travel date: June, 2021
We only went to Castle in the Clouds because I spilled wine on my MacBook, but it turned out to be one of our favorite stops of the whole trip (#4 on our top travel memories of the year). I don’t know that I’d exactly say that it made it worth spilling wine on my computer, but at least it softened the blow.
Right, so I spilled wine on my (fortunately already quite elderly) MacBook while we were in the White Mountains, and, as a consequence, we looked around for an Apple store in the general vicinity and then for an outing for the day that we could combine with the trip there. It was going to be a rainy day, so we were also looking for somewhere with at least an indoor component to it where we could escape the weather. Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough, NH fit all the parameters. It was also about an hour from where we were staying at the Lincoln/Woodstock KOA, so we almost certainly wouldn’t have made the drive under different circumstances. The Apple store turned out to be of little help, but my computer somehow managed to limp along for the rest of the trip and even for a few months after. So it all worked out.
Castle in the Clouds is the site of the Lucknow Mansion, the 1914 Arts and Crafts style home of shoe manufacturer Tom Plant and his wife, Olive. I’m always fascinated by the history of old houses open to the public and how exactly it happened that we get to tour these houses and not others. Some houses, of course, are preserved because they belonged to historically significant people. Others because of something distinctive about the architectures. But a lot of what gets preserved and what doesn’t seems to depend on pure luck as well.
After Tom Plant’s death, the Lucknow mansion passed to another family who used it as a summer retreat for 15 years before selling it to the first of a series of people and organizations who would open it to the public and find ways to commercialize the property. Today the Castle Preservation Society takes care of the house itself and the Lakes Region Conservation Trust manages the extensive grounds and trail network. Whatever element of luck was involved in the mansion’s journey from private home to public attraction, it owes its continued popularity and preservation to its considerable charm and its beautiful setting:
There are enough things to see on the property to make a full day of it, and that’s what we did. First we grabbed lunch at the little Cafe in the Clouds, where they sell light meals and snacks including sandwiches, hot dogs, ice cream, and beer and wine. Sadly, this was one of the rainier periods of the day, so we hunkered down and ate in the car…but during good weather there are tables available, and it’s a lovely setting for a picnic.
Then we bought our tickets for the house ($18 for adults, $10 for kids) and spent a few minutes checking out the small museum exhibit about Tom Plant (“The Shoes that Built the Castle”) before taking the trolley up to the mansion (that’s the only way to access the mansion, although you can take the trolley up and a short walking path back down).
The house tour is self-guided, but there are interpreters in most of the rooms to tell you more about the house. I tend to break historic house tours into two categories: houses I could see myself living in and houses that I definitely could not. The Lucknow Mansion falls squarely into the former category; it’s impressive without being pretentious and feels very homey and livable. The self guided tour makes it a good choice for younger kids, since there’s no standing around listening to long speeches for them. They also offered Abe a scavenger hunt activity when we got there, but he decided he wasn’t interested in it.
I didn’t get great pictures, perhaps owing to the overcast day and lack of light, but here are a few glimpses:
Dave was very impressed with this floor–geometry!
And the outside is lovely, both the house and the setting:
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We took the walking path back down to the parking area after touring the house and were pleased to see that there was something of a gap in the rain (at least in the heavy rain; it was at least drizzly pretty much all day), so we decided to check out one of the trails on the property.
We took the Brook Walk, which takes you past seven waterfalls, many of them pretty impressive. We turned it into a loop by taking the Shannon Brook Trail on the way back, which I believe made the whole thing a bit over a mile. It’s a fairly easy walk for the most part, but there are some slightly tricky parts with rocky downhills, which were made a little difficult by all the recent rain.
But wait: there’s MORE! We went back to Shannon Pond, by the Cafe in the Clouds, and bought some food to feed the giant rainbow trout who live in the pond. It turned out the ducks felt that they should get some of the food, too. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end an excellent day.
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