Day Tripping

Step into History at NH Boat Museum

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

When you step inside the NH Boat Museum, you step into history. Each and every time I visit, I am surprised at the beauty of the antique boats on display – most of them wooden, sleek and breathtaking. 

While I have a passing knowledge of many things Lakes Region/New Hampshire, I am not particularly informed about the vast history of boating in the area. A tour of the NH Boat Museum, located on Center St. in Wolfeboro, always increases my knowledge, and this year’s exhibits and some new (to the museum) boats add to the enjoyment of a visit.

This season, the exhibit is “Locally Produced” and it is all about boats and boating items produced in the area. Viewers are treated to the origins of boating and how it grew in the Lakes Region.

If you like old photos that show how people used the lakes area for boating, waterskiing and other pastimes, you will like the exhibit.

How did the museum come to begin and find a home in Wolfeboro? A love of antique boats and their history led to the formation of the museum in 1992. According to information at www.nhbm.org, “Originally the museum was called the ‘New Hampshire Antique and Classic Boat Museum’ and then modified in order to better reflect the museum’s mission. After moving around Lake Winnipesaukee for a few years, in 2000 NHBM found a permanent home in Wolfeboro in the former Allen ‘A’ Resort theater and dance hall.  The Allen ‘A’ hall, a large, barrel-round, Quonset hut style building built in 1954, cannot be missed on Route 28 north on the edge of town. Visitors can also experience the thrill of riding in a replica vintage boat in NHBM’s very own 1928-style Hacker Craft mahogany triple cockpit, the Millie B.”

I visited the NH Boat Museum on a steamy and hot mid-July afternoon, and an employee at the front desk greeted me and led the way into the museum with its high ceilings and at the far end, a stage area where bands once played for the Allen A guests. As I gazed into the room, I caught sight of the incredible wooden boats – one of which looked so charming I could barely wait to see it up close. (More on this later.) 

This is the second season for the fabulous “Locally Produced” exhibit and there are returning favorite items, as well as new things in the show.

The first display focuses on the early days of waterski manufacturing in the area. As a lover of all things old, I adored this portion of the museum displays. Information told that the increasing power and speed of boats on the lakes in the 1920s led to the idea of skiing behind a boat. It seemed like a rather logical – if perhaps at first daring – idea. The thrilling sport caught on; by the 1950s, waterskiing was one of the fastest growing recreational sports in the country. It also seems logical that New Hampshire and specifically the Lakes Region was front-and-center when it came to waterskiing. Two national brands of skis were manufactured in Laconia: AquaSport and Northland. 

One of my favorite posters in the exhibit was a large advertisement that told of the National Water Ski Championships which were held from August 21-23 in 1959. The Weirs Ski Club was involved in the event. 

An AquaSport Water Ski Rope Tow in its original box was a great part of the exhibit, along with old photos of local water skiers and water skis. 

NH Boat Museum executive director, Martha Cummings, joined me on the tour, and pointed out the Nickerson boat, which she told me was back at the museum. The Nickerson rowboat is a long wooden boat that was quite utilitarian, and used to carry passengers and luggage and deliveries of goods to the Winnipesaukee islands. It was also used often on Lake Wentworth.  According to exhibit information, Nicerkson Boat Works was located on Old Route 16 in Ossipee, New Hampshire. With a simple and sturdy design, the rowboats had flat bottoms so a person could stand up in them without capsizing. Although the boats were once common, today they are quite rare. Thus, the rowboat at the museum is quite interestubgm and those who are boating fans will want to see this gem.

Martha smiled as she pointed to a wall of boat license plates nearby. “It is the collection of Doug Hamel, and is a complete group of boat plates from 1916 to 1988.”

The boat that had caught my eye when I entered the museum was next on our tour and Martha told me it was from the collection of a Sunapee area family collection. “We just got the boat at the end of 2020,” she explained. 

I could imagine the lucky family that got to ride in such a wooden boat, with its glass windowed cabin and sleek driver’s area. Built by FW Johnson, the boat is a gorgeous vessel. FW Johnson was the son of an Alton, New Hampshire blacksmith and was a carriage builder. Later, FW turned to boat building at his property, the FW Johnson Launch Company on Gold St. in Lakeport, New Hampshire. He was best remembered for his building of “Laker” style launches so popular in the early 1900s.

Next to the first boat, a huge old wooden boat is a shining thing of beauty and it did not take much imagination to dream about the days when this boat plied the waters of Winnipesaukee with a driver at the wheel and a party of genteel folks with picnic baskets lounging on board as they moved over the water.

The boat is called the Regina and it is part of the NH Boat Museum’s permanent collection. It was constructed by Goodhue & Hawkins in 1913 and is only one of six of this type: long-necked launches commonly known as Lakers. Five of the ultra-elegant boats still reside on Lake Winnipesaukee; the location of the sixth of unknown.

“If you stand here,” Martha suggested, indicating that I stand facing the very front of the boat, looking down the length of the Regina, “you will see my favorite view.” Indeed, when one stands with feet firmly placed on the floor and gazes down the length of the boat, you are treated to the sleek lines and artistry of the Laker’s construction. It has a “cut water” that Martha loves and one can easily imagine the grace as the Regina cut through the waters of the lake.

The Regina was a donation to the NH Boat Museum from Howard Newton and the gift was an incredibly generous one. (Fun fact: it is believed the boat was originally built for the estate of Lydia Pinkham, known as “the Queen of Patent Medicine.” The boat was built after Lydia had passed away, and was kept in her Alton Bay property until obtained by a boat enthusiast.) A charming exhibit of Lydia’s patent medicine and her story are also on display.

The quest to locate and own the boat is one of the examples of just why the NH Boat Museum is beloved to so many – the understanding that these old boats are a huge part of the country’s recreational history.

A large part of the story of boating in the Lakes Region cannot be told without focusing greatly on Goodhue & Hawkins, whose business in Wolfeboro in the early 1900s led to the popularity of boating. 

A time line display of the business tells us that Goodhue & Hawkins opened in 1903 when Nathaniel H. Goodhue and Chester E. Hawkins began operations on Sewall Road in Wolfeboro. They offered a wide range of services, including boat repair of steam and gasoline yachts and launches. Soon, the business was building custom wooden speed launches to carry passengers, as well as renting boats. Between 1903 and 1933, they were building Goodhue Lakers, the long deck launches. The hulls were framed and planked at a boat yard on Clark Point and floated to Sewall Road, where their engines were installed and the craftsman-style finishing woodwork was completed.

The history of the company and also boating in the Lakes Region takes the visitor through the years and all the types of boats to the present-day Goodhue Boat Company.

Before I was done viewing the Goodhue & Hawkins timeline area, I studied the unique, original blueprints that are on display. They are the original drawings for the Laker boat.

The Locally Produced exhibit also offers a look at boats built at the Laconia Car Company. Originally, the company built passenger and freight railcars and trolleys. Later, they built boats. The original production debuted at the 1928 New York Boat Show. Information in the exhibit tells us two boats were offered by the company: a 12 ft. Speedster and a 16 ft. Sportser. The wooden boat named Zip is on display and another part of the history of boating in the Lakes Region.

On the museum stage area, there is a massive amount of information and delightful displays and photos pertaining to rowing. The exhibit is titled “Who’s in the Boat?” and it begins with a wall-sized display of the 1852 Harvard vs. Yale first intercollegiate rowing competition. The rowing event was held on Lake Winnipesaukee in Center Harbor and 1,000 people cheered on the competitors. 

Three very long and thin boats for rowing sit in pride of place and one, a donation from Wolfeboro’s Brewster Academy, was found and pulled from the school’s lakeside area. The museum repaired the bow and it is yet another piece of area boating history.

The rowing exhibit runs deep and follows Women in Rowing and also Diversity in Rowing.

When last I talked to Martha, the NH Boat Museum was working on a campaign for fundraising for a new permanent home for the facility. "We hit $1.1 million and we own the land on Bay Street in Wolfeboro,” she said. “We are now pushing forward with fundraising to break ground with a goal of spring, 2022.” 

As we finished the tour, I also enjoyed a display of flotation devices, ranging from a Cork Life Jacket that reminded me of the ones worn in the movie Titanic. The jackets were made until 1913, followed by the Kapok Vest until the 1940s. Also on view is a 1943 Kapok “Horse Collar” life vest in the orange color most of us are familiar with; other vests are on display.

And, not to be ignored, on the main floor, there is also an extensive exhibit about the M/S Mount Washington (after all, no exhibit on Lakes Region boating would be complete without a history of this major player of boating on the lake).

There also is a children’s area with activities, so that no one in the family is overlooked when it comes to boating.

Martha adds, “We are open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday we are open from noon to 4 pm. We are closed on Mondays,” she explained. (The NH Boat Museum is open until mid-October.)

I encourage you to visit and dream about the days when millionaires and hard-working boat builders took to the waters of area lakes, and left us with so much history and those wonderful boats for all to enjoy today.

For information on the programs and membership and riding on the Millie B, call 603-569-4554 or visit www.nhbm.org.