January 2, 2010 E-MAIL PRINT

Character is key at New Hampshire's Woodstock Inn

by Nick A. Zaino III/

(photo: Woodstock Inn)

(photo: Woodstock Inn)

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Theoretically, you could visit the Woodstock Inn, Station & Brewery 33 times before you started recognizing the furnishings. That’s the total number of rooms in the Inn, each one individually decorated, updated with modern amenities, and spread across the main inn and five other buildings in a complex that includes two restaurants and its own brewery.

The Main Inn and the Riverside both have a Victorian atmosphere, the Sawyer House more of a bungalow, the Cascade Lodge more of, well, a lodge. “There’s no standard room,” says owner Scott Rice. “They’re all a little bit different. Everybody has their favorites where they want to be.”

If that seems a little cobbled together, it is. Rice and his family turned an abandoned building into a four-room inn with a 20-seat dining room 28 years ago, and they’ve been adding on ever since, buying surrounding buildings, and even moving one to them. “About 20 years ago, they were going to tear down the original railroad station in Lincoln,” says Rice. “So we cut it in half and moved it and added it on to the back of the Inn. It actually got stuck underneath the highway.”

Thus, the Woodstock Inn and Station was born. Then, in 1995, Rice, an avid home brewer, was looking to build a brewery/restaurant somewhere nearby, perhaps up the road from the Woodstock. He eventually decided it would be easier to build it into the inn. Now, the Station dining room includes a Brew Pub, and the Woodstock’s “Learn to Brew” weekends, where guests spend the weekend working in the brewery, are popular enough to book six to eight months in advance.

“It’s something to make the Inn a little more unique,” says Rice. “We do about eight weekends a year where people actually come and work in the brewery, they spend the weekend and they brew with the brewers and they have a brewer’s dinner.”

There also are plenty of dining options on the premises, with the Woodstock Station restaurant open for lunch and dinner, and the white tablecloth Clement Room Grille open for breakfast and dinner. If you eat at the Station, bring your appetite. “We’re kind of known for our big portions,” says Rice. “The ‘Phantom Gourmet’ did a big story on our Death By Burger, which is our 18-ounce hamburger. We’re adding a Double Death By Burger, which will be a two-pound burger.”

If you want to ski, you have plenty of close options. The Woodstock offers special packages that include a breakfast and two-day lift ticket for Loon (about three miles away), Cannon (about six miles away), and Waterville (about 25 miles away).

Ski season isn’t actually the Woodstock’s busiest time, but it’s close. Rice says the inn is busiest in August, with February the second-busiest time. He has a bit of advice for people who want to avoid the crowds. “The business in the winter is more geared around weekends,” he says.” If you come up during the week, it’s really comfortable, it’s half the price, you’re not crowded in the restaurant, you’re not crowded on the slopes, and you save a lot of money.”

There is plenty to do year-round in North Woodstock. Though the Woodstock attracts mostly couples, there are kid-friendly attractions nearby, including Clark’s Trading Post, which features trained bears, and the White Mountain Central Railroad. The Woodstock also is near the river for kayaking and tubing, as well as several parks, including the Franconia Notch Park, for hiking. “Eighty-five percent of North Woodstock, where we’re located, is national forest,” Rice says. “Fifteen percent is the actual town.”

The complete effect is something perhaps more homey than your typical inn, a place where Rice says locals frequent the bar. “I think people come here because we’re not a stuffy inn,” he says. “We have a brew pub, brewery, we have entertainment at night. We have an upper-scale dining room out front, the Clement Room, the Station. Everything’s kind of right here. We’ve had the same employees for like 15, 20 years. Everybody knows each other. It’s a local community bar, too, almost, the restaurant. You come in here, it feels like Cheers. I think people feel very comfortable.”

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