Bethlehem
Hill Town North Of Franconia Notch That Was A Major Gilded Age Resort, Once Lined With Grand Hotels, Now A Small Main Street Of Galleries, Cafes And Inns; The Rocks Estate, A Christmas Tree Farm And Nature Preserve Run By A Conservation Society, Is Just West. · Bethlehem, New Hampshire
A small hill town in the northern White Mountains, strung along a high Main Street on US Route 302 between the I-93 corridor and the Presidential Range. In the late 1800s and early 1900s Bethlehem was one of the great resorts of New England: its high, clear air was said to be nearly free of pollen, and hay fever sufferers came by train each summer to a Main Street once lined with dozens of grand hotels and boarding houses. Almost all of those hotels are gone, burned or torn down, but the long, wide street they faced survives, now holding a handful of galleries, antique and vintage shops, cafes, restaurants and small inns in old resort-era buildings, with a century-old cinema, the Colonial Theatre, still showing films in season. Just west of the village, The Rocks Estate, a former summer estate run by a conservation society, is a working Christmas tree farm with free walking trails and views of the Presidential Range. The town is quiet, artsy and unhurried, busiest in foliage season and in summer, and makes a peaceful base for the northern mountains.
Main Street (US Route 302), Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 03574, United States
Main Street is public and open at all hours all year. Shops and galleries generally open from about 10 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, many only Thursday to Sunday or with days off midweek, and some close for part of the winter or the April and November mud seasons (confirm). Cafes open early; restaurants keep their own hours and several close one or two nights a week. The Colonial Theatre shows films mainly from about late spring to autumn (confirm its season). The Rocks Estate trails are open from dawn to dusk all year; its Christmas tree sales run from about late November to mid December (confirm), and its office keeps weekday hours.