Ron Resden's Photo Archives (Set 05) of the Sunset Hill House Resort
Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

In Summer of 2017 a friendly stranger walked up our drive
He introduced himself as Ron Resden, a gunsmith from Guildhall, Vermont
He recalls both the old iron mine of Sugar Hill, NH and the 1880 Sunset Hill House Resort that was torn down in 1974
At one time he worked at the resort and lived in the Resort's Dormitories

Our cottage sits where the main hotel of the 1880 SHH Resort was located
I previously wrote about the history of this resort
Scroll down to Cottage History at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

When he departed Ron Resden left me with a CD containing many pictures of the former SHH Resort
I will now share Set 05 of Ron's pictures, most of which are taken from historic post cards

In December 2018 he sent me another CD containing many more pictures of the SHH Resort

The key to mountain cooling in the long hot summers before the big cities to the south had air conditioning

I will now share Ron Resen's pictures with you across several editions of Tidbits

This was the Sunset Hill House Resort in a 1904 Post Card
The mountains to the east and west are not shown in this picture
The resort was only open in the summer season

Guests mostly arrived by trains  nearby depots and were taken to the resort in horse-drawn carriages

These are guests and some resort workers beside an employee dorm (caddies are wearing caps)
Women wore long dresses and hats 100+ years ago

These are employee dorms where Ron Resden once stayed in a second floor room

This is another dorm called the Annex that housed employees
Although most resort buildings were demolished in 1974,
The Annex and the adjoining Hill House were preserved and
remodeled into the present day Inn at Sunset Hill (28 rooms) ---
http://www.innatsunsethill.com/
The Inn this month (Feb. 2019) is changing ownership

This is a present day shot of the Inn at Sunset Hill
Our cottage was moved to where the big hotel was torn down
The cottage is hard to see amongst the trees in this aerial picture
Hill House is to the right of the old Annex

 

I don't know if the incoming new owners of the Inn will continue to host this video
The Inn on Sunset Hill (just down from our cottage) ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5cqUX0LcbU&t=9s

Note the golf course flag in the lower right corner

The photograph below shows how large the SHH main hotel was 100+ years ago
It could sleep over 300 summertime guests

This was part of the big lobby

This was the main dining room which is about the same place where our cottage's dining room is today

Keep in mind that 100+ years ago there was no refrigeration
Much of the food was raised in the surrounding fields and barns (including vegetables, fruit, chickens, eggs, and pork)
Our former minister, Tom Golden, for a period of time spent summers in the dorms
He was in charge of making and serving the salads
Rev. Golden died a few years ago


I think room prices included meals
This is a menu in 1951 when the resort had refrigeration
I suspect menus were much more limited before electric refrigerators and stoves

A former Sugar Hill resident sent me the two pictures below
The Lookoff Hotel was independently owned above the SHH Resort
It too has since been torn down

The key to mountain cooling in the long hot summers before the big cities to the south had air conditioning

Set 01 of my cottage pictures --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm
Set 02 inside the cottage --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/2009/Tidbits090723.htm
Set 03 inside the cottage --- www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Cottage\Inside/Set03/Set03InteriorCottage.htm 
Set 04 inside the cottage --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Cottage\Inside/Set04/Set04InteriorCottage.htm  
Photographs of Putting a New Rubber Roof Under Our Widow's Walk
http://cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/WidowsWalk/WidowsWalk.htm

Indoor  Plants --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/IndoorPlants/IndoorPlantsFavorites.htm
Amaryllis --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/2008/Tidbits080212.htm   

Video:  The Inn on Sunset Hill (just down from our cottage) ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5cqUX0LcbU&t=9s

Sunset Hill House Resort History Set 01 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/CottageHistory/Hotel/Brochure/Brochure1900.htm   

Historic Photographs (Set 01) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/01ResdenSHH.htm

Historic Photographs (Set 02) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/02ResdenSHH.htm

Historic Photographs (Set 03) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/03ResdenSHH.htm

Historic Photographs (Set 03) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/03ResdenSHH.htm

Historic Photographs (Set 04) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/2019/04ResdenSHH.htm

Historic Photographs (Set 05) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/2019/05ResdenSHH.htm

 

After the Sunset Hill House Resort was nearly all demolished in 1973, our cottage (before it was ours)
was moved in 1977 from the golf course across a tennis court and up to where the former hotel site.
I show pictures of the preparation work prior to the moving the cottage and its four fireplaces
     http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/OldSite/Set01/Set01.htm

Next I show pictures of the move to the new site
     http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/NewSite/Set01/Set01.htm 

Next I show the pictures of a 1980 spectacular fire on one of the remaining three cottages
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/CottageHistory/Fire/FireSet01.htm

Iron Ore From Ore Hill and Historic Iron Works Operations in Franconia
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/IronMine/Set01/01IronMine.htm

Sunset Hill House Hotel:  The American Dream ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/SunsetHillHouse/SunsetHillHouse.htm

Part 1 of the History of the Homestead Inn Torn Down in 2015
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Hotels/Homestead/Set01/Set01.htm

Part 2 of the History of the Homestead Inn
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Hotels/Homestead/Set02/Set02.htm 

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

Blogs of White Mountain Hikers (many great photographs) ---
http://www.blogger.com/profile/02242409292439585691

Especially note the archive of John Compton's blogs at the bottom of the page at
http://1happyhiker.blogspot.com/

Question
Are there trails in our White Mountains of New Hampshire that have ice in summer as well as winter?
See "The Ice Gulch, Would I do it Again" by John Compton, August 5, 2011 ---
http://1happyhiker.blogspot.com/2011_08_05_archive.html

Okay, you might ask, is there really ice in the Ice Gulch, even in August? Yes, there is! The next photo shows one small patch of ice. There were many larger patches, but they were at the bottom of some of those deep gaps that I mentioned above. I took some photos, but none of them really turned out, even with using a flash to illuminate these dark, dank, deep spots.

 White Mountain News --- http://www.whitemtnews.com/

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's Blogs --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Our address is 190 Sunset Hill Road, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire
Our cottage was known as the Brayton Cottage in the early 1900s
Sunset Hill is a ridge overlooking with New Hampshire's White Mountains to the East
and Vermont's Green Mountains to the West

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/