Late in the summer of 1980 we drove up from our Jane Street apartment in Greenwich Village, New York City, for a week’s stay at an Adirondack lodge located deep in the wilderness of southwestern New Hampshire.
Today an upscale wedding venue , the lodge then rented weekly for $150 and featured an enormous great room with an imposing, walk-in stone fireplace, vaulted beamed ceiling, and arched, floor to ceiling clerestory window overlooking a small private pond with its own waterfall. At that time there were several small, simply furnished bedrooms and a functional kitchen, but the setting was–and still is–spectacular. Getting to the lodge involved driving carefully over a winding, rutted gravel road lined on either side by thick woods, but once there, we felt like we’d arrived in paradise.
It was just the three of us, me and Buzz and our daughter Keri, then 12 years old, and we relished spending the days hiking around the 1,500-acre property, swimming in the pond, showering off in the waterfall, and taking canoe rides deep into a wild river meadows where beavers built their mud and stick lodges and great blue herons stalked the marshy shallows for fish. It was a glorious week, and of course we knew we had to return.
When we asked about renting the lodge again, our friend’s brother–who was in charge of rentals–said “well, it’s awfully large for just the three of you, but how would you like to try Broken Oar Outpost?” This was a small cottage, in New Hampshire known as a “camp,” which we’d seen perched along the meadows. “There’s no running water or electricity,” they said, “and no bathroom, but we figured you all might be up for roughing it a little….”
And then came the kicker: “You can have it for $150 a year, just to pay our taxes on it. “
“Did you say $150…a month?” my husband asked, as we looked at each other incredulously.
“No, $150 a YEAR. Just make sure the roof doesn’t fall in.”
Stunned by this incredible offer–our very own getaway from the city (how could this be possible?)–we enthusiastically, unanimously said: YES!”
Our New Hampshire adventure had officially begun.