A New destination for 150 years
When the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel opened in 1874, it joined dozens of other resorts dotting the northern New England landscape. Today, it remains among the few grand hotels in this region. Over the decades, the hotel has undergone early success, bankruptcy, and resurgence under the guidance of a Gilded Age tycoon In 1905, it was the focus of an international peace conference. Then, after decades as a prominent family resort and convention center, it languished for 20 years, only to rise again as a beloved upscale hotel and spa. Author J. Dennis Robinson tells tales of the Wentworth’s owners, its loyal employees, and the quests who make it memorable.
The dominant architectural feature in seacoast New Hampshire, the Wentworth was and is more than a building. Author J. Dennis Robinson tells the stories of its of-times flamboyant owners, its loyal employees, and the thousands of guests all of whom have made the Wentworth a New England institution.
In this heavily illustrated volume we learn of the Campbell family who built the hotel, of Frank Jones, the Portsmouth multi-millionaire who expanded the facility into the major resort, and of James and Margaret Smith who held the aging building together during parts of five decades while hosting governors, presidents, industrialists and dozens of conventions ranging from visiting firemen to librarians.
Then for two decades, until the turn of the twentieth century, the hotel was closed and nearly demolished, until nearly at the last minute, it was saved due to public outcry and renovated as the Marriott Wentworth by the Sea Hotel and Spa.
