lake Winnipesaukee map showing the routes of BOTH steamships. (The map was produced for the original Weirs Times, and is now reproduced in every issue of the contemporary Weirs Times.)

During the first half of this period of competition, the Lady was the better, faster boat than her rival, the Chocorua. But during the second half of the competitive period, the Mount was clearly the superior vessel. It was not until 1894, following the retirement of the Lady of the Lake, that the Mount moved her home port to Weirs Beach, and that one vessel began servicing all FOUR major ports on the Lake – not only Wolfeboro and Center Harbor, but BOTH Alton Bay AND Weirs Beach.

Not only were railroads and steamships in competition, but so was the name of the Lake! The railroads that serviced Weirs Beach had always named the Lake “Winnipesaukee” (often mis-spelled “Winnepesaukee”), but the railroads that serviced Alton Bay had always named the Lake “Winnipiseogee” (often mis-spelled “Winnepiseogee”). It was not until 1933, by an act of the NH legislature, that the spelling of the name of the Lake was formalized – and in this case, the Weirs Beach spelling won out! (The meaning of the name of the Lake is a controversy that has never been resolved.)

The Lady of the Lake and the Mount Washington together at Center Harbor, circa 1885. Click here to see many additional photos.

In 1939, on December 22, during a fire that also destroyed the Weirs Beach railroad station and wharf, the original Mount Washington burned and sank. It was the end of the steamship era on Lake Winnipesaukee.

HISTORY OF STAGECOACH TRANSPORTATION

Today’s Mount is almost entirely a tourist attraction, but until the mid 1920’s, the Mount, and her predecessor, the Lady of the Lake, were not only tourist attractions – they were vital links in the transportation chain. While there were good roads to Laconia, Lakeport, and Weirs Beach, there were only rough dirt roads connecting the other towns around the Lake. For travelers from points to the South and West of Weirs Beach, including the main population centers of Boston and Manchester, NH, the easiest and most convenient way to reach the port towns of Alton Bay, Wolfeboro, and Center Harbor was to travel by train to Weirs Beach, transfer themselves and all of their luggage aboard the Mount Washington or the Lady of the Lake, and cruise from Weirs Beach to their destination. Those wishing to travel to the Conway area of the White Mountains would take the Mount or the Lady to Center Harbor, from where they would take a stagecoach further north. Starting in 1872, the stagecoach only took them 14 miles to the West Ossipee stop of the Eastern Railroad, where the train could take them the remaining way to Conway.

The White Mountain stage coach above is seen loaded with passengers. Typically, a stage coach seated nine passengers inside the cabin, with three facing each other front and back, and a bench in the middle for an additional three persons. When needed, additional passengers would load up on the outside, with most squeezed on the top of the coach, and an additional passenger or two sitting next to the driver.

The number of horses hauling the stage coach were adjusted according to the passenger load. In this postcard there are a big team of 4 horses. The typical stagecoach team was a 2-horse team, known as a “podanger”, or “pod” for short. Below, the Moulton House stage coach is seen with a pod. A 3-horse team was known as a “spike”. A single horse pulling a cart was known as a “gimlet”.

Stagecoach schedule from an 1869 Boston & Maine Railroad “Summer Arrangement” brochure. Laconia was reached by the Alton stagecoach. Laconia was named a town in July 14, 1855, by an act of the NH legislature, and became a city in 1893.
At least two hotels in Center Harbor, the Senter House and the Moulton House, were stagecoach stops on the way to the White Mountains. The original Senter House burned down in 1887. A new Senter House was built in 1888, was later renamed the Colonial, and then burned down again in June, 1919. The Moulton House did not burn, but it was torn down in 1951 because of its poor condition.

Below, the Senter House and Stages in the 1870s. For the earliest available view of the Senter House, an 1858 color sketch by artist John Badger Bachelder can be found on the New Hampshire Historical Society website here. The sketch shows the Lady of the Lake and one of the earliest steamships on the Lake, the Dover, approaching the hotel.

The original Senter House

The new Senter House (later the Colonial) advertisement, 1893.

The new Senter House in 1888

The Moulton House stagecoach.

A postcard of the Colonial from the Lake also shows the steamship loading dock.

Center Harbor in 1906. The Colonial Hotel dominates the center of the photograph.

The view from the Colonial.

Below is a 1900 map of Lake Winnipesaukee, showing the route of the Mount Washington. The map was bound into the first edition of the Boston and Maine Railroad’s “Resorts and Tours”, a guidebook to “summer excursions to the White Mountains, Mount Desert, Montreal and Quebec, Winnipesaukee, Memphremagog, Rangeley and Moosehead Lakes, and the New England Beaches”.

Below is a reprint from Eastman’s White Mountain Guide. The 9th edition was published in 1869. Text of the reprint on the right.

This lake lies in the two counties of Caroll and Belknap, and is very irregular in form. At the west end it is divided into three large bays; at the north is a fourth; and at the east end there are three others.
• Its general course is from northwest to southeast, and from one extreme end to the other the distance is not far from twenty-five miles. The width varies from one to seven miles.
• The waters of the lake descend four hundred and seventy-two feet in finding their way to the Atlantic. A rapid river of the same name with that of the lake, over which the railroad passes at Sanborton Bridge, serves as its outlet to the Merrimac.
• The waters of Lake Winnepiseogee are remarkably clear, so that at the depth of many feet the fish can be distinctly seen playing among the rocks.
• Lake Winnepiseogee is a mountain lake, yet it lacks almost all those wild, rough features of mountain scenery which usually characterize inland waters in mountainous regions.
• The mountains rise on all sides; but the shore, seen from the distance, is comparatively smooth and level; and the islands, far from being precipitous and rocky, are covered with verdure, and seem to float like fairy barks upon the broad lake-mirror.
• There are two steamers that ply upon the lake; two points at which may be approached from the south, and two points of departure for the mountains. The steamers are the Lady of the Lake and the Chocorua.
• The former plies between the Weirs, Centre Harbor and Wolfborough, and connects at Weirs with the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad.
• The latter plies between Alton Bay, Wolfborough, Centre Harbor, and Meredith Village, and connects at Alton Bay with the Boston and Maine, and Cochecho Railroads.
• The Lady of the Lake is a charming little steamer, and is in charge of Capt. W. A. Sanborn.
• The steamer Chocorua, but recently newly built, a pleasant and commodious boat, moving with great rapidity and steadiness, is under the command of Capt. A. Wiggin, who is thoroughly acquainted with the lake, having been long connected with the lake steamers.