This carefully researched, profusely illustrated volume identifies and explores some thirty outstanding resort complexes, explaining their architectural details, their social histories, and the often surprising stories behind their lovely wooden facades.

The White Mountains attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, all fascinated by the natural beauty of the area and awestruck each season anew by what the region has to offer. Adventurous city-dwellers began arriving almost as soon as carriages and dirt roads could carry them. As the number of visitors has increased with each passing year, one of the most telling barometers of change in the White Mountains has been the hostelry. This wonderful visual history reveals the history of the hotels, inns, and taverns in the White Mountains, and explains their impact on the area from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth. Travel was an adventure in the mid-nineteenth century--not for the weak of heart--and travelers would generally find accommodations in taverns on stage routes or in local farmhouses. The arrival of "steel roads" made the region much more accessible, and large, opulent hotels were built to cater to the rich and famous while more modest country inns provided a quieter environment for artists and writers seeking sanctuary from the cities. Some of the most fascinating images here portray the opulent lifestyle that was enjoyed amidst the forests and falls of the mountains and capture a sense of serenity that was not to last.

An expert looks at the historic role of summer cottages in New Hampshire's popular White Mountain region.

A sweeping environmental history of a quintessential American wilderness.

This fabled district-America's first tourist playground- boasts the highest peaks in the Northeast and the world's worst weather. Rising above the forests, lakes, and rivers of northern New Hampshire and western Maine, this storied range is the centerpiece of the 770,000-acre White Mountain National Forest. These mountains have witnessed centuries of change, from Native Americans through early European settlers, the arrival of railroads and automobiles, and the rise of the grand hotels during the region's heyday.

An architectural study of the large Adirondack hotels that focuses on the cultural history of travel and tourism.