On our way back to the White Mountains we stopped to tour the Lucknow Mansion and hike the grounds. Known as the Castle in the Clouds, this lovely mansion also has an extra tour through the basement.
After parking and purchasing your tickets you will need to ride a trolley to the mansion. At first I questioned the need, but after you take the ride you will understand. The road is to narrow, is right along a cliff and there is no parking at the top. The trolley leaves every 15 minutes and the tour is self guided except for the basement which requires an additional fee.
The tour when we visited was a one way path to help with the current global situation. We were led upstairs to tour the bedrooms and bathrooms first. The views of lake Winnipesauke are just breath taking! You'll eventually find yourself in the maid quarters before heading downstairs, unmarried male servants lived in the basement and married couples lived in small cottages on the property.
Downstairs held such delights including the kitchen, with it's very large stove, and a large refrigerator. These modern technologies were ahead of their time but show their age, the refrigerator door being incredibly thick. The servant dining hall, main dining room and large parlor with a library and billiard hall are also on the first floor. Right when you first enter you will also find Toms office, which I'm somewhat in envy of.
The small backyard provides both the best view of the mansion and also and expansive view of lake Winnipesauke. Just Imagine waking up to this view and having breakfast! Behind the mansion you'll find a small trail that will take you back to the carriage house below where the trolleys wait. You can also ride back down but the hike takes only a few minutes.
The carriage house itself contains a restaurant and free museum. The museum covers the early years of the owners shoe company that provided him with the money for the mansion. Unfortunately the restaurant, which has a spectacular outdoor dining area, was closed due to the pandemic. The ice cream stall on property was open, and was delicious though!
We also took the basement tour for the additional fee. Some people may question paying extra but the money goes towards restoring the mansion so it's worthwhile. It also has not been fully restored so requires a dedicated guide to explain things. The basement is where the male servants stayed, but that section of the house was mostly ruined and has been replaced by modern materials. The rest of the basement is original and includes an up close look at several interesting features. Pictured to the side is the central vacuum for the house. It was eye opening to me that such technology existed back then, but this was actually simpler than smaller vacuums at the time. We were also able to go into the large safe which had a classic bank style vault door.
Additionally you will also be shown the laundry room which hasn't been fully restored, the organ pipe room which should be finished in the coming year, and the machinery involved in the refrigeration system. If you enjoy old houses and mansions this tour is definitely for you. Shockingly the mansion is actually roughly 20 years younger than the home I currently live in!
The grounds of the property are over 5,000 acres and include several hiking trails, the most popular of which has 7 waterfalls. We had plenty of time to enjoy this trail and it made for an excellent warmup for our trip. Some of the falls are small and two are only viewable from a distance but the rest are very nice and worth the roughly 40 minute hike.
We hiked from the top but an additional parking lot is available lower on the property that comes out right near the largest waterfall. I wanted to finish with that waterfall so hiking down was the better option for us.
During our little adventure we heard some people shouting about a bear. Sadly for us we just missed it as a black bear had apparently scurried across the stream and into the woods. This is New Hampshire after all, regardless of the massive amount of people on the trail this is still bear country.
Each waterfall is accompanied by a sign with its name and some information on it's history. The best part is that historical photos are included so you can see how they've changed, or not, throughout the years.
The Falls of Song is the highest waterfall here, standing some 50 feet tall. I unluckily had some terrible lighting for a photo and not enough time to stick around. That didn't stop me from fully appreciating just how nice this waterfall was cutting through the rock.
Once we climbed back up the trail we stopped for some Ice Cream at the stand located right at the start of the trail. The brand of Ice Cream sold was from a Maine based company I believe and was quite good.
Overall our time at Castle in the clouds was thoroughly enjoyable, I recommend both tours of the mansion, the waterfall hike and finishing by rewarding yourself with some Ice Cream :)
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