Posts Tagged With: John Hay National Wildlife Refuge

Teddy Roosevelt slept here at The Fells and planted a tree on the property which is still growing.

St. Paul MN June 22

Our last stop on this trip surprised us by having unexpected tie-ins to the two NPS sites we had visited on Monday and Tuesday. Our destination was the John Hay National Wildlife Refuge in Newbury New Hampshire. It was less than 30 miles from our lodging, was on the route back to Boston, and seemed to be an interesting wildlife refuge. A few years back we began adding interesting national wildlife refuges to our list of go-to sights as we travel; many refuges have little or no public access, created for the animals, not people.

The John Hay Refuge website kept defaulting to The Fells, a preserve and gardens. Well it turns out that there are three inter-related properties: the wildlife refuge, a tract of land owned or managed by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, and Fells which is the home and grounds of John Hay. Hay had quite the background; private secretary toAbraham Lincoln, Secretary of State under two U.S. Presidents, diplomat for the U.S. in Europe, and author/writer. He married well and became quite wealthy through his wife’s family. Hay was responsible for the Open Door policy with China. He and his friend Henry Adams purchased next door homes in DC that lent their name to the Hay-Adams hotel.

Henry Adams wife Marian committed suicide and Adams commissioned Augustus Saint-Gaudens to sculpt a memorial to her which is located in Rock Creek Park in D.C. A replica of that memorial was at the Saint-Gaudens park site. Similar to the effort in Vermont led by John Marsh and Frederick Billings, New Hampshire in the late 1800s was poor with large swaths of land de-forested by lumber interests. Rich families were encouraged to buy property in New Hampshire and to help re-vitalize land in the state. Hay purchased 1000 acres of land along Lake Sunapee and made it into a summer retreat for his family and friends. Cabins grew in size and gardens added. After Hay’s death, his son and then grandson continued to add to the now mansion and grounds. The grounds were used to showcase extensive gardens and natural hiking trails to demonstrate the connection between nature and man.

The family donated a portion of the property to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, a portion to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the rest to the Fells, a non-profit to maintain the mansion. The Forest Society brought beaver back to NH, bring in two breeding pairs from Minnesota in 1920; beaver had been extinct in NH for 30 years. The wildlife refuge has hiking trails and The Fells is open for public viewing.

The Fells building

We took a self-guided tour of the building and grounds. The mansion showcases summer estate living and all over the grounds flowers were in bloom. It was a pleasant two hour excursion before returning to Boston.

The Fells grounds

Wednesday was Deb’s (and Sarah’s) birthday and we made it back to Boston in time celebrate her birthday. Thursday we were up early and at the airport in plenty of time to make our flight home.

Next major trip will be four weeks in Alaska starting in mid-August.

Ed and Chris

St. Paul MN June 22