Does your ancestry involve the lake?
 

My Grandmother (Memere)
 

I heard a nice story recently from my Dad who has very few memories left to share. My very French grandmother was a wonderful cook. She spent a great deal of her time in the kitchen cooking for her family and anyone else wiling to enjoy her great food. I still remember the apple pie.

He said that my grandmother would pack a suitcase this time of year and head up to the lake. Many of my father's cousins had camps around the lake. My grandmother would spend a week here and two weeks over there doing what she loved most. Cooking for a big appreciative family. My father relates that she would do this all summer and come home in the fall. This would have been in the 40s and 50s.

My grandmother was also known for her braided rugs. If you put a pile of scrap cloth next to her, she would create beautiful rugs in record time. I like to imagine that a few of her rugs might be still in a camp or two around the lake.

My great, great Grandfather had our camp on Bear Island built in 1923.

My Grandparents
 

My grandparents owed a camp on Penelton Beach (bought in '46). They used to drive us kids up from NJ in the '50's to stay with them. I used to bring back a bag of pine cones and needles and beach sand when we left so I could smell the lake when I was back in NJ, still my favorite smell. When they sold it in 1961 I was 9 yrs old and I sat on the beach and vowed to be back and live on the lake one day.

....and I did 27 years later

Ellis Family
 

Most of my family was from around Sanbornton and that area - my dad had a farm up around Upper Bay and the family cemetery is in that area (Ellis/Sanborn).

A few years ago I learned that my grandfather (father's father) was born in Alton, at a home on the corner of School St. and Church St., in 1870. There's exactly 100 years between my grandfather's birthdate and my birthday. I think it's pretty cool that my kids are going to school just across the street from where their great grand father was born 140 years ago... I had no idea of any family connection to Alton when I moved here...

I've also learned there's two Ellis family cemeteries in Alton. Guess I have more DNA underground in Alton, than I do above the ground... :)

Moved from Doctor's Island—Sebago Lake
 

My Grandparents once made their home in the house that is the Melvin Marina today. They sold to the Moultons, then moved ¼-mile from Lake Winnipesaukee. :confused: The reason they moved remains unknown.

Their "new house" was 150-years old at that time. :emb:

We've met descendants of the family from whom they'd bought the "new house"—who still live in the immediate area.

My Dad remains a "post-Great-Depression" encyclopedia of everything Tuftonboro. :)

My Great-great grandfather had our cottage built in Center Harbor bay in the late 1800's.

Not at Winni, but still NH: my great-great-grandfather helped build the P&O railroad. One of his daughters married some guy named Conway. (don't know for sure if he was one of THOSE Conways) One of her sons moved to CT. One of his daughters ended up in NY. And I've come back to NH.

Grandparents
 

My grandparents had a great place on Springfield Point. Unfortunately, they sold it in the 80's and moved into town. I still go by there each time I visit and it reminds me of so many wonderful childhood memories with them (both have passed already).

Can't wait for summer! :banana:

My ancestors helped to found the town of Gilford.

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My maternal grandparents bought a small cottage on Winnipesaukee in Melvin Village in 1919 for $1200. The cottage was located across a small cove from the Wawbeek Cottage Colony (near the Abenaki Tower) and directly across the lake from Black Island. For a very brief time they also owned Five Mile Island (which they bought sight unseen for another Brigden family member). The property stayed in our family until 1984 when it was sold on short notice. From the time that we lost our cottage my dream was to be able to provide my children with the same summertime life and experiences that I was fortunate even to have every year. Unfortunately I wasn't able to provide that opportunity for my children...but with the purchase of our place on Rattlesnake in 2011 I hope that my grandchildren will get to experience the wonders of lake life like I did.

The story goes like this.....
 

My Grandparents had their cottage built in 1936 for $3900, or 1939 for $3600, not sure which way it went, and thats the great part of the story!! 100 feet of Sachem's Cove shoreline, on Spindle Point, large wooded lot and an additional lot across the road behind the house. Summers were spent swimming, fishing, climbing Eagle Mountain.....hiking, water skiing, taking naps in the hammok. Summer nights were spent in the breezeway playing "spite and malice," monopoly, or reading a good book. Night fishing off the neighbors dock or night walking around the point with our flashlights. Fireworks at The Weirs, Dinners at Mames, Sundaes from Franken Sundae or Kellerhaus, Lobster Rolls from the Tamerack, boat rides by moonlight, shooting stars and the rare "northern lights".....making friendships for that week or two that someone was renting a cottage for, how bad it hurt to see them go, although you swore you would be friends forever.....now, the cottage is gone, so are my lovely Grandparents, oh, but those memories!! Now there are new ones, of my children, swimming in that cool blue water!! We love the lake, thats for sure!! We will keep coming and coming, every year or two, sometimes twice a year!! Making new memories to last forever!!

Wow, what wonderful stories.

I heard once of a relative of ours, from generations ago, that drank like a fish...I don't know if maybe there is a glimmer of hope that could tie us to a lake some how.

Happy Friday:)

200+ Years
 

2014 is a big year for my family and our lake/Moultonborough history. We will celebrate 200 years in our family home on Moultonboro Neck Road. The house was built in 1814 after the original homestead burned. We are planning a family reunion and bicentennial celebration at camp in June to mark the milestone.

Congratulations to the entire Dow family, past and present. Have fun!:D

My parents built there camp at Sawyer Lake in Gilmanton in 1952, I spent my summers there with my mother until 1974. Was always at or around the lake, Weirs fireworks every week and arcades and drive-in. Really great memories which brought me back to the lake(Alton) 10 years ago.

Since the 1930's I believe.
 

My Great Aunt and Great Uncle Millie and Jim Foster had a place at Lake Shore Park. First was a platform on which was erected a wall tent. Then they were allowed to build a cabin on the platform. It was white, had a small screened porch on the front, and was called the Wee Hoose (wee house, in Scottish dialect). Mom went up there in her youth before WWII, and after she married Dad in 1944 and the war ended, they started going up there. I was born in 1946 and spent some time that summer, and have been at the lake ever since, at least once a year for over 68 years. As the signature says, I live here, I am always Upthesaukee.

I did go to Camp Lawrence for about 4 years, and even have ancestral history there: My Uncle David was a counselor in the 1930's.

Don't know how I missed this thread the first time around. :rolleye2: Start of an age thing????:laugh:

My grandfather and his brothers used to take the train to Wolfeboro as kids to attend Camp Wyanoke. From then on, he wanted a place on the Big Lake, and finally bought a camp in 1945. Our family held that spot in Melvin Village (the iconic white boathouse along the Wawbeek shore just north of 20 Mile Bay, dead ahead as you head north through The Graveyard) until October 2012. Not a happy day, to say the least. Still hoping to secure a new location for my family...and won't let go of this one...

Back When
 

And to this day I have relatives living here...

My Dad was also involved here...
Pictured in 1945...