Hotels in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire

A little about Sugar Hill...

Sugar Hill is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, USA. The population was 563 at the 2000 census. Sugar Hill is a venerable resort community which overlooks the White Mountain National Forest, including the Presidential, Franconia, Kinsman and Dalton ranges.

Sites of interest:
Sugar Hill Historical Museum

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 44.6 km² (17.2 mi²). 44.3 km² (17.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water, comprising 0.64% of the town. Sugar Hill is drained by the Gale River and other tributaries of the Ammonoosuc River. The town is bisected by New Hampshire Route 117 and Interstate 93. The highest point in town is Bronson Hill (2,078 feet / 633 meters above sea level).

With clean air and panoramic views from atop Sunset Hill Ridge of both the White Mountains and Green Mountains, the community became a fashionable Victorian resort. First attracted by paintings of White Mountain artists, the wealthy arrived by train to escape the heat, humidity and pollution of summers in Boston, Hartford, New York and Philadelphia. Several hostelries were built, including the Hotel Lookoff. But the grandest was the Sunset Hill House, built in 1880 after rail service arrived in neighboring Lisbon Village (Sunset Hill Station). With the longest porch on a single side in New Hampshire, the Second Empire hotel accommodated 350 guests and 300 staff. Patrons found amusement in the casino, bowling alley, or on carriage rides touring nearby Franconia Notch. Built in 1897, the 9-hole Sugar Hill House Golf Course, together with its 1900 clubhouse, are the oldest in the state and today listed on the National Register. Bobby Jones played the links.

With the advent of automobiles came a decline in grand hotels, however, as tourists were no longer restricted by the limits of rail service. The Sunset Hill House remained open until 1973, longer than many of its type in the region. But it closed at season's end, when the furnishings were sold at auction. The aging structure was demolished in 1974, although its annex survived and now operates as an inn of the same name.

The first resort-based ski school in the U.S. was opened at Sugar Hill in 1929 by Katharine "Kate" Peckett with her husband, Austrian ski instructor Sig Buchmayer, both important figures in the history of skiing. The same year, organized ski trains from Boston began running to the White Mountains.