Fabyan House was a grand hotel in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, constructed by Sylvester Marsh who also built the Mount Washington Cog Railway. The hotel burned during construction in 1868 and was rebuilt in 1873. It was destroyed by fire in 1951.
In 1841, Horace Fabyan bought outright the Old Moosehorn Tavern, which he had been leasing since 1837. It had previously been owned and run by Ethan Allen Crawford after being initially created by his grandfather, Eleazar Rosebrook. He renamed the inn as Mount Washington House and both upgraded and extended it. It burned down in a fire in 1853 and the derelict site was bought by Sylvester Marsh in 1864. Marsh's first attempt to build a hotel on the site came to nothing when the part-complete building burned in 1868 during construction. After transferring the property to the Mount Washington Hotel Company, in which he was a partner, it was possible to raise US$200,000 for construction and Marsh eventually managed to open a hotel there in 1873, called Fabyan House. The construction was not without controversy because such a large enterprise necessitated the levelling of a well-loved local feature called Giant's Grave, which was a prominent mound on the site. [1]
The 500-person hotel had a livery stable, post office, bowling alley, and billiard hall. Its parlour measured 3,500 square feet (330 m2) and its dining room was 6,000 square feet (560 m2). In particular after 1878, when it was leased by the Barron family, the hotel gained a reputation for its hospitality. [2] It provided views of Mount Washington. A fire destroyed it in 1951. [3] [ dubious ]
The area was served at Fabyan Station by the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad from 1874 and the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad the following year. [4] The place name "Fabyan" is still in use at the location of the hotel in the town of Carroll, New Hampshire, one mile northwest of Bretton Woods; the location is now the junction of U.S. Route 302 and the Base Station Road leading to the Cog Railway. The Conway Scenic Railroad now offers rail excursions from North Conway through Crawford Notch as far as Fabyan Station.
The Fabyan was one of many grand hotels built during the second half of the 19th century in the area. [2]
Carroll is a town in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 820 at the 2020 census. The two largest villages are Twin Mountain and Bretton Woods. Carroll is an important access point for recreational areas in the White Mountains, including many 4,000-footers, the Zealand River area, the Presidential Range, and the Presidential Dry River Wilderness. The town is home to the Mount Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods and to the Highland Center at Crawford Notch, the Appalachian Mountain Club's four-season lodge.
Sargent's Purchase is a township in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. It lies within the White Mountain National Forest. As of the 2020 census, the population was zero.
A rack railway is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail. This allows the trains to operate on steep grades above 10%, which is the maximum for friction-based rail. Most rack railways are mountain railways, although a few are transit railways or tramways built to overcome a steep gradient in an urban environment.
Mount Washington, also known as Agiocochook, is an ultra-prominent mountain in the state of New Hampshire. It is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288.2 ft (1,916.6 m) and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.
Whitefield is a town in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States, in the White Mountains Region. The population was 2,490 at the 2020 census. Situated on the northern edge of the White Mountains, Whitefield is home to the Mount Washington Regional Airport and the White Mountains Regional High School.
The Mount Washington Cog Railway, also known as the Cog, is the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway. The railway climbs Mount Washington in New Hampshire, United States. It uses a Marsh rack system and both steam and biodiesel-powered locomotives to carry tourists to the top of the mountain. Its track is built to a 4 ft 8 in gauge, which is technically a narrow gauge, as it is 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) less than a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge.
Bretton Woods is an area within the town of Carroll, New Hampshire, United States, whose principal points of interest are three leisure and recreation facilities. Being virtually surrounded by the White Mountain National Forest, the vista from Bretton Woods toward Mount Washington and the Presidential Range includes no significant artificial structures other than the Mount Washington Cog Railway and the Mount Washington Hotel.
Crawford Notch is a major pass through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, located in Hart's Location. Roughly half of that town is contained in Crawford Notch State Park. The high point of the notch, at approximately 1,900 feet (580 m) above sea level, is at the southern end of the town of Carroll, near the Crawford Depot train station and Saco Lake, the source of the Saco River, which flows southward through the steep-sided notch. North of the high point of the notch, Crawford Brook flows more gently northwest to the Ammonoosuc River, a tributary of the Connecticut River.
The Conway Scenic Railroad is a heritage railroad in North Conway, New Hampshire, owned by Profile Mountain Holdings Corp. The railroad operates over two historic railway routes: a line from North Conway to Conway that was formerly part of the Conway Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad, and a line from North Conway through Crawford Notch to Fabyan that was once part of the Mountain Division of the Maine Central Railroad. The Conway line is owned by Conway Scenic, and the Mountain Division is owned by the State of New Hampshire.
White Mountain art is the body of work created during the 19th century by over four hundred artists who painted landscape scenes of the White Mountains of New Hampshire in order to promote the region and, consequently, sell their works of art.
Boott Spur is a minor peak located in Coos County, New Hampshire, United States. The mountain is named after Francis Boott (1792–1863), and is part of the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. Boott Spur stands on the shoulder of Mount Washington, above the south side of the headwall of Tuckerman Ravine.
John Wingate Weeks was a U.S. Representative from New Hampshire, great uncle of John Wingate Weeks.
The Mountain Division is a railroad line that was once owned and operated by the Maine Central Railroad (MEC). It stretches from Portland, Maine on the Atlantic Ocean, through the Western Maine Mountains and White Mountains of New Hampshire, ending at St. Johnsbury, Vermont in the Northeast Kingdom. The line was abandoned in 1983 by MEC's successor, Guilford Transportation Industries (GTI). Guilford retained a stub between Portland and Westbrook. A section in New Hampshire remains in use by heritage railway Conway Scenic Railroad.
Sylvester Marsh was the United States engineer who designed and built the Mount Washington Cog Railway.
Glen House is the name of a series of grand resorts and hotels, dating back to 1852, in Pinkham Notch very near Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, USA.
Crawford House was a grand hotel in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire, United States. The original hotel was built in 1850 and destroyed by fire in 1859. It was replaced by a second Crawford House resort that was the largest hotel in the White Mountains at the time. It was further expanded over time to accommodate 400 guests. The hotel featured wide porches and views of Crawford Notch. It eventually fell into disrepair and then closed in 1975. The hotel building was destroyed by fire in November 1977.
The Crawford family of the White Mountains were a family who moved to New Hampshire's White Mountains in the 1790s from Guildhall, Vermont, and were pioneers in establishing a tourist industry in that area. Abel Crawford and his father-in-law, Eleazar Rosebrook, began the effort, and one of Abel's sons, Ethan Allen Crawford, made significant contributions. Another son, Thomas Jefferson Crawford, continued the work; and Ethan's wife, Lucy, also contributed. Their work was in the area then known as White Mountain Notch, subsequently called Crawford Notch.
Mount Crawford is a mountain located in Coos County, New Hampshire, in the United States. The mountain is on a spur of Montalban Ridge within the White Mountains and overlooks Crawford Notch. It is accessible via the Davis Path, which climbs from Crawford Notch near the Notchland Inn. The Davis Path continues north up Montalban Ridge to Mount Washington.
The Willey House at Crawford Notch in the White Mountains of New Hampshire is associated principally with a tragedy of August 28, 1826, in which seven members of the Willey family and two other people died. Out of that event came a boost to the nascent tourism industry of the area.
The Crawford Path is an 8.5-mile-long (13.7 km) hiking trail in the White Mountains of New Hampshire that is considered to be the United States' oldest continuously maintained hiking trail. It travels from Crawford Notch to the summit of Mount Washington (Agiocochook). The first iteration of the Crawford Path was cut in 1819 by Ethan Allen Crawford and his father, Abel Crawford. The trail ascends a cumulative 4,900 feet (1,500 m), first through densely wooded forest for about 3.1 miles (5.0 km), then following the exposed southern ridge of the Presidential Range mostly above the treeline.