The Old Crawford House Hotel
I am a descendant of the Barron family who purchased the Crawford House in 1870, from the people who had purchased it from Abel Crawford's son Tom. It has been 32 years now since the old girl was set afire, I believe to disway the cost of tearing it down. My relatives were Asa T. and Oscar F. Barron, who came from Quechee, Hartford Vermont in 1868. That same year they built the famed Twin Mountain House, and two years later aquired Crawford and Fabyan House. They would come to lease the first Summit House (1873-1908), as well as the Mt. Pleasant House, which stood on a rise directly across from the entrance to the present jewel, the Mt ewashington Hotel. I was born 4 years after Crawford House was lost to fire, so obviously I never saw it, though I feel a kinship to it just the same. I have collected a fine group of items from all of the Barron hotels and others of note in the area. I have leafed through register books from Crawford House, and am amazed to see the names of the people who stayed there. They were Presidents, poets, Governors, and every day people. I have always felt that it was a travesty to let the Crawford House fall into ruins, and eventualy burned. She was in my opinion the Gem of the white mountains. The hotel was the second one on that spot, as the first one also burned in 1859, only a few months later Col. Cyrus Eastman of Littleton built the second and last Crawford House. It stood for 118 years through the Notch winds and driving snow, and rode out a few hurricanes mostly unscathed. The place was managed for many years by Cordeanio Merrill, who endeared himself to thousands of his guests. In 1908 Mr. Merrill left the Hotel for the last time, as he was Ill, and the crowd that came to see him off at the Station, consisted of his Guests and his Help. There was scarcely a dry eye in the crowd as the old man left the mountains, where he had spent the last 40 years for the last time. After Merrills death in 1908, Col. William A Barron owned and managed the place until 1948, when the Barron's sold the hotels after 80 years of ownership. Col. Barron lived to be 96 years old, passing away in Massachusetts in 1964. I am glad none of them lived to see the place fall apart, and I hope that the Mt washington will never share the same fate. Tangible pieces of our past can not be recovered once gone, so I hope they will be treated with more respect then was shown Crawford House in 1977. Take care, and maybe we'll meet among the clouds some time.
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Originally Posted by whitemountainhistory.org
