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If you've never experienced the magic of Lake Sunapee, now is the time. Once I rediscovered the lake as an adult, after having spent many summers there as a child, I knew I would never want to spend a summer anywhere else.
Lake Sunapee is one of the largest, cleanest and most beautiful lakes in New Hampshire (Lake Winnipesaukee fans will tend to disagree here). Lake Sunapee is also known for its serenity and often referred to as the “sleepy” lake. If you’re the “partying” type, this is probably not the place for you.
Built at the turn of the century, our house is almost 100 years old. We do love a bit of comfort ourselves, so we've worked hard to retain the simple, rustic atmosphere without sacrificing too many modern conveniences.
The house is a lake front property. What makes it a bit unusual, however, is that you access the property from the front of the house which means there is a very small road to cross to get to the water. You might want to keep this in mind if you have very small children. There is virtually no traffic to speak of, but we still wanted to point this out.
There are four bedrooms in the house, but for the time being we’ve closed off the smallest one to store our personal belongings (when they built houses 100 years ago, closet space was not a big priority). Another special feature of the house is the turret and two of the bedrooms are actually located in the turret itself. Both of those rooms face the water. To get to the bedroom on the top floor of the turret, you have to walk through the other bedroom in the turret. In addition, there is no door at the top of the stairs to close off the top room in the turret, so as beautiful as the room is, privacy there is limited. The beds are all equipped with new mattresses (one full-size, two queen size) and there are two twin mattresses stored in the corner of one of the bedrooms which can be thrown down on any floor for extra sleeping space. Our kitchen is fully equipped with everything you need to cook a delicious meal. There isn’t a microwave over or a dishwasher.
There are two bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs, however, the one upstairs is only equipped with a bear-claw tub which may be used, but is not very large.
At the front of the house, there is a screened-in porch and in the back of the house a stone patio.
On the water front we have both a deck and a dock. The dock itself is not a stationary dock and only about 25 ft. long and 5 ft. wide. On a quiet day, boats up to 19-20 feet may be docked on it for a few hours at a time. The wind can come up very quickly on Lake Sunapee, however, and depending on the intensity and direction of the wind, a heavy boat which is tied up to the dock could pull it right up off of its foundation. For all of you lucky boat owners, we finally purchased a boat lift last summer (2004)! The use of the boat lift, however, will only be permitted if you advise us ahead of time. Our boat lift man would swing by to ensure the lift is properly "fitted" for the boat being parked there and instructions have been given for its proper usage.
Access into the water is via a small set of stairs to the left of the deck. The depth of the water at the shoreline is about 3-4 feet, but it does get deep rather quickly. The bottom of the lake is rocky although there are enough smooth and flat rocks to stand on comfortably. As I’ve already mentioned, the public, sandy beach is a quick five-minute walk down the road.
Our house is located in an area on the lake referred to as Blodgett's Landing. Not only is it unique to any other place on the lake, it is rich in history. It has been reported that “the beginning of Lake Sunapee as a summer resort may be dated in 1875 when a man named George W. Blodgett built the first cottages or leased the land upon which they were built in the area which became Blodgett’s Landing. Prior to the cottages, however, came the camps with tents.” It is said that this is why the cabins erected later were built so unusually close together. By the way, the early group of visitors, who are said to have left a lasting impression on the topography and personality of the landing, were the Spiritualists of New Hampshire. The “Lake Sunapee Spiritualists” began holding their annual Camp Meetings in Blodgett's in 1877.
There is a quiet end as well as a busy part of Blodgett's. Our house is located in the quiet part of town, but if your looking for company or playmates for your children, the public, sandy beach is only a five-minute walk down Lake Avenue. As much as we crave solitude when we get away on vacation, we’ve never once regretted our choice to buy property in “Blodgett’s”. In a sense, it offers the best of both worlds; privacy and community.
Blodgett’s, by the way, is on the “gold-coast” of Lake Sunapee which means the sunsets are awesome.
Everything else you need to know about the house and the surrounding area, you should find in our listing. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions or need additional information. |
