Ron Resden's Photo Archives (Set 04) of the Sunset Hill House Resort
Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

In Summer of 2017 a friendly stranger walked up our drive
He introduced himself as Ron Resden, a gunsmith from Guildhall, Vermont
He recalls both the old iron mine of Sugar Hill, NH and the 1880 Sunset Hill House Resort that was torn down in 1974

Our cottage sits where the main hotel of the 1880 SHH Resort was located
I previously wrote about the history of this resort
Scroll down to Cottage History at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

When he departed Ron Resden left me with a CD containing many pictures of the former SHH Resort
I will now share Set 04 of Ron's pictures, most of which are taken from historic post cards

In December 2018 he sent me another CD containing many more pictures of the SHH Resort
I will now share those with you across several editions of Tidbits

Sunset Hill House Hotel in 1881

Ron Resden wrote the following in December 2018
Hi Bob, Hope your holidays are going well.
All is well with us on the mountain.
The trove is here and some nice items are in it.
This one is a mounted studio photo of the bell hops in 1905.
They are identified as follows I assume from left to right.
Robert Mille, Berwick ME.
George Celwell, Exeter NH.
Lauris Weeks, Rochester NH.
Jesse Wilson, NH.
Charles Bemich, Tilton NH.
Harold Shay, Dorchester MA.
Mike Griffins, NH.

The Sunset Hill House Hotel (SHHH) that could house 300+ guests was torn down in an interesting manner in 1974. Each room was sold at auction
and a buyer of a room could take everything from the room, including the furniture, fixtures, windows, and floors.
The remaining structure was then burned down along with most surrounding buildings.

Buildings remaining to date include two of the three VIP cottages on the golf course, the power house (my barn), the
golf clubhouse, Hill House, and the Annex which was eventually renovated to become the current Inn on Sunset Hill. (28 rooms)

The hill in the back ground in the picture below is not a mountain
New Hampshire's White Mountains not pictured below commence10 miles to the east
Vermont's Green Mountains commence further away to the West

The very small Village of Sugar Hill (with one store) to the West is not visible in the picture below
The somewhat larger Village of Franconia is three miles to the East
The even larger Town of Littleton is 10 miles to the North

Ore Hill and the abandoned iron mines commence less than a mile to the South
The smaller Lookoff Hotel (not pictured below) up the hill to the South was torn down as well
The cottage that became our home is (not visible behind the hotel) was later moved up to where the Main Hotel was located

For a period of time in the early 1900s  the SHH Hotel (for guests)  and Annex (for staff) were painted yellow
The Hill House and Annex in the 1990s were renovated to become the  current Inn on Sunset Hill. (28 rooms)
Most (not quite all) of the other SSHH resort buildings were torn down

The SHH Hotel changed colors a number of times over its nearly 100 years of life

The pictures below put the White Mountains and the SHHH Resort into Perspective (1911)
Cannon Mountain and Mount Lafayette in the Kinsman Range is 10 miles from the SSHH Resort
The Twin Mountain Range is 20 miles from the SHH Resort
Not pictured on the right are the Three Graces and Kinsman Mountain
Not Pictured on the Left is Mt. Washington in the Presidential Range 28 miles from the SSHH Resort

Not pictured below is Cannon Mountain to the left of the Three Graces (sometimes called Cannon Balls)
Nearby Ore Hill once was a source of Iron Ore smelted down In Franconia and Made into Fine Franconia Stoves
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/IronMine/Set01/01IronMine.htm

Or

The photograph below shows the Lookoff Hotel above the SSHH Resort's barns and golf course
In the early 1900s the SHHH Resort raised much of its own food (vegetables, eggs, meat, etc.)
The barns also housed the horses and carriages that hauled guests from nearby train depots
Across the road from the Lookoff Hotel were springs that supplied water for both hotels

After the 1974 teardown of the SHH Hotel, Cottage 2 burned down
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/CottageHistory/Fire/FireSet01.htm
It was replaced with a brick house beside the site of the old hotel.

Cottage 3 remains to this day in place alongside the golf course.

Cottage 1 was moved to the site of the SHH Hotel
In 2005 Erika and I bought Cottage 1 after it was moved and remodeled somewhat

I show pictures of the preparation work prior to the moving the cottage and its four fireplaces
     http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/OldSite/Set01/Set01.htm

Next I show pictures of the move to the new site
     http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/NewSite/Set01/Set01.htm 

The large SHH Hotel is gone but not forgotten

Set 01 of my cottage pictures --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm
Set 02 inside the cottage --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/2009/Tidbits090723.htm
Set 03 inside the cottage --- www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Cottage\Inside/Set03/Set03InteriorCottage.htm 
Set 04 inside the cottage --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Cottage\Inside/Set04/Set04InteriorCottage.htm  
Photographs of Putting a New Rubber Roof Under Our Widow's Walk
http://cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/WidowsWalk/WidowsWalk.htm

Indoor  Plants --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/IndoorPlants/IndoorPlantsFavorites.htm
Amaryllis --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/2008/Tidbits080212.htm   

The Inn on Sunset Hill (just down from our cottage) ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5cqUX0LcbU&t=9s

Sunset Hill House Resort History Set 01 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/CottageHistory/Hotel/Brochure/Brochure1900.htm   

Historic Photographs (Set 01) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/01ResdenSSH.htm

Historic Photographs (Set 02) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/02ResdenSSH.htm

Historic Photographs (Set 03) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/03ResdenSSH.htm

Historic Photographs (Set 03) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/03ResdenSSH.htm

Historic Photographs (Set 04) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/2019/04ResdenSSH.htm

 

After the Sunset Hill House Resort was nearly all demolished in 1973, our cottage (before it was ours)
was moved in 1977 from the golf course across a tennis court and up to where the former hotel site.
I show pictures of the preparation work prior to the moving the cottage and its four fireplaces
     http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/OldSite/Set01/Set01.htm

Next I show pictures of the move to the new site
     http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/NewSite/Set01/Set01.htm 

Next I show the pictures of a 1980 spectacular fire on one of the remaining three cottages
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/CottageHistory/Fire/FireSet01.htm

Iron Ore From Ore Hill and Historic Iron Works Operations in Franconia
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/IronMine/Set01/01IronMine.htm

Sunset Hill House Hotel:  The American Dream ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/SunsetHillHouse/SunsetHillHouse.htm

Part 1 of the History of the Homestead Inn Torn Down in 2015
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Hotels/Homestead/Set01/Set01.htm

Part 2 of the History of the Homestead Inn
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Hotels/Homestead/Set02/Set02.htm 

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

Blogs of White Mountain Hikers (many great photographs) ---
http://www.blogger.com/profile/02242409292439585691

Especially note the archive of John Compton's blogs at the bottom of the page at
http://1happyhiker.blogspot.com/

Question
Are there trails in our White Mountains of New Hampshire that have ice in summer as well as winter?
See "The Ice Gulch, Would I do it Again" by John Compton, August 5, 2011 ---
http://1happyhiker.blogspot.com/2011_08_05_archive.html

Okay, you might ask, is there really ice in the Ice Gulch, even in August? Yes, there is! The next photo shows one small patch of ice. There were many larger patches, but they were at the bottom of some of those deep gaps that I mentioned above. I took some photos, but none of them really turned out, even with using a flash to illuminate these dark, dank, deep spots.

 White Mountain News --- http://www.whitemtnews.com/

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's Blogs --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Our address is 190 Sunset Hill Road, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire
Our cottage was known as the Brayton Cottage in the early 1900s
Sunset Hill is a ridge overlooking with New Hampshire's White Mountains to the East
and Vermont's Green Mountains to the West

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://facuolty.trinity.edu/rjensen/