In Praise of New England Inns

The Fall of 2002. Our first visit to upstate New England and the discovery of Inns. No, not the public house type of inn of Britain. Instead, the wonderful family of eclectic, often historic, and uniquely individual Bed and Breakfast Country Inns of New England.

Adair.

By chance, chosen from the Select Registry brochure listing a North America-wide collection of boutique hotels, inns, lodges, ranches, and luxury cabins. We had driven up from Boston along Interstate 93, a journey we have repeated nearly every year since. Off exit 40, close to Bethlehem, New Hampshire, is a sharp turn into the Adair Country Estate, built in 1927 by Frank Hogan as a gift to his only daughter, Dorothy Adair Hogan, upon her marriage to John W. Guider.

The drive winds its way through broad dykes of granite through the inevitable woodland, the first glimpse of the three-story Georgian revival home sitting on a grassy knoll. Magnificent perennial borders and mixed woodland with ponds and meandering trails surround it.

Adair

What makes thee Inns special?

 The hallmarks are the relaxing ambiance, quiet, casual, understated luxury, and traditional New England cuisine. But what makes them truly memorable are the owners. Yes, you are paying guests. But from the first greeting you genuinely feel like staying at a friend’s home. And we struck gold. Judy and Bill Whitman were the owners and custodians of Adair for seven years until they retired in 2005. They shared inn-keeping duties. Judy – breakfast cook, afternoon tea baker, and special events coordinator. Bill – the back-office management stuff and head gardener.

We are so grateful and blessed to have discovered Adair when we did and for our close friendship forged with Judy and Bill over the years.

Adair has changed hands a couple of times, but the current owners continue the tradition of warm hospitality under the Whitmans.

White Mountains Inn - Bethlehem, NH - White Mountains Lodging | Adair Inn and Restaurant

In the intervening years, we have stayed in many Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont inns. We return every visit to Rabbit Hill Inn, Lower Waterford, Vermont, with Brian and Lesley Mulcahy at the helm (who also retired in 2024). Their dedication, hospitality, and forbearance never failed to astound us.

Rustington Inn and Restaurant is fictitious, so unfortunately, you cannot sample Jo’s fantastic cookery. However, its location on a bluff in Sugar Hill with a magnificent panoramic view of the Presidential Range is well known, as we almost bought a property close by!