In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Bradford, New Hampshire, became a popular summer destination. For a time, it was the end of the rail line from Boston, making it an ideal vacation spot. Hotels and inns met guests at the station, and visitors came for the fresh air, country food, beautiful lakes, Mount Sunapee, and Bradford’s famous mineral springs.
In 1850, Pleasant View Farm was a large working farm and home of the Messer family. In 1890, the next generation undertook a major renovation, raising the house and building a new ground floor beneath it. They also transformed the attic rooms, eventually expanding the inn to 18 bedrooms, and Pleasant View Inn was now a full summer resort. Guests would stay for a week or more, some even the whole summer. Guests could not reserve a room without references and good credentials!
To meet the summer tourist boom demand that soon exceeded the 18 guest rooms in the main house, the Messer family expanded their resort by adding platform tents and permanent wooden cabins nestled around shady trees in the fields around the property. These outdoor accommodations allowed Pleasant View Inn to host up to 85 guests at a time.
In 1850, Pleasant View Farm was a large working farm and home of the Messer family. In 1890, the next generation undertook a major renovation, raising the house and building a new ground floor beneath it. They also transformed the attic rooms, eventually expanding the inn to 18 bedrooms, and Pleasant View Inn was now a full summer resort. Guests would stay for a week or more, some even the whole summer. Guests could not reserve a room without references and good credentials!
To meet the summer tourist boom demand that soon exceeded the 18 guest rooms in the main house, the Messer family expanded their resort by adding platform tents and permanent wooden cabins nestled around shady trees in the fields around the property. These outdoor accommodations allowed Pleasant View Inn to host up to 85 guests at a time.
The tents and cabins also reflected the era’s “fresh air” movement. Wealthy vacationers escaping Boston by train sought the health benefits of New Hampshire’s mountain air, and furnished wall tents and sleeping cabins offered a comfortable outdoor lodging experience promoted as restorative and healthful, making visitors feel cared for and rejuvenated.
Guests staying in the tents and cabins were not “roughing it” in the modern sense. They enjoyed all-inclusive dining in the main farm dining room. A nine-hole golf course, an on-site swimming pool, a bowling alley, a tennis court, and a casino offering a pool table, radio entertainment, and dancing. Some of the smaller cabins were replaced with larger ones over the years.
Families returned to the Inn year after year. One such family was the Cooks of Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, New Jersey. Bradford Cook recalls that his grandfather first visited with Dr. Maxfield and his family, beginning a tradition that continued for many years. Over time, other families from the same area of New Jersey joined them. These families became friends with the Messers, and Brad remembers visiting the farm, learning to milk a cow, and even helping with the haying. Between those activities, he played golf and swam with his friends, and shuffleboard with his grandmother. Guests ate all their meals in the Inn’s dining room, but once a week the Inn served a barbecue on the Warner side of Kearsarge Mountain. Afterward, they climbed to the summit to watch the sunset.
The shift in tourism toward automobiles, roadside motels, and independent travel in the mid-20th century explains why the tents and cabins were gradually phased out. In 1979, the inn was sold at auction, ending the Messer family's 129 years of ownership. Only 14 acres went with the Inn when sold at auction, but much of the original acreage is still owned, lived on, and farmed by Messer family members today. Bradford Cook was unable to get to the auction in person, so he sent a trusted representative with one goal in mind. To purchase the roll-top desk that had been a fixture in the office/reception area and constantly used by the Messer family. The desk was won with a final bid $5 over Brad's maximum, but he wasn’t upset about that at all and has had the desk in his home in Manchester ever since. Still attached to the desk when he got it was a note with prices for meals and the phone number for the nearest liquor store for the guests to keep supplied with their cocktail needs!
The summer cabins are gone from their original locations, but if you look carefully around Bradford, you might spot one or two. One of these cabins will now have a permanent home at Bradford Historical Society on East Main Street. This cabin went from the Inn to a farm and later was given to John and Chris Mock of Bradford to renovate. Such care was taken with the renovation that the original paneling was traced to the local mill, W W Trow & Son in Sunapee. With the extraordinary help of Jeff Trow, who located the original molding knives for this unique paneling to the cabins. He then reproduced the new matching siding for John and Chris to use in the restoration, with some extra for future repairs. As many of the original materials as possible were kept, with the help of local Bradford residents and former guests of the Inn. John and Chris Mock of Bradford have completed careful restoration of the cabin in memory of Richard (Rick) H. Messer.
