From collection Charles Coombs Collection
Hotel from top of Kineo
View of Mt. Kineo House and Moosehead Lake from the top of Mt. Kineo MT. KINEO HOUSE Third in the trio of grand New England hotels run by the Ricker Hotel Company was The New Mount Kineo House, built in 1884, and nestled in the rugged highlands of Maine on the shores of the mighty Moosehead Lake. Following the purchase of the hotel by the Maine Central Railroad in 1911, the Hiram Ricker Hotel Company was engaged to operate the hotel. It was at this time that the hotel was greatly enlarged and improved. "The first effort to establish a summer resort at Mt. Kineo was in the early 1840s. Previous to this it had been a common custom to make this a camping-ground for hunters and fishermen of those days. In 1844 or '45 a tavern was built here, the remaining half of the original plan being completed in 1852 to '55. The house was a characteristic, old- fashioned, two-and-a-half-story house, facing the lake, with three sides surrounded by a narrow piazza and with dormer windows." The first Mt. Kineo House, built by Capt. Joshua Fogg in 1848, burned in 1868. The second Mt. Kineo House, opened in 1871 was expanded and improved in the Spring of 1882. It was destroyed by fire October 29, 1882. The third Mt. Kineo House opened 1884. "The Mount Kineo House stands on the border of the lake just south of the mountain, a site which commands an unequalled view of the lake for nearly twenty miles, and of the surrounding forests and mountains in all directions." ACCOLADES FROM NUMEROUS MAGAZINES & PAMPHLETS: "This hotel is planned on an ample scale and believed to be second to none in construction, general arrangement and convenience, as well as in its provision for the security and comfort of its guests. The dining room is 100 x 51 feet, seating four hundred people. Particular attention has been paid to the sanitary arrangements and drainage. The sleeping rooms are large, light, all provided with the best of mattresses and springs, and reached by broad stairways or steam elevator. Every room commands an excellent view of lake and mountain scenery. A piazza fifteen feet wide extends around the main house." "Billiard hall, telegraph and post office in the house. The location on a point extending into the lake insures freedom from mosquitoes and other annoying insects. The fact that the house is under the same management as for more than twenty years past, is, to our old patrons, a sufficient guaranty the table and service generally will be of the best." "Probably no summer place in this country has more names of the second and third generation on its register each year than Kineo. Sons and grandsons come back to enjoy the life and traditions before them. The cool breezes from the forty mile stretch of old Moosehead Lake, with its four hundred miles of picturesque shore, bringing the purest air that blows, as the prevailing winds sweep for miles over an almost unbroken forest." "This immense hostelry, with its recent eighty-room addition and other improvements, is now the largest inland water hotel in all America and cannot be surpassed by any in point of accommodations. The house is splendidly constructed throughout and has everything in its equipment for the comfort and safety of its guests. Steam heat, electric and gas lighting, a hot and cold water system, electric call bells, elevators to all floors, and telephone, telegraph and daily mail service are among the important features of the house's equipment." "The variety of life that is offered those seeking vacation joys is perhaps the greatest attraction of this wonderful spot. From here radiate a thousand paths that lead to camping grounds about the bays of the shore, fishing holes that are unsurpassed, streams where dart the wily trout, trails that pass, through dense woods, or lead to the top of Mt. Kineo, Spencer or Squaw Mountains, drives and bridal paths along the lake's shore and through dell and glen -- and always there is the exhilarating scent of fir and balsam." "The New Mount Kineo House, of 1912, situated in this vast and beautiful region, was reconstructed during the winter of 1910-1911, and further additions have been made during the winter of 1911 and 1912. In its new form, the prevailing type is distinctly Colonial - tall Colonial pillars rising on the main facade to the second stories." "Kineo is the starting point for hundreds of people who put out for the canoe trips, the most famous of which is that along the Allagash, where for three weeks one can paddle with white or Indian guides by day over a continuous chain of streams and lakes, and at night sleep on their refreshing shores. And all over this Moosehead country one can see the wild life, the deer and moose which lure the hunters in the open season." "The Mount Kineo, the Annex, and cottages have accommodations for about six hundred guests, and both houses are equipped with private bathrooms, steam heat, electricity, telegraph and long-distance telephone connection, and modern requisites." "Kineo's immense dining room, which easily accommodates over four hundred guests and whose cuisine and service are all that heart could wish, must also be reckoned among the chief attractions of the house. All the sleeping rooms are large, airy and well lighted, and look out on charming stretches of lake and forest scenery. Other innovations made possible by the recent enlargement of the house include new golf rooms, card rooms and parlors on the ground floor, as well as a new library, separate writing rooms for men and women, a playroom for children, music room, drawing room and other public apartments." "When the kitchen help packed lunches for the guides, they put real silverware in with them. The guides usually returned the silverware after they had a full service for twelve." "For a morning promenade the hotel piazza, fifteen feet wide and eight hundred feet long, offers ideal opportunity. For games to be indulged in, there are tennis, croquet, quoits, tether ball, baseball, shuffleboard, and many kindred sports. Tournaments in these games are frequently arranged, with handsome trophies for the skillful winners. Then there are bathing, bicycling, boating and canoeing, all of which are favorite Kineo pastimes, as well as excursion trips to Pebble Beach, the Cliff, Devil's Delight, Hatching Works, Moody Islands, Deer Head Farm and many other nearby places of interest." "The fascinating golf course, extending over a foothill of Mt. Kineo and along the glen by her precipitous side, is lengthened and greatly improved this year. The swamp spots are filled, and many of the greens, new. Already many devotees are daily on the links, tournaments will be frequent and culminate with the big annual handicap in August. Semi-weekly putting matches will be held on the beautiful lawn in front of the big hotel." "Aside from social dancing, which is to be under the direction of Mr. Lionel Allyn, popular as an instructor in New York, the social life of the point will center in the beautiful clubhouse of the Moosehead Lake Yacht Club. The flag officers have planned the usual motor boat races, the annual regatta being scheduled for August 29th." "The Hotel Rates: From July 15th to October 1st, transient: $4.00 per day and up. To July 15: $3.00 per day and up. After October 1st and up to the time the large house opens: $2.00 and $2.50 per day. Floor plans, showing room locations, sent upon application." "Board will be charged for all dogs brought by guests to Kineo; and because of frequent complaints, it must be distinctly understood that no dogs will be allowed in any public room of the hotel." "The fishing still keeps up and the catches are beyond those of all recent years. A remarkable string, caught in the South Branch of the Penobscot by Mr. Lloyd E. Byard of Haverhill, Mass., in two hours, consisted of twenty-six speckled trout that totaled over thirty pounds. The prize fish of the week was a six-pound land-locked salmon, taken by Mr. B.H. Osborne of Lewiston, Me. So good is the fishing that a bellboy casting a line off the wharf, took a five-pound trout in a few minutes casting, and it was a square-tail, the fish most sought by the experts." "An antitrust case in 1938 discontinued government subsidies for mail-carrying railroads that owned other businesses. This forced the Maine Central to sell Kineo. Louis Oakes, along with some other Greenville businessmen, agreed to purchase the entire property if the railroad demolished the large hotel. Part way through demolition, fire destroyed the remains of the building. Oakes planned to open a ski run and toboggan slide on Kineo...[but] the Second World War annulled these plans. Oakes' son-in-law, C. Max Hilton, began redoing the annex in 1946. Renovations and construction continued until 1950, including remodeling all the cottages except one. In 1950, the annex and cottages were reopened to the public in excellent condition, run by Louis Hilton, Oakes' grandson." After several changes of ownership beginning in 1966, and several aborted plans to renovate the property, restoration of the annex finally began in 1991. The roof had already been removed when the backers withdrew funding, leaving the building's interior exposed to the elements for several years. Despite an offer by the owners to give the annex and land to anyone willing to complete the restorations, the buildings continued to deteriorate until 1995, when demolition of the annex began. All that remains today of the great resort is the scenic nine-hole golf course, and a smattering of old buildings -- several of the Kineo cottages remain as private residences. The Dormitory, built in 1909, still stands near the golf course, and the old Oak Lodge, briefly renamed the Kineo House Inn, has been refurbished and is now being run for weekly rentals and as a bed and breakfast under its original name.
