Sharp's Travels

Today Pat & Roger picked us up at 8:30 am for our trip to the Castle in the Clouds at Moultonborough, N.H. It is perched high in the Ossipee Mountains. It was about a 2 1/2 hr drive. We stopped for lunch about a mile and a half from the castle. We were ready now for our tour of the castle and grounds.
As we entered the gate the tour begins with a 2 mile scenic drive up the mountainside. The road is narrow and wooded on both sides. We stopped and walked to the beautiful 50ft waterfalls nestled in the high rock cliffs.
Further up the road we arrived at the Carriage House. This used to house the family’s many riding horses. Today it has been made into a restaurant. The stalls have been left intact and 3 or 4 dining tables have been placed in each stall, very neat atmosphere. You could also set on the outside terrace overlooking the mountains with its many lakes below. The flowers on the grounds were beautiful.
The Castle tour began at the Carriage House. From here trolleys transported visitors to the Castle, delivering us to the Sun Porch. We were greeted by a Staff Guide for a brief orientation.
The Castle was built in 1913-1914 of wood and stone by Thomas Plant. He quit school at 14 and started working in a shoe factory. Within 14 years he had worked himself from the bottom to the top. He ended up buying the factory, along with about 5 more. He was worth about 20 million dollars.
He ended up divorcing his first wife, sold his factories and retired.
He later remarried and they bought 5500 acres of property in the Ossipee Mountains and began building the Castle. It took them only about 1 1/2yrs to complete it.
We could wander about the Castle long as we wished. There were guides throughout the house to answer all our questions. They had the most modern features for that time period in the house. A semi-circular shower, central vacuum system and a huge ammonia brine-cooled refrigerator unit and an intercom system. There are seven ceiling skylights which so not open directly to the outside, instead they receive daylight from the attic through a second set of skylights in the roof.
They never had any children and with just the two of them they employed 30 servants.
Within a few short years, Mr. Plant had made a number of unsuccessful investments and had lost his entire fortune. The bank foreclosed on his property the day he died and left his wife with nothing. The Castle changed hands and eventually in 2002 was purchased by Lakes Region Conservation Trust and today is managed by the Castle Preservation Society. They are slowly bringing the Castle back to its stately self.
We enjoyed checking out the individual rooms and getting our picture taken having tea in the tea room on the second floor overlooking the beautiful mountains.
We headed back towards home and make a stop at a jewelry, native Indian and western store. Pat ended up buying a ring and a necklace, an early Christmas present!
We stopped in Naples for a quick bite to eat and then it was dessert at the homemade ice cream stand in Sabattus to top the day off.
It was a long but fun day.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album Castle in the Clouds