Grand Hotels of the White Mountains Coach parade in Bethlehem, NH, circa 1895. One of the favorite spectacles of the White Mountain resort communities in the late 19th century was the coach parade. Coaches belonging to different hotels were decorated as parade floats and pulled by matched teams driven by experienced old-time drivers, their roofs adorned with pretty girls from each hotel. Held in late summer, the parades were especially successful in Bethlehem and North Conway. The exhibition is on view through March 30, 2002.
Admission is free.
Grand Hotels of the White Mountains is made possible, in part, by the Robert and Dorothy Goldberg Charitable Foundation. Popular Resorts includes a wealth of material from Society collections reflecting the grand hotel buildings and activities in which guests engaged. Rare documents help tell the story, including hotel business records, travel accounts, and menus. Paintings, post cards, and photographs evoke an enchanting era of the Granite State's past. The exhibition looks back to the 1820s, when New Hampshire's White Mountains became one of the most popular tourist attractions in North America.