Wentworth by the Sea

Wentworth by the Sea, formerly Hotel Wentworth, is a historic hotel in New Castle, New Hampshire.

History

The hotel was built in 1874 by Daniel Chase, a distiller from Somerville, Massachusetts, and for the first two years was named Wentworth Hall. The Wentworth Hotel was bought by Frank Jones in 1879 and then further expanded. With Jones's death the hotel was sold in 1902.

In 1905 the hotel housed the Russian and Japanese delegations who concluded the Treaty of Portsmouth to end the Russo-Japanese War. The final document was signed at the Wentworth Hotel.

After a number of owners, Harry Beckwith bought the hotel in 1920 and ran it for 25 years. In 1946 it was acquired by Margaret and James Barker Smith for $200,000. [ [http://seacoastnh.com/wentbysea/smith.html Wentworth Hotel. The Smith Era 1946 to 1980] , accessed 09-04-2008] On July 4, 1964, Emerson and Jane Reed became the first African-Americans to overcome the hotel's policy of segregation, at the restaurant of the Wentworth. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=f7BJj742rUwC&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=%22emerson+reed%22+nh&source=web&ots=rkKqFisCN5&sig=mK4s9s_zRGZ0zkoCuNY7i97-C1M&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result Mark J. Sammons, Valerie Cunnigham: "Black Portsmouth", pages 182-3] ]

With declining fortunes and changing owners, the hotel closed in 1982. A local group, Friends of the Wentworth, formed and tried to preserve the hotel. When they were unable to locate sufficient support, Alan Green, president of the Green Corporation which owned the hotel at that time, announced its planned demolition in 1995.cite web |url=http://www.wentworth.com/about/wentworth-history.aspx |author=Wentworth by the Sea |title=Wentworth History, accessed 09-04-2004] Attention was drawn to the Victorian hotel when it was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's (NTHP) list of America's Most Endangered Places and the History's Channel "America's Most Endangered" the following year. This postponed the demolition sufficiently to identify a buyer, and Ocean Properties acquired the property in 1997. The hotel was subsequently renovated, reopened in 2003, and is operated as a Marriott resort. The NTHP named the hotel in its list of "Historic Hotels of America".

The Wentworth by the Sea Country Club is home to the golf course that was initially designed by George Wright in 1897, enlarged by Ronald Ross in 1921, and further expanded to 18 holes by Geoffrey Cornish in 1964.

References

Literature

* Dennis Robinson: Wentworth by the Sea. The Life and Times of a Grand Hotel. Publisher: Peter E. Randall Publisher (April 1, 2004), ISBN-10: 1931807213, ISBN-13: 978-1931807210.
* Sue Melanson: Wentworth-by-the-Sea 1969: A Novel.Xlibris Press

External links

* [http://www.wentworth.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.wentworthbytheseacc.com/golf.cfm Country Club]
* [http://www.taxexemptworld.com/organization.asp?tn=53685 Friends of the Wentworth, Inc.]
* [http://www.seacoastnh.com/Places_&_Events/Wentworth_by_the_Sea/Wentworth_by_the_Sea_Stories/ Wentworth by the Sea Stories] , accessed 09-04-2008