1887:  Lodgings in Intervale:  

Mostly as written by Winfield Nevins in 1887. 

 

The Intervale House, Stephen Mudgett and Sons, proprietors, was built in 1860 by W. H. H. Trickey, one of the pioneers in mountain hotelkeeping and for some years later proprietor of the Jackson Falls House. The Intervale was then a small house compared with its present proportions. In 1871, Frank Mudgett and Alfred Eastman purchased the hotel. They retained the manager of the house until 1874 when Stephen Mudgett bought out Mr. Eastman's interest and took charge of the business with his sons, Frank A. Mudgett and Herbert Mudgett and thus the firm has remained ever since. Additions have been made to the house from time to time, the most extensive being the large wing added on the easterly side in the fall of 1883. When the frame for this had been raised the great gale of November blew it down, but the Mudgetts, nothing daunted, prepared and raised a new frame. This addition was a great improvement. It gave the house a beautiful large parlor with a smaller parlor on one side and a children's dining room on the other. Both parlors have magnificent fireplaces of vast dimensions. They are handsomely finished and furnished. There was also added at this time a spacious dining hall with a seating capacity of two hundred. A wide piazza extends nearly around the whole house, giving a promenade of over 400 feet. On the lower floor in the older part of the house are a large office in the front end, a private office, billiard and reading rooms, two or three reception rooms, etc. There are five handsome fireplaces in this section of the house, that in the office being a strikingly large one. Extensive improvements were made about the office this spring (1887). Besides the changes in the north wing, the ceilings of the dining room and parlors were beautifully frescoed and the walls tinted, while the walls and ceilings of the rest of the house were tinted and the outside painted. Improvements were made in the sanitary arrangements. The Intervale table is second to none in the White Mountains. Mr. Mudgett, senior, looks after the food supply; Frank Mudgett thas the general management of the rooms and the assignment thereof; while "Bert's" specialty is the stable, and it is the best equipped of any in this section. A large cottage near the main house offers a few good rooms for those who desire to escape the noise and bustle of the hotel. The telegraph office is in one corner of this cottage. A plank walk leads to the station from the hotel. Croquet, tennis and ball grounds, billiard table and bowling alley, present a wide range for choice of lighter diversions. The Intervale House was destroyed by fire in 1923. ​​​​​​​​​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bellevue, J. A. Barnes, proprietor, stands on the knoll just beyond the Intervale. It is a sightly location and one excellently adapted for perfect drainage and to insure health and comfort. Mr. Barnes built this house himself in 1872, and for fifteen years has been its popular landlord and proprietor. Hundreds of New England people have found here a pleasant summer home. In the fall of 1886, the house was very materially enlarged by the addition of an L to the rear which nearly doubles its capacity. The house now accommodates about seventy guests, all in good rooms. It is kept open from the first of June until the last of October. The Bellevue was destroyed by fire in 1938.  More info & Pics

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The Pendexter Mansion about three minutes walk to the north of the station, is one of the most charming houses in this section. It, too, commands an unobstructed view of the Intervale and the mountains around it. This house, which accommodates fifty guests, was built by Mrs. C. C. Pendexter in 1872, and has always remained under her excellent management, and maintained a reputation for being homelike. An addition was made to the cottage in 1886, and other recent improvements serve to render this mansion attractive; many of its rooms are heated and the house is open the year round. Its winter night suppers for sleighing parties are famous. For regular boarders it is open from the first of May until the last of October.

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The Langdon House, directly opposite the Mansion, is the newest boarding house of the Intervale group; that is, as a hotel of any size. Previous to 1884, the Pendexters had taken a few boarders in their farm house, but had been unable to find room for all who desired to tarry with them: so, in the spring of '84, they built a large addition to the house and remodelled the original part. The Langdon now has twenty-five good new fresh rooms, every one looking out on more or less mountain scenery. The table is largely supplied from the home farm. Mr. John Pendexter, an old resident of the village, and his son J. Langdon Pendexter, now manage the house. It is open to receive guests as early in the season as they wish to come and will provide for them until winter sounds the bugle for the return. Langdon House burned in the 1920's and the Foss Croft was built on the same site in 1928.

Other hotels are the Idlewild, (picture right) a very prettily located house nearly opposite the Intervale House. Elijah Dinsmore, in the 1850's, when he was well into his sixties may have been the first to utilize this house as a lodging establishment, primarily renting a spare room or two to passers-by. Elijah's son, Charles, continued the operation after Elijah's death.  Charles's son, Fred, went into the lodging business full-time in the 1880's and named the place Idlewild. The origination of that name is unknown, but he may have got the idea from a popular walking path at the Crawford House with the same name. When Fred's wife died in the 1890's he lost interest in the business and sold out.  The new owners retained the name and it operated into the 1970's when it was resold and renamed The 1785 Inn, a name it retains today (2023).

 Mrs. Pendexter's farm-house close by the station; and the pleasantly situated Fairview Cottage of C. A.Tasker. The last named is the northernmost of the strictly Intervale hotels and is on the road toward Bartlett, (picture next page)about half a mile. It is a pretty, fresh looking house with trees and lawns in front and a magnificent view in the rear, over the intervale and the ledges. The house bears an excellent reputation for its good table and pleasant rooms.


    (Website editors note:  Due to inflation, $1.00 in 1880 is the equivalent of $20. in 2008,  So 20 cents car fare then would be the equivalent of about $4.00 today)

And now a word as to the cost of things at the Intervale. Board at the Intervale House is from $10.50 to $16.50 per week, according to room, number in party and time of stay. At the smaller houses the rates vary from $7.00 to $12.00. Single teams for one or two persons are let for $1.00 an hour, double teams $1.50 to $2.00. People are driven to North Conway for 50 cents. The price of seats for parties of five or more in mountain wagons are usually about as follows: Base of Pequawket, 50 cents j Kearsarge village and return by North Conway, $i .00; Artists'Falls, $1.06; Conway Comer or Centre, $2.00; Fryeburg, $2.00; Echo Lake, Cathedral and Diana's Baths $1.50 (any one of these, 75 cents) ; Humphrey's Ledge (base) $1.00 and (summit) $2.00; Albany drive, $2.00; Upper Bartlett, $2.00 . Jackson, $2.00; Pinkham Notch and Glen House, - £4.00. The car fare between North Conway and Intervale is 15 cents; return tickets Intervale to North Conway, 20 cents. Fare to Glen Station 15 cents; to Fabyan's $2.00; go and return same day, $3.00.

 

A regular train will run from North Conway and Intervale to Fabyan's in the morning to connect with the train up Mt. Washington and with trains over the northern and western roads. It will return to North Conway at night. There are usually four trains each way between the Intervale and Fabyan's.

There are various routes to Intervale. From Boston the most direct is over the Boston and Maine road to North Conway, thence over the Portland and Ogdensburg. The trains run through the Notch from Boston and no change of cars is required. The Maine offers two routes. By the Eastern division we go through Lynn, Salem, Newburyport, Portsmouth, Great Falls, etc., passing also the noted summer resorts of Swampscott, Beverly and the Hamptons. Trains usually leave at 9.30 A. M. and 1.30 p. M., though this may be varied slightly from year to year. The former is known as the " Flying Mountaineer " and reaches Intervale about 2.10. p. M.

By the Western division passengers go through Lawrence, Haverhill, Exeter, and Dover, and join the Eastern division trains at Great Falls. The trip may be made over the Boston and Maine to Portland and thence by the Ogdensburg.

 

A somewhat longer but not less interesting route is that over the Boston and Lowell to Fabyan's, thence down through the Notch by the Ogdensburg. The Portland and Ogdensburg railroad is one of the masterpieces of nineteenth century engineering. From Portland to Glen Station it passes through a beautiful rural section.

 

Beyond Glen Station it. lies along a mountainous region, cutting into the flinty spurs, spanning chasms, deep and wide, and frequently crossing rushing rivers.

 

One of the most enjoyable routes to the mountains is by the boat from Boston to Portland, thence over the Ogdensburg. The steamers of the night line run every night, leaving India wharf, Boston, at seven o'clock in summer, and at five the rest of the year. Usually, the boats of this line run day trips for a month or two of summer leaving at 8 A. M. The boats of this line are finely appointed. The steamers of the International line leave Commercial wharf Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 8.30 A. M. for Portland and St. John, in summer. They reach Portland at 4 p. M., in time to take the evening train for Intervale. A day trip from Boston to Portland on the boat on a pleasant day is one of unsurpassed attractiveness among all our local ocean travel.

 

The Ogdensburg road connects at Portland with the Maine Central to Mt. Desert and St. John, and people leaving Intervale in the forenoon can be at Bar Harbor for supper. At Bangor, the Bangor and Piscataquis road branches off for Moosehead Lake, the great New England fishing ground.

Source, Sweetser's Guide 1886