Lake Sunapee
Clear Mountain Lake Of About 4,100 Acres (Confirm) In Western New Hampshire With Three Small Historic Lighthouses On Its Waters (Confirm), Sunapee Harbor Village, And The Fells, The John Hay Estate And Gardens On The East Shore (Confirm Hours). · Newbury, New Hampshire
A clear mountain lake of about 4,100 acres (confirm) in western New Hampshire, roughly eight miles long, set below Mount Sunapee and ringed by the towns of Sunapee, Newbury and New London. It is the summer lake of this side of the state: cleaner and calmer than the big Lakes Region waters, with old summer estates, wooded shores and three small historic lighthouses marking the islands and shoals (confirm dates). Mount Sunapee State Park Beach in Newbury gives visitors a sandy, lifeguarded swimming beach and picnic grove at the southern end. On the west shore, Sunapee Harbor is a compact village of docks, a gazebo, restaurants and the landing for narrated lake cruises and a dinner boat that have run for decades (confirm schedules). On the east shore, The Fells is the summer estate of John Hay, Abraham Lincoln's private secretary and later Secretary of State, with a house museum, gardens and woodland trails running to the water. Come for a beach day, a cruise and a slow drive around the shore.
Mount Sunapee State Park Beach, NH Route 103, Newbury, New Hampshire, 03255, United States
The lake is open all year with no gate or fee. Mount Sunapee State Park Beach is staffed from roughly mid-June to Labor Day, daily in summer from morning to about 8 pm, with weekends only at the edges (confirm); off season the lot may be gated. The narrated cruises and the dinner boat at Sunapee Harbor run roughly late May to mid-October, most often in July and August (confirm). The Fells grounds and trails are typically open daily dawn to dusk all year, while the main house is open for tours only in summer and early autumn on set days (confirm). Many harbor restaurants cut hours or close from late October to May. In winter the lake freezes and boating stops until ice-out, usually in April.