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 about 1856 and three years later opened as a hotel. In 1800, (9 years after the advent of the Boston, Barre, and Gardner Railroad), they added a story to the main house and built a new wing. These additions made it possible to accommodate about one hundred people.
- Daniel Howe built the Grand View House, across from the Mountain House, in 1859. Soon after that, he had sold the Mountain House to the Bullards, who were kin of his wife. Extensive additions were made to the original building in 1893 (22 years after the Boston, Barre, and Gardner Railroad) to provide forty sleeping rooms. This hotel burned in 1899.
- The Mount Pleasant House started in 1868 when Charles Whittaker opened his house for boarders. In 1875 (4 years after the Boston, Barre, and Gardner Railroad) extensive additions were made so as many as 40-60 guests could be accommodated.
- “The Harrington Farm” first opened its facilities to city people in 1882 (11 years after the Boston, Barre, and Gardner Railroad). It still operates successfully and can accommodate about 30 people. It was probably the start of more climbing expeditions to the summit than any of the other place. The Harrington Trail is the most famous of them all.
- The Summit House was an outgrowth of William Morse’s booth for the sale of candy and cigars atop the mountain. His wares for the booth were transported by a small two-wheeled cart drawn by a pony from his base at the Mountain House. Four years later, in 1870, he built a small stone house to house his growing business. In 1874 (3 years after the Boston, Barre, and Gardner Railroad) the Wachusett Mountain Company built a road to the summit and erected the first Summit House.
The road to the summit was never profitable despite the toll charge of $2.00 per horse and carriage. It was built long before the days of hard surfaces like we have today, which meant that a large crew of men and work carts were required from early spring until fall, in order to keep the road passable. The traffic never developed to a point where one could call it heavy. Horses, who may have driven out from Worcester in the morning, would be so fatigued that they would not be in condition for the winding climb the same day. This meant a three day trip in the event anyone planned to take their own horse and carriage up the mountain; – 1 day to Princeton, 1 day up and down the mountain, and 1 day for the return to Worcester. All this information has come to me as a result of my questioning the present P. A. Beaman as to why his family sold the mountain to the State in 1900 for $25,000. The building was enlarged five years later and again in 1884, when a three-story building, 40’ square was built by P. A. Beaman (Sen.) & Son.