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Old 11-17-2010, 06:47 PM   #151
SteveA
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Default From the Lake Shore Park Assn. website

History of Lake Shore Park

The year was 1890 and the date was June 17, the Concord & Montreal Railroad finished a rail line from Lakeport to Alton Bay. This railroad ran through Lake Shore Park which was owned by the Boston & Maine railroad and was one of the stops along the way.
The Following is from the The Boston & Maine Bulletin Vol.XVI no.4
Heretofore the entire south shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, from Long Bay, at the outlet of the Lake, to Alton Bay, on its southeastern corner, has been practically wilderness, nearly unoccupied by villages or hamlets, or by individual homesteads or establishments, except at points very near either end of its route. Recently, however, the Concord & Montreal Railroad system has been extended by the addition of a line along its shore, or from Lake Village to Alton Bay, a distance of seventeen miles.

If nothing else had been accomplished by building of this connecting line, the opening up of a new scenic section for the Winnipesaukee neighborhood would have amply compensated for the outlay from the standpoint of the summer visitor.

About seven miles from the Lake Village terminus of the Lake Shore railroad and within the territory of Guilford township, the extreme point on the south shore of Winnipsesaukee juts out on the Lake. This is known as “Carr’s Point,” a beautiful, sightly, finely situated promontory in miniature, commanding in outlooks and winsome in every grace and attraction of coast and landscape scenery. The neighborhood of Carr’s Point has been seized upon as the foundation of a public park, known as Lake Shore Park, a reservation of about twenty acres on the shore front of a two-hundred-acre tract, all included within the park establishment. Here is one of the most beautiful spots imaginable. The views, multiplies indefinitely by every change standpoint within the grounds, are simply magnificent, and include the finest of lake sections, with shore and island accessories, and the glorious successions of mountain scenery in the north. An observatory on Carr’s Point will also afford peculiar emphasis and character for these outlooks. Along the lake shore, in front of and contiguous to the park, a white sandy beach extends for a half mile or more, fully equal in all its features to the beach at Old Orchard or any of the well known seashore localities. Off this beach, and in various localities in view from its expanse, are fishing grounds for bass, pickerel, perch, trout, etc.; in short, for all varieties of the fish with which the great lake abounds. Indeed, it may be claimed for this neighborhood that it furnishes the best brook-trout fishing in the country.
Through these park grounds the Lake Shore railroad runs, dividing the park proper, on the water-front from the park community establishment, which occupies the remainder of the tract, on the south side if iron highway.
These grounds slope gradually from the shore to the upland in their rear, thus enhancing continually the situation with regard to the views of the lake and its northern boundaries. The park is to be fitted with a pavilion one hundred by forty feet measurement and with an “annex” thirty by thirty feet. The provision is for every kind of excursion and picnic parties, and social organizations assemblages. Within the annex are boilers for cooking coffee, chowders, etc., and in larger room tables may be readily set for gathering of almost any size. The hall is fitted with a stage and siderooms, for concert performances and the like; and bowling-alleys, music and dancing, and all pastimes and employment’s usual in such establishments, will be amply provided for. The observatory on the point will be fitted for the accommodation of band while performing, and every attention has been given to the preparation of the park and its vicinity as a resort for ladies and children. Yachts (steam and sailing), fishing boats, rowing boats, etc., are to be in full supply. A veranda twelve feet wide extends along the north and east fronts of the great hall building.
The park grounds, south of the railroad, have been laid out in streets and avenues, perfect squares resulting from the intersections, upon which may be erected cottages, residences, and the like, corresponding with the usage of summer communities generally. In the midst of all will be a fine hotel building complete in design and finish for all purposes of a first-class caravansary for a popular resort. It is expected that this hotel will be ready for occupancy in the summer of 1891.
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