Ames Farm Celebrates 125 Years

[mcdude]

from the Daily Sun

Ames Farm Inn reaches 125 year milestone

GILFORD — For Ames Farm Inn owners Peter Ames and his daughter, Peggy, the highest compliment they can hear from their guests is "nothing has changed".
''We hear that a lot and it's music to our ears,'' says Peggy, who along with her husband, Patrick Brown, recently sold their Massachusetts home and bought one in Gilford, where they will now be living year round.
Peter says that the inn, which this year celebrates its 125th anniversary as a Lake Winnipesaukee tourist attraction, was established in 1890 by James Noah Ames of Peabody, Mass., on land that had been partially owned by his grandfather, who was a pioneer settler of Gilford.
Peter and Peggy represent the 4th and 5th generations of the Ames family to operate the inn., making it one of the oldest family-owned businesses in the state. The 150-acre property includes a quarter mile of sandy beach, docks for fishing and boating, 17 lakeside cabins as well as rental units across the highway from the inn, trails leading up what is known to the family as Endicott Mountain as well as breathtaking views of Lake Winnipesaukee near Rattlesnake and Diamond islands from all locations on the property.
They agree that one of the biggest attractions of the inn, which has kept some families coming back for 90 years, is the low-key atmosphere which allows people to step back in time and feel totally relaxed.
"We have generations of families who keep coming back every summer,'' says Peggy, who stopped to talk with Lauren Taylor of Cheshire Connecticut, who said that her family had been coming back to the Ames Farm Inn for 50 years and that it was at the inn that she met her future husband.
''We had a home up.here but liked staying at the inn more. Some of my family is here for the holiday and we just had to take them to Ames Farm for breakfast.''
Peter says that food has always been one of the inn's attractions and that one of the first things James Noah Ames did when he bought the farm was to build a large dining room and lodge onto the rear of what had been a farmhouse for many years. The farmhouse had rooms which were rented and meals were served there.
Ames started to invite his friends from Boston area to build cottages at the farm, where cattle and sheep were raised, and built cottages of his own near the shore
The Lakeshore Railroad passed right through the Ames Farm, which had a station built where regular stops were made until the 1930s. The former station was taken across the highway where it now serves as a guest cottage according to Peter.
There was also a wharf where steamers like the Governor Endicott would make stops. A photo in the dining room shows that ship arriving at the Ames Farm dock in 1910.
According to Adair Mullgan's 1995 book History of the Gunstock Parish ''the family kept orchards, raised cattle, sheep and pigs and and vegetables and baked pastries, breads, pies, cookies and biscuits on site.''
A gas-powered generator supplied electrical power for the farm from 1915 until 1928, when it was linked to the grid and the farm had its own ice house for refrigeration until the 1940s.
Today the farm continues its tradition of providing food for guests, offering breakfasts featuring blueberry pancakes and omelets as well as lunches. Many island dwellers drop by the Inn's docks, especially on weekends, for their breakfasts.
Peggy says that many family members are still involved in operating the farm during the summer months and that she and her dad are intent on keeping the business as traditional as possible by maintaining the strong relationships the Ames family has always had with their guests.

[Slickcraft]

Wondering if that is the former RR station lower right center.

[BroadHopper]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

Wondering if that is the former RR station lower right center.

The Lake Shore Railroad follow the shoreline. You can still see the railroad bed and to the right of the picture the bridge over a brook. The bridge is still there.

That building you mentioned I think is a guest house.

[gillygirl]

Funny that picture was posted yesterday. I was visiting with my mother yesterday, and we were talking about a similar photo from around the same time.

On the mountain side of the road, from left to right, are the barn, the Annex (a guest house), and the Green (also a guest house). Along the shore, the building to the far left, near the sand bar, was the ice house. It no longer exists. At the bottom of the driveway at the shoreline, you can barely make out the depot and the Summer House. Once the train no longer stopped there, the depot was moved to the mountain side of the road and renamed the Honeymoon Cottage. It is located to the right of the Green now, with another guest house, the Yellow, located between them. I am not sure when the the train stopped coming, but when my father was a child, his job was to run down to the train to collect the newspapers. That would have been around 1930.

Here is a picture of the depot in its original location, with the Summer House in the background.

[gillygirl]

It's interesting how the main dock has changed over the years. The first picture of it is over 100 years ago (note the boat house), and the second one is fairly current. Obviously, the photos are taken from opposite sides.

[mcdude]

(from GillyGirl's post) "Once the train no longer stopped there, the depot was moved to the mountain side of the road and renamed the Honeymoon Cottage. It is located to the right of the Green now, with another guest house, the Yellow, located between them."

[PCTim]

My family stayed there in the late 60's, early 70's when I was a kid. Now I stay there with my wife and kids in the same cabin (cabin 4). Been staying since 2004. In fact, my wife and I renewed our vows for our 25th on the dock in 2014.

Here are a couple of videos from the Ames. The first has film footage my grandfather took when I was a kid, and pictures from the 2000's. The second is a GoPro highlight reel from my 2015 vacation and the last is a time lapse of the sunrise over Rattlesnake Island from just outside my cabin.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faWRd3BZ8Zc


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFnP2USS5Tc&t


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbhQb8WHmq4

Enjoy!