Save the Islands of Lake Wicwas

Lake Wicwas, Meredith Center, New Hampshire

Save the Islands of Lake Wicwas! -- OpEd by Dean Dexter

Lake Wicwas Association Home Page

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Sheep Island (left) with grazing fields visible from Route 104 side, Summer 1955

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Loons on Lake Wicwas, Meredith Center, New Hampshire August 3, 2008 -- Marie Dexter photo

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The late Belknap County Commissioner Joseph F. Smith (1884-1968), who served as a Meredith selectman, school board chairman and state representative, observes Bryant (aka Brandt or Chase Island) at Lake Wicwas, Meredith, N.H. in August 1964. Smith and his wife, Marian S. Smith, operated the Wicwas Lake House, and later Wicwas Lodge (pictured below) for over 50 years. The property is now known as Lakeland School. Smith was also a prominent Lakes Region lumber dealer and developer. An owner of most of the property on Wicwas Lake at one time or another, as well as large holdings in the Chemung section of the town and elsewhere, Smith developed Wicwood Shores on the south end of the lake in the early 1960s. Smith later sold the project to Dr. Robert Hamlin, a lawyer and medical doctor from Massachusetts who had bought one of Smith's cottages. Hamlin continued the development and in turn later arranged to transfer that portion of the land that was not buildable to the Town of Meredith, receiving compensation for the transfer under a federal grant program. That area is now preserved in its natural state and open to public use. To the right of Brandt Island pictured above are two other islands not shown, later owned by Norman M. Dexter and then noted conservationist Rawson Wood of Wolfeboro. Wood eventually donated them to the Town of Meredith as a gift. These three islands are situated but a short distance across the water from the Hamlin Natural Area. The Smith family grazed sheep each summer for generations on Sheep Island, moving sheep to the island by rowboat each summer and back to their barn on the hill each winter, thus the name. When the Smith's sold Sheep Island, they stipulated that it would remain undeveloped during their lifetimes. Present conservation-minded owners are voluntarily keeping this commitment since Smith's passing. If you are interested in participating in preserving this wonderful lake and surrounding property on behalf of present and future generations, you may contact the Wicwas Lake Association, or this website by writing: dd@nhcommentary.com -- Dean Dexter

Commissioner Joe Smith in his Belknap County Courthouse office, where he served for 30 years. A ski slope at Gunstock Ski Area and Resort is named in his honor.

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A Lake Wicwas Scrapbook

Brandt Island, Summer 2006

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Lyzz Dexter with the 6.5 pound large mouth bass she caught off Sheep and Brandt Islands on Lake Wicwas, August 9, 2008 with her cousins Dr. Joe Morse (above), and Mary Ann Morse Banker. Don't worry, Lyzz let the big boy go. She wants to try to land him again next summer, she says, "because he's such a good fighter." At least they think it's a "he."

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Abigail Dexter, on Lake Wicwas, February 25, 2007

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Lake Wicwas Through the Years

"Pucky-Pooch" skidding logs at Wicwas Lake for the J.F. Smith Lumber Co. on the Chemung side looking toward what is now the Wicwood Shores Development and the Hamlin Area, circa 1940 (Dean Dexter collection). Below, celebrated Boston boxer Sam Langford as a young man prepared for the ring by working in Smith lumber camps.

Sheep Island pictured from the Smith pasture in front of Wicwas Lodge, by Meredith Center Road, March 1949. The sugar house is to the far right, outside of camera range. The frozen-over beach at Smith Landing is left of center, front.

Smith Landing and Sheep Island, Lake Wicwas circa 1948

Sheep Island from Meredith Center Road, 1951 and 2006

Belknap County Commissioner Joe Smith's Maple Sugar House, Wicwas Lodge, Meredith Center, NH, circa Fall 1955

View of Sheep Island, Lake Wicwas, Meredith Center, New Hampshire as seen from Wicwas Lodge driveway, March 1949 (Maple Sugar tank on skidder shown in foreground).

Summer, (circa) 1951

Helen Smith Dexter, on her horse Lottie Booth in the driveway of Wicwas Lodge over-looking Wicwas Lake, Meredith Center, N.H. circa 1941. The front tip of Sheep Island can be seen behind and just above her. The island's pasture is at the left, spreading across the back of the photo. Sheep grazed on the island each summer until the early 1960s. The island is now covered with timber growth. The view from the Lodge, now known as Lakeland School, is presently nearly obscured from this angle due to growth of trees and bushes on the mainland. Note the tennis court at left, just across the road, which is now also over-grown. Before it was a tennis court, the overlook was once the Smith Family Cemetery, which was moved to Oakland Cemetery about a mile away in 1893.

Below, Commissioner and Mrs. Joseph F. Smith, Jr. pose for a family portrait in the lodge Great Room with daughters Helen Robinson Smith (Dexter), and Mary Louise Smith (Morse), in the summer of 1944.

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Wedding of Mary Louise Smith and Dr. Roger A. Morse, Wicwas Lodge, Meredith Center, NH, 1953

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Smith Corner was always a delight for children, and that tradition continues as the site of Lakeland School. No, this is not a scene from an old "Little Rascals" movie. This is Helen Robinson Smith (Dexter), left, and her sister Sister Mary Louise Smith (Morse), second from right, with their several of their cousins at their playhouse by the apple orchard overlooking Wicwas Lake. With them are Norma Jean "Jinga" Smith (later Mrs. T. Holmes Moore), Robinson V. Smith., and Dr. M. Daniel Smith (far right) .

Helen Robinson Smith (Dexter), with parents, Marian Swain Smith and Joseph Frank Smith, Jr., Wicwas Lake House, circa 1927.

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Smith Corner Through the Years

Wicwas Lake House, Wicwas Lodge and Lakeland School

Smith Homestead, 1890s -- Dean Dexter Collection

Wicwas Lake House, 1920s -- Dean Dexter Collection

The Wicwas Lake House was a summer boarding house over-looking Lake Wicwas at Smith Corners, Meredith Center, N.H., operating from 1919 until the fall of 1935, when it was destroyed by a fire of unknown origin. It was replaced the following summer with the Wicwas Lodge, which continued to serve summer guests until the mid-1960s (see below). Wicwas Lakes House was originally built by Joseph F. Smith, Sr. (below, center). Joe Jr. purchased the property from his mother's estate upon her passing, and began operating it as summer hotel with his wife Marion, following their marriage in 1919.

The Joseph F. Smith, Sr. family in the parlor of the family homestead on the occasion of daughter Mary's wedding to John Ainsboro of Derby Line, Vt., August 15, 1915. Both Joseph F. Smith senior and junior, served as Belknap County Commissioners and in the N.H. House of Representatives. Joe Jr., also served the Town of Meredith as a Selectman and member of the school board. Both were successful in business. Dr. Robinson W. Smith, holds the record in number of terms as Mayor of the City of Laconia, and served as assistant N.H. Commissioner of Agriculture, under the state's first commissioner, Andrew L. Felker, also of Meredith Center. Robinson was appointed the state's first state veterinarian, serving in that post for over 30 years, until his death in 1964. A diagnostic laboratory is named in his honor at the University of New Hampshire. Frederick Smith was the long-time headmaster of New Hampton School, while brother Maurice P. Smith served as assistant headmaster for several terms before joining the Interlakes High School faculty. Rachel married a Boston attorney, William Smart, who lunched at the Parker House everyday. Mary raised a family, operated a tourist cabin business with her husband, John, and taught school all her life in Derby Line, Vermont. Barbara married a Boston accountant, Truman C. Edwards, of the firm, T.C. Edwards & Son. The Smith sons were fortunate to be successful in their chosen professions as adults, while the Smith daughters were also successful in what fortunate daughters did in their generation, they married well. All attended the one-room school house in Meredith Center, and were graduates of New Hampton School, then known as the New Hampton Literary and Biblical Institution. Pictured are, seated: Rachel, Joseph F., Sr, wife Clara Isabelle Robinson, Barbara. Standing: Robinson W., Joseph Frank, Jr., Mary, Frederick, and Maurice P.

Take Two: Seated: Frederick Smith, Joseph Frank Smith, Sr., Clara Isabelle (Robinson) Smith, Dr. Robinson Wayland Smith. Back Row: Maurice Preston Smith, Rachel Gertrude Smith, Mary Eriline Smith, Barbara Eloise Smith, Joseph Frank Smith, Jr. (Mighty stiff collars for a New Hampshire summer's day).

Pictured is a newly completed Wicwas Lodge just before it opened for summer guests in June of 1936, after a fire leveled the Wicwas Lake House (above). Shown is "Nana" Putney, an accomplished artist in water colors and the family's beloved cook and housekeeper walking the dog by the barn. The chimney on the kitchen ell is still under construction. The building now houses Lakeland School. The porch is no longer enclosed and the barn has since been replaced by a parking lot.

Winter, 1952

Kodachrome by Norman M. Dexter, Summer 1946

Lakeland School, September, 2006

1952 before construction of a state road (Route 104) in the 1960s that cut through the back pasture.

Fall 2006, Lakeland School from the edge of Route 104

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The late Hilda Brungot, R-Berlin, longest serving woman legislator in the United States (19 terms), one-time cook at the Wicwas Lodge, Meredith Center, N.H. State House portrait, second floor, senate side. Rep. Brungot served with Wicwas Lodge owner Rep. Joseph F. Smith, R-Meredith in the state House of Representatives, during the 1940s through the 1960s.

N.H. First District Congressman Chester E. Merrow (R-Ossipee) is a guest at Wicwas Lodge, summer 1961. Here in the kitchen is Florence "Flossy" Dolloff of Chemung Road, longtime Wicwas Lodge fiend and employee, Congressman Merrow, Belknap County Commissioner Joseph F. Smith (owner), "Missy" Smith, Wicwas Lodge cook that summer, and Mrs. Joseph F. Smith (owner). Dean Dexter collection.

After the Wicwas Lake House was destroyed by fire in the fall of 1935, Joe Smith, who operated a lumber company, dismantled an old, but very large barn he owned on Tucker Mountain Road, on what as known as the Mallard Farm, in the Chemung section of Meredith Center. Smith had the barn dismantled, with each beam marked, and the structure was moved from across Lake Wicwas to the present site, with the hotel opening for business the following summer, never missing a summer season of business. Clipping from the Laconia Evening Citizen, July 3, 1936.

Wicwas Lodge, south side of the Great Room by the first fireplace, Dean Dexter collection

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The Great Room facing north, Wicwas Lodge

Dining room, Wicwas Lodge

Mrs. Smith playing her baby grand piano at the north end of the Great Room, Wicwas Lodge, October, 1963

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Views from Sheep Island on Lake Wicwas through the years...

Postcard circa 1915

Smith's Landing and view of Lakeland School (formerly Wicwas Lodge) from Sheep Island, Meredith Center, New Hampshire, July 30, 2006 -- Dean Dexter photo.

View from Sheep Island, August 1957

On Lake Wicwas

Dave and Marge Thorpe with their steamer Wicwas (hand-built by Dave) at the Dexter dock, July 2006, with Brandt Island in the background. Marge is president of the Lake Wicwas Association. Mother-in-Law Michelle Patteson and Marie Dexter are in the foreground. Photos by Dean Dexter

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We've nicknamed Dave "Mr. Allnut" for obvious reasons Link

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Abigail Dexter appears bemused (i.e., would rather be listening to her IPOD) as her father holds forth about the moose, deer, loons, and politics of Lake Wicwas.

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News Archive

Court Reverses Town Decision on Building on Wicwas Island -- Bea Lewis, The Citizen

Wicwas Lake Dispute Before NH Superior Court -- Bea Lewis, The Citizen

Lawsuit Puts Wicwas Island Development on Hold -- Bea Lewis, The Citizen

Wicwas Group: Island Building Permit Illegal -- Roger Amsden, The Union Leader

Wicwas Island Issue Heads to Court -- Bea Lewis, The Citizen

Wicwas Group Seeks to Buy Island -- Roger Amsden

Meredith ZBA Won't Hear Wicwas Appeal -- Bea Lewis, The Citizen

Meredith: Two Appeals Seek to Stop Island Development -- Kate Potterfield, The Meredith News

Selectmen Mull Access for Wicwas Island Development -- Bea Lewis, The Citizen

On Chief, in the upper pasture behind Wicwas Lodge, Summer 1958. A great horse.

2008 Meredith Warrant Article Would Rob Citizens of Important Rights (update: this article was defeated)

New Hampshire Shorefront Association

New Hampshire Shoreline Protection Act

Lake Wicwas Association Home Page

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