Purity Farms, Madison

[oche16]

Caught between the Lakes and Mountains region, Purity Spg & King Pine have been our family's favorite for decades. I hope it's be okay to post my recent "find" here. Pardon the low quality scans.

c1910 flyer.

[mcdude]

from puritysprings.com

The History of Purity Spring Resort

Purity Spring Resort celebrated its 100 year anniversary in 2011. Owned and operated by the Hoyt Family of East Madison since the late 1800's, original founder Edward E. Hoyt first operated The Hoyt Natural Spring Water Company, shipping bottled "Purity Spring Water" to Boston and New York City. A decade later, Hoyt had already begun to invite guests to his lakeside country inn before deciding in 1911 to devote more of his time to his lodging guests.
Originally named Purity Spring Farms and Cottages, guests from around New England were attracted to the over 1,000 natural acres of fields and forests which surrounded spring-fed Purity Lake. The Hoyt family made land preservation a priority and even during the lean years around World War I when business dropped considerably, remained focused on keeping the property intact.
In 1932, Edward's son, Milt, opened Camp Tohkomeupog for Boys. A few years later, Milt’s sister, Ellen, opened Camp Wampineauk for girls. The girls’ camp closed in 1977, but the boys’ camp is still operating at the same location. In addition to the two camps, Milt and Ellen assisted their father in running the inn.
In 1938, a rope tow was installed near Bald Ledge. Occasionally, Milt brought small groups of guests to the Inn during winter weekends to try the relatively new sport of skiing. In 1944, Milt left his teaching position in West Hartford, CT to develop Purity Spring Resort into a year-round business. He opened the inn and the camp to guests and hosted ski camps during the school vacation weeks. Still running today, King Pine's Ski Camp is known as the longest running ski camp in the country. During the summer, the Hoyts worked to develop the inn into a family resort while continuing operation of the boys camp.
In 1962, the first trails were cut for the new King Pine Ski Area. King Pine now welcomes over 60,000 skiers each season and will be celebrating 50 years during the 2011-12 ski season.
In 1976, Ted, Laura, Bob and Susie Hoyt and their respective spouses took over the day-to-day management of the resort from their father, Milt. Today, the Hoyts operate the expanded Purity Spring Resort in much the same manner as their parents did, along with the fourth and fifth generation of Hoyts now active in the business as well.
In 2001, the Hoyt family opened Danforth Bay Camping & RV Resort in nearby Freedom, NH. Danforth Bay offers 300 large camping and RV sites spread over 150 wooded acres, some lakeside on Danforth Bay of Ossipee Lake.
In 2006, The Bluffs RV Resort for adults was completed. The Bluffs is a 150 acre expansion of Danforth Bay, and was designed specifically for active adults wishing to rent RV sites from April to November. In 2007, 1-week stays were added.
In 2010, after almost 100 years of serving meals exclusively to resort guests, the Hoyt Family opened The Inn Dining Room to the public, appropriately named "Traditions Restaurant & Pub".

The Blaisdell Cottage today.

Many Moons Ago... during the summer of 1932, there came to this little valley, a woman by the name of Mrs. Maud Hersey. A housemother at the Moses Brown School in Providence, RI – Mrs. Hersey had decided to bring a small group of students on a summer retreat. The property was owned by Edward E. Hoyt, and operated as Purity Spring Mountain Inn. Mr. Hoyt provided her with a “bungalow” for her boys. While here, she developed a friendship with Mr. Hoyt’s son, “Milt”. Through this connection, Milt found employment at the Moses Brown School, and eventually enrolled at Brown University. Milt also took charge of the summer program for Mrs. Hersey. Over the next few summers, he continued bringing small groups of students to his father’s land. In 1935, Milt partnered with John Hanson, a college friend at Brown – and together they decided to re-organize the boys summer program. They moved out of the “bungalow” and up to a large, sturdy farmhouse on the Hoyt property - the Harmon homestead. “Purity Spring Camp for Boys” had 6 campers that summer. Soon after, the name was changed to Tohkomeupog – a modified Indian translation of the English, “Spring Water”.

from http://www.tohko.com