A whole evening could be devoted to each of these nine reasons for the existence of the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad; however, I shall dwell only upon parts of its history and then the contribution, which the railroad made to the development of “summer resorts”. Records show that licenses of the Wachusett House go back to 1822. With the inauguration of stage service to Oakdale in 1849, soon thereafter, the then owner removed the old house and built a new one. Twenty years later, or just before the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad began service, a large “L” was built, “A more commodious dining room was added in 1873” (2 years after the railroad came). The present residence of P. A. Beaman (then owned and occupied by A. T. Beaman) was enlarged and opened as an “annex” in 1883. Nearby houses took in people for the Wachusett House, indeed as many as two hundred people were often accommodated for a weekend, and as many more were turned away for lack of accommodations. The Prospect House came into being in 1860 when Wilkes Roper remodeled the Baptist Church into a hotel. He sold to George Bliss of Worcester in 1874 (3 years after the advent of the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad). He enlarged the dining room. He could accommodate 75 guests. In 1895 – Wayland Davis, the then owner, added a story to the building to increase the accommodations to 100 guests. The Mountain House at the base of Wachusett, started as a boarding house […]
