Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 10.djvu/161

 Publisher s Department. BOAR'S HEAD HOTEL.

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��As the warm weather approaches one begins to look forward to a trip to the country, to tlie mountains, or to the seaside, as a vacation from the ordinary avocations of life. Nearly everybody has some favorite resort in view, which, if possible, he will try to visit during his days or weeks of rest or recreation. Many, how- ever, have no definite place in view, and to such we wish to recommend that particularly favored spot, Boar's Head, and Mr. S. H. Dumas's Boar's Head Hotel, situate in the town of Hampton, N. H.

We have been to the place several seasons with the famih', and all are more than pleased with its many attractions. The hotel is large, hav- ing about 100 rooms, each one of which commands a view of the ocean ; for Boar's Head is a promontory ex- tending 1,600 feet out into the sea, and the hotel is located on its highest elevation. In either direction ex- tends Hampton Beach, merging in the distance to the north into Rj'e Beach, Little Boar's Head, and the shores of Newcastle, Kittery, and York ; and to the south into the wave-washed shores of Salisbury, Newburyport, and Cape Ann. Across a wide ex- panse of blue water can be seen the romantic group of Isles of Shoals, famons in verse and stor}^, and in another direction, Thatcher's island, off the Massachusetts coast. In the wide angle made by these distant points the broad Atlantic ocean is in view to the horizon. This view must ever remain the chief attraction of the place. Mr. Dumas keeps the whole of the plateau, from the house to the edge of the bluff, free from all obstructions, so that from the wide

��verandas of the hotel the guest can view the whole expanse of ocean, with nothing to mar the effect but the velvety sward of the well kept lawn. This lawn is immensely attractive to everybody, from the little child who romps over it to the grey-haired vet- eran, including all ages between, even mooning couples. Along the edge of the bluff, which rises precip- itously nearly one hundred feet above the sea, at convenient distances, are placed low seats, upon which one can sit ; inhale the purest of air, clarified by a journey across the ocean, per- haps ; gain youth and health and happiness with every breath ; watch the ceaseless billows of the " North- ern ocean" as they break at his feet ; and, if he has not dyspepsia too badly, he will be happy, and so will his sisters and his cousins and his whole family. Out on this bluff, all through the sea- side summer season, he is sure of meeting congenial company, for at Boar's Head, season after season, do congregate those charming families who discovered the attractions of the place many years ago perhaps, or who were recommended to the place by their fathers or grandfathers (for Boar's Head has been a famous resort for three quarters of a century), and who count on meeting each other thei-e, or on meeting other pleasant and interesting people. Many come from our own state, many from Massachu- setts, many from New York city, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and the South, and very many from the great West, — bright, active, whole-souled people, who make it lively. It is rather the resort of families than of gay young bachelors, vet it receives its share of their pat-

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