Newfound Lake: Most Beautiful Lake in New Hampshire
Woods and water are essential to a New England summer vacation, and, standing near the tip of Paradise Point on New Hampshire’s Newfound Lake, just west of Lake Winnipesaukee, I realize I’ve happily found summer. I arrived here by walking 10 minutes through hushed woods, where the hemlocks and moss captured the sounds of my every footstep. Along the way, I could smell the luxuriant scent of the forest.
And then, as if a curtain of light had been lifted in the woods: the water.
Ask any resident around Newfound Lake about its water and you’ll get an earful. The glacial lake, which is 2-1/2 miles wide and seven miles long, reaches depths of up to 180 feet and is fed by eight springs. You’ll hear that the water is considered the most pristine in the state. You’ll also hear that this isn’t by chance — the Newfound Lake Region Association remains diligent in monitoring the lake, keeping milfoil at bay, and ensuring it stays this way. From Paradise Point, you may observe that this is no small challenge. This is not a wilderness lake. Motorboats crease the lake’s surface all summer; cottages line the distant shore.
A small lake provides a series of small adventures, not a single large one. That’s certainly the case here. You could spend a week making small forays on the water and into the forest.
I dropped my suitcases at The Inn on Newfound Lake on the eastern shore, which in some form has been welcoming guests since 1840. With its floral wallpaper, it still has the feel of a New England boardinghouse, with creaky stairs and smallish rooms. (Some still have their bathrooms across the hall.) The inn is just across the road from the lake and looks out toward Mount Cardigan beyond the western shore. A refreshing dip in those cleansing waters from the inn’s sandy beach is a good way to start an adventure here.
Then to Paradise Point, the New Hampshire Audubon preserve up at the head of the lake. The preserve consists of just 43 acres, but this encompasses 3,500 feet of untouched shorefront. Bring a picnic. Take a hike. Rent a kayak or canoe from the nature center or launch your own craft and see how the shoreline looks when viewed from the outside in.
Keep driving counterclockwise around the lake and you’ll soon come to the timeless village of Hebron. There’s a grassy, irregular square with a small gazebo, a church, and a country store, all awash in white clapboard.
Pause if you’d like, but then push on 2.8 miles from Hebron toward Groton to Sculptured Rocks Natural Area. (Follow the signs from town.) The Cockermouth River flows through a cleft in the granite here, but that simple description doesn’t do it justice. The river was once the outflow of a great glacier, and the currents tossed car-sized boulders around like cherry pits in a sink drain. The force carved out all sorts of fantastical, cloudlike shapes in the rock. Older kids with a strong crawl—both aquatic and terrestrial—love to start at the bottom of the gorge and, salmonlike, swim and scramble their way as far upstream as they can go.
A 1912 postcard showcases Sugarloaf’s Ledges, on the west side of the lake, as a local bit of worthy natural drama. And this 200-foot static cascade of gray rock, plunging down the hill and into the lake, still has the power to impress as you drive by, slowly, mindful of oncoming cars and the rock wall between you and the lake.
- Paradise Point Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary
- The Inn on Newfound Lake
- Wellington State Park
- Sculptured Rocks Natural Area
- Iron Horse Metal Works and Earthly Treasures
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i have been going to newfound lake for thirty years since i was a baby and never heard of the sculptured rocks before. we have trip planned for july and my 7 year old can’t wait. anyone have ant other hidden jems?
I have been coming to Newfound Lake since i was a twinkle in my father’s eye, and i am now 65. My children and grandchildren have also been coming along. We have been staying at Camp Wulamat, where my grandparents had been going since the late 1930s, and my sister and I and out families have been renting cabins ever since. It is the most beautiful lake i have ever seen, it is crystal clear all over except where the depth is aroundd 180 feet, and I’m sure that if you were tall enough to stand there you would see your toenails very well. It is so beautiful there surrounded by the mountain, with the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets, seeing a rainstorm coming across the lake, white caps on a windy day, along with the beautiful sails of the sailboats. The camp Wulamat used to be a boyscout camp, and has cabins which for the most part, are still the same ones. which have been upgraded. Refrigerators used to be on the porch outside, actually ice boxes. The ice man used to come a few times a week to deliver ice for everyone, there are tin wood stoves in each cabin, still, to take the evening and morning chill out of the cabin. They have indoor plumbing, but if you want hot water, you can take a large bucket to the main lodge where there is a spigot where you can retrieve hot water,
for dishes. There is a large shower building for bathing. There is a huge recreation hall where the guests get together for weekily bingo game, and an evening for dancing. It is a wonderful family camp where everyone basically goes there the same time every year and are forever neighbors. At night or early in the morning, you can smell the wood stoves, and perhaps bacon cooking. All cabins have screened in porches, I can’t say enough about the area and the lake. If you just mention newfound lake to anyone who might have ever been there even for one day or afternoon ride, they will never be able to say enough about the area as I can’t. I hope I can continue going there a lot longer. I was very sad to hear about the Old Man o9f the Mountain,, falling down, which happened on my grandfather’s birthday on May 3. This was the grandfather who used to take us there as children. It was my other special place to go in New Hampshire, I would even make a special trip there often through the year to see both. Well, I could go on forever about this magnificent place. There aren’t enough words or pictures to describe all of its beauty, and nature. Thank you for the opportunity, and if you ever have a chance to go, Start in Bristol, and follow the road around the lake to see it all, Not a place to be missed in life.
does anyone have a phone number for Camp Wulamat — the one mentioned above, not the campground version. I used to go there as a kid and would love to try to take my young family sometime. but I can’t find contact info anywhere on the web (I did place a call to the Newfound Chamber of Commerce). Thanks (pronayne@gmail.com)