Lounging at the Farragut Hotel

Remembering the Farragut Hotel
By Alex Herlihy, Rye Town Historian

Who are these ladies of wealth and leisure? We don’t know. But they represent an era, now gone, when the rich and famous lounged the summer away at great wooden hotels like the Farragut.

The first Farragut Hotel in Rye, NH, opened in 1868 and burned in 1882. A far more elegant replacement opened in 1883. Like its luxurious cousin, the Wentworth-by-the-Sea Hotel in nearby New Castle, the second Farragut was known far and wide. It spread out along the rocky Atlantic shore at the up-and-coming tourist destination in Rye. Shaded by the famous Farragut willows, framed by classic Victorian cupolas, and served by the deluxe Farragut Coach — this great lady served the rich and famous. Locals too flocked to the restaurant, bar and playhouse, for almost a century. It is rumored that Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald summered here briefly in the 20’s, perhaps finding some inspiration for Gatsby.

Owner John Colby Philbrick pulled out all the stops for his guests, even carrying them into the surf to dunk their oilskin-covered heads before they exposed their entire bodies to the Atlantic chill. Philbrick, along with others at Rye Beach, was so overcome with excitement at the visit of Admiral Farragut to his Atlantic House (located just behind the Farragut site) in 1866, that he named his new hotel after the great man.

The hotel’s front lawn and tennis court stretched right to the rocky shore, until Ocean Boulevard cut through them in 1902. A gazebo was built on the rocks for ocean views and a willow shaded path lead to St. Andrews Episcopal Church, then beyond to Philbricks Beach, a small crescent reserved for the exclusive summer guests.

After the new hotel was built a multi-purpose building across the road was added for all manner of occasion — from religious services, dancing, parties, theater (and later film) – as well as gambling. Mr. Welds hall was the top entertainment center of Rye Beach.

Generations of guests kept the old lady going long after most other hotels had vanished. But the Farragut, alas, was not as fortunate as the Wentworth, No “Friends of the Farragut” gathered to save the great hotels of Rye. No Ocean Properties arrived in time to rescue her.

The Farragut was razed in 1975 to be replaced by a brick shell, the skin of a future hotel that remained empty for three decades. Now that too has been razed. The lovely open space where the hotel stood reminds what much of Rye and coastal New Hampshire looked like before the rise of the tourist hotels that began early in the 1840s.