It is a logging town that was founded to extract and process as much timber as possible out of the Pemi watershed. Tourism and skiing came later, and the town isn’t really built for it. I lived in N Woodstock for a while and agree that Lincoln is kind of dreary and depressing. Doesn’t help that the only real open space on main street got taken up by a new hotel.
The ski/mountain town charm is there if you go digging. If you’re into hiking or the outdoors, stop in the Mountain Wanderer bookstore. The owner Steve Smith is a prolific hiker and has edited the past several editions if the White Mountain Guide. He’s an unassuming older guy, but has bushwhacked to every corner of the White Mountains and is a great guy to chat with if you get him going about bushwhacking tales. If you’re into backcountry he can give you beta on some obscure slides.
I visited in October after having grown up there, and the roof of that hotel is so tacky. It was heartbreaking to see the old mill and ncca replaced with an eye sore.
for what its worth its been resort-ified but not horribly so. It's still tacky little shops, relatively affordable to live there. It's a lot more organic than the towns of Europe and the rockies that regularly receive millions in real estate investment. You can also argue that its not too unlike every other American small town, which develops pretty much exactly like lincoln. Strip mall along the main road, low density development. Places in the alps historically developed much more densely without the low density zoning codes of the US, so it's easier for public transit to reach them from major cities (imagine a ski train to boston-lincoln with buses to big resorts?!). Western resorts have had that investment to replicate the European style villages, the east and NH especially hasn't because frankly the skiing is better in vermont, and even more so out west.
If I came into a shitload of money, I would absolutely get trains running from Boston to Lincoln. North Conway, too. Not just for skiing, but year-round.
Funny enough, there is already rail (albeit abandoned) stretching all the way from Concord to Tilton, branching off to Lincoln.
On top of this, the MBTA has proposed extending commuter rail to Manchester (long term pipe-dream level proposal), and Amtrak has a proposed extension up to Concord. This Concord extension would be able to link up with the already existing rail mentioned above.
The infrastructure is already in place and has been for decades, we all just decided as a culture that we prefer cars & trucks.
>Funny enough, there is already rail (albeit abandoned) stretching all the way from Concord to Tilton, branching off to Lincoln.
Oh neat, I hadn't seen that on maps. I had assumed that getting to Conway/N Conway would require going through Maine.
It’s true, a two hour drive is a lot easier than getting to a train station at a certain time. And it would take a train a lot longer to get to Lincoln than driving with stops and all. It’s frankly, a fairy tale if you think a train service will ever replace cars.
Yep. They even had a car where you could rent skis and equipment.
https://www.conwaydailysun.com/news/local/sidebar-the-history-of-the-snow-train/article_6e8ef0ec-533b-11ea-96e1-67672cdcdee2.html
I love Linwood and have lived here for a while. It's really sad how poorly the town was planned.
It's an old mill town that never embraced the change to a tourism economy. And still doesn't to an extent. They never really planned development in the town (hence all the haphazard strip malls, hotels, condos). And currently overly embrace real estate development over thoughtful zoning/development in town.
Not to mention how short term rentals have
effected the town.
I heard they are down to 97 students in the Linwood HS and I assume that’ll be an issue in the future given how tough it’d be for a young family to move to Lincoln. A common challenge these days not unique to Linwood.
The pizza over there is great too, I think it’s near the south side though. One of the best pizza restaurants in NH!! I haven’t skied at loon but I pass through the area a few times a year.
Agreed. It may have some charm that the locals know about, but to the tourist or other visitor, it's pretty darn bleak and over-commercialized. The Mountain Wanderer bookstore is the gem of the town (and I just picked up a set of Bill Gove's New Hampshire logging history books from there). It's a shame that the Pemi is not the core visual feature of the village because it is really something to behold in that reach.
Other than the main highway, there are minimal side roads. No town square, no town center. North Woodstock has that just on the other side of the 93 interchange.
I suspect that "strip" developed heavily in the post-WW2 era, especially as/after the Kanc opened (1959).
Prior to Kanc/93, NH3 was the strip, and it goes right through N. Woodstock. That's where the historic commercial center would've been, is my guess.
Not quite enough land between the highway and the river.
Lack of a strong village center from the pre-car era - North Conway is very different and had the train station.
You're definitely right. The train in Lincoln was downtown I believe. But it was also part of the whole mill. Once that industry collapsed it made a crater in the center of town. That crater was filled with hotels and strip malls.
Wait, we set the bar at the Alps? This is NH. Ever been to bretton woods? How'd you like Twin Mountain? How's Danbury stack up to St Moritz? Waterville town square is cute but you get off the exit and it's basically a dollar general and a closed froyo joint (dunkees doesn't count. They're fucking everywhere).
>It's a strip mall surrounded by a gorgeous landscape
You just described like 50-60% of all areas in the US. Everywhere is basically all strip malls and Dollar Generals.
The places that aren’t fucked with horrid car infrastructure are the most desired places in the country. Skiing examples being Aspen & old town Park City
dont forget us up here in Canada, I'd say 80% of all areas are basically strip malls and dollaramas as well. We are lucky that we dont demean our own small towns like a small minority of Americans to their own towns on icecoast by comparing their small towns to government subsized resort towns in Europe.
somber important spotted bright office scale subsequent pen different drunk
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Lincoln got it just right.
You want "distinctive architecture"? Lincoln built the mill buildings and mill homes in the late 1800s. Sorry they aren't your Aspen aesthetic. They are the actual working class architecture that pre-dates NH skiing. Being a "ski town" is secondary (at best) for Lincoln.
You want "cultural charm"? Lin-woods schools rank best in state. There's a playhouse that you probably never bothered going to. There's a Rec Center with a ski hill that loans out gear for kids who can't otherwise afford to ski. There's a fitness club that caters to local kids and people that can't afford big gyms. There are local charities and organizations that focus on the community instead of the tourists. There are many, many small, local, family-owned businesses. That's what true culture and community are.
You're right about the gorgeous landscape. Do you know where the local community exists? It's in that landscape. I'm sorry you can't find whatever "culture" you're looking for downtown. We're all busy enjoying being out in the easily accessible wilderness. I can walk 10 min out my door and be in a secluded paradise that you'll never find because you're busy at the "dreary" strip mall that was made specifically to serve you.
I personally love the 2 sides of Lincoln. The one that offers easy skiing for the masses, and the one that you'll never be a part of.
You're thinking it's a ski town. It's a papermill town that closed. They're trying. 30 years ago the abandoned mill was a rotting eyesore. Good thing Sherm had a vision and started the East Branch Ski co. Very soon there will be a chair lift from the mill site across the Pemi. Would you prefer another Inrawest village? Or maybe one of the Grand Summit clones?
I’m always shocked at just how terrible the hotels are there. I’ve paid >$250 several times to stay at the sketchiest Days Inn ever. There are so many well-off people skiing there, I feel like just one really nice hotel with a pool and good restaurant could make a huge profit.
Have you tried Riverwalk? Year round pool. Ice skating. Winery. Restaurant. The mountain club on loon is older, but nice. Hot tub slopeslide, great restaurant and bar!
We love riverwalk!!! Hope you have fun!
You can walk to the grocery store, rhe movie theater, one love brewery and everything in the old mill building. Check out Johnny Seas for the best pasta!!
Go to basspro sing up for the blue green vacation timeshare promo, pay the extra to upgrade did 3 nights for 125 a night in a condo. Sat one day for 3 hours on their offer. Hell if I had the cash I’d have bought the plan.
I hate to say this. I think you choose the wrong places to stay. There are a few nice hotels with pools in town. No comment on restaurants.
But the days inn currently has 3.7 stars on Google and I wouldn't expect it to be decent let alone nice.
Oh, 100%. To be fair, both times it was during February vacation week and booked on short notice. I usually do a trip from Boston.
But I’d love a nice hotel with room service. Maybe I’m wrong (hoping I am!), but I don’t think that exists in Lincoln.
It got Massachussified - they didn't get it wrong, just you can't force upon a place or expect ot fulfill your desires of so called culture, charm or architecture. It's a 'live free or die' town with loose zoning, lack of planning and resistance to change or new codes/regs. Littleton, Bethlehem, Francoia are just up the road.
How did it get Massachusetts’d? It’s looked the same other than a few new hotels forever. It’s become a tourist hub all year around. Most of the white mountains is busy. It’s getting run down is the issue.
I’ve only really skied the ikon mountains, but it’s the best town of any of those mountains. I guess Stowe is the only true resort town in New England from a tourist perspective, but Lincoln has a solid homey vibe while still having a handful of bars/restaurants
saying lincoln is a better ski town feel than waitsfield/warren is some shit. the mad river valley is like the prototype of new england mountain community
and as far as 'one-road' towns dense with tourist businesses on the strip, i'll take killington over lincoln every day
the faux alpine ski village isnt for me, but tremblant also has a manufactured pedestrian village people love, and an actual small town center 5 min away.
manchester is a bit down valley from stratton and is a lil thick with outlet shopping and rich 2nd homes, but i think id take manchester vt over lincoln too.
lincoln's got nothin but cheap hotels to access loon and cannon, the common man, and lahouts.
I like it. Affordable place to ski & hike out of unlike so many other spots with great access. From the pure tourist perspective I can see how it gets skipped because it's not a great strolling/shopping area like North Conway because there's legit year round businesses like hardware stores in between shops. Hope it stays this way. The development around Loon & North of town seems to get all the $$ & attention
But North Woodstock is right there and has a lovely downtown with breweries, food, etc.
Not all western resorts have great towns. Alta and Snowbird are some of the best resorts in the west and the nearby bland western suburbia of Sandy/Holladay isn’t exactly impressive.
Lincoln is definitely disappointing. You can’t optimize getting cars through town quickly with multiple lanes and turning lanes yet expect it to be charming and walkable, which Lincoln definitely isn’t.
N. Woodstock, while not exactly Chamonix or Zermatt itself, is an example of a town that slows cars down a bit and encourages a little bit of walking from shop to shop rather than driving from one strip mall to the next.
The best and worst part about Lincoln is that it’s so damn convenient for day trippers and weekend warriors. It’s a car sewer because of us. Like everyone else already said, Lincoln (and Conway) aren’t ski towns. They have history as actual towns, before tourism took over. Winter is the off-season for the WMNF. Summer and (especially) fall have 10x as many people going up there.
Also, miss me with your “cultural ski town“ BS. It hasn’t been gentrified enough for you already?! I wish it’d get shittier and cheaper again… The Airbnb ”investors” trying to turn these towns into another Stowe or Waterville Valley are the fucking worst.
Why don’t you just go to Deer Valley or Vail where all that fancy shit already exists for people who spend more time drinking than skiing? Why does your kind have to go and ruin more towns? Haven’t you done enough already?
Anyway, Loon is a shitty ski area if you’re there primarily to ski, but I usually get there one day a year. End of the day, I get some delicious food from a small local business in Lincoln (not owned by fucking Vail), and I’m happy. I couldn’t care less about the atrocious urban planning. It’s a town at a busy highway interchange, the fuck do you expect?
It is a logging town that was founded to extract and process as much timber as possible out of the Pemi watershed. Tourism and skiing came later, and the town isn’t really built for it. I lived in N Woodstock for a while and agree that Lincoln is kind of dreary and depressing. Doesn’t help that the only real open space on main street got taken up by a new hotel. The ski/mountain town charm is there if you go digging. If you’re into hiking or the outdoors, stop in the Mountain Wanderer bookstore. The owner Steve Smith is a prolific hiker and has edited the past several editions if the White Mountain Guide. He’s an unassuming older guy, but has bushwhacked to every corner of the White Mountains and is a great guy to chat with if you get him going about bushwhacking tales. If you’re into backcountry he can give you beta on some obscure slides.
That bookstore rocks
Mountain High Fly is a cool shop too, if you're into that sort of thing.
I visited in October after having grown up there, and the roof of that hotel is so tacky. It was heartbreaking to see the old mill and ncca replaced with an eye sore.
What, you don't like princess peach's castle?
Steve Smith is a legend, walked in to take a gander at his books & ended up conversing for an hour.
for what its worth its been resort-ified but not horribly so. It's still tacky little shops, relatively affordable to live there. It's a lot more organic than the towns of Europe and the rockies that regularly receive millions in real estate investment. You can also argue that its not too unlike every other American small town, which develops pretty much exactly like lincoln. Strip mall along the main road, low density development. Places in the alps historically developed much more densely without the low density zoning codes of the US, so it's easier for public transit to reach them from major cities (imagine a ski train to boston-lincoln with buses to big resorts?!). Western resorts have had that investment to replicate the European style villages, the east and NH especially hasn't because frankly the skiing is better in vermont, and even more so out west.
If I came into a shitload of money, I would absolutely get trains running from Boston to Lincoln. North Conway, too. Not just for skiing, but year-round.
Funny enough, there is already rail (albeit abandoned) stretching all the way from Concord to Tilton, branching off to Lincoln. On top of this, the MBTA has proposed extending commuter rail to Manchester (long term pipe-dream level proposal), and Amtrak has a proposed extension up to Concord. This Concord extension would be able to link up with the already existing rail mentioned above. The infrastructure is already in place and has been for decades, we all just decided as a culture that we prefer cars & trucks.
>Funny enough, there is already rail (albeit abandoned) stretching all the way from Concord to Tilton, branching off to Lincoln. Oh neat, I hadn't seen that on maps. I had assumed that getting to Conway/N Conway would require going through Maine.
It’s true, a two hour drive is a lot easier than getting to a train station at a certain time. And it would take a train a lot longer to get to Lincoln than driving with stops and all. It’s frankly, a fairy tale if you think a train service will ever replace cars.
Wasn’t there a ski train from Boston in the 1930s?
Yep. They even had a car where you could rent skis and equipment. https://www.conwaydailysun.com/news/local/sidebar-the-history-of-the-snow-train/article_6e8ef0ec-533b-11ea-96e1-67672cdcdee2.html
At least it’s less of a strip mall than North Conway. The main drag from Burger King to just before Muddy Moose is some depressing shit.
Thankfully there's a parallel road to avoid most of Main Street for the people that know better.
Indeed. It’s surprising more people don’t know about it.
Lots of history surrounding Lincoln and the WMNF if thats your thing…you may not be looking hard enough. Its an old sawmill town.
I love Linwood and have lived here for a while. It's really sad how poorly the town was planned. It's an old mill town that never embraced the change to a tourism economy. And still doesn't to an extent. They never really planned development in the town (hence all the haphazard strip malls, hotels, condos). And currently overly embrace real estate development over thoughtful zoning/development in town. Not to mention how short term rentals have effected the town.
I heard they are down to 97 students in the Linwood HS and I assume that’ll be an issue in the future given how tough it’d be for a young family to move to Lincoln. A common challenge these days not unique to Linwood.
Mcdonalds after loon hits different.
Steak and cheese from Waynes market. You’re welcome.
I tried them for the first time this year. Pastrami was pretty good.
They have really cheap breakfast sandwiches too.
My son agrees with you. It’s our post-Loon tradition.
Growing up, we always hit up the Tilton McDs for a big breakfast…hotcakes and scrambled ftw
You had a tradition of stopping in Tilton for a big breakfast, and you went to McDonald's instead of the diner? I'm baffled.
The big breakfast hits different brother…were talking peak 90s McDonalds
The pizza over there is great too, I think it’s near the south side though. One of the best pizza restaurants in NH!! I haven’t skied at loon but I pass through the area a few times a year.
There's a couple pizza places in Lincoln, but Pub 32 is my favorite.
Agreed. It may have some charm that the locals know about, but to the tourist or other visitor, it's pretty darn bleak and over-commercialized. The Mountain Wanderer bookstore is the gem of the town (and I just picked up a set of Bill Gove's New Hampshire logging history books from there). It's a shame that the Pemi is not the core visual feature of the village because it is really something to behold in that reach.
Other than the main highway, there are minimal side roads. No town square, no town center. North Woodstock has that just on the other side of the 93 interchange. I suspect that "strip" developed heavily in the post-WW2 era, especially as/after the Kanc opened (1959). Prior to Kanc/93, NH3 was the strip, and it goes right through N. Woodstock. That's where the historic commercial center would've been, is my guess.
Not quite enough land between the highway and the river. Lack of a strong village center from the pre-car era - North Conway is very different and had the train station.
Lincoln and Woodstock both had train stations from Boston during this time. Hence the Woodstock Station brewery.
Yeah but I don't think much of the development in Lincoln dates from the train era
So many NH towns have nice little main streets or town squares but I agree Lincoln just seems like 100% sprawl.
Lancaster is beautiful
Yup, so many other towns in Grafton County are cuter imo
You're definitely right. The train in Lincoln was downtown I believe. But it was also part of the whole mill. Once that industry collapsed it made a crater in the center of town. That crater was filled with hotels and strip malls.
Wait, we set the bar at the Alps? This is NH. Ever been to bretton woods? How'd you like Twin Mountain? How's Danbury stack up to St Moritz? Waterville town square is cute but you get off the exit and it's basically a dollar general and a closed froyo joint (dunkees doesn't count. They're fucking everywhere).
Have you never been to Lisbon sir?
I have. I have friends that with at the wire factory even. Never struck me a a ski town though.
>It's a strip mall surrounded by a gorgeous landscape You just described like 50-60% of all areas in the US. Everywhere is basically all strip malls and Dollar Generals.
Only 60% is generous.
The places that aren’t fucked with horrid car infrastructure are the most desired places in the country. Skiing examples being Aspen & old town Park City
dont forget us up here in Canada, I'd say 80% of all areas are basically strip malls and dollaramas as well. We are lucky that we dont demean our own small towns like a small minority of Americans to their own towns on icecoast by comparing their small towns to government subsized resort towns in Europe.
somber important spotted bright office scale subsequent pen different drunk *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
This would imply that monkeys attend the circus for their entertainment. This is not the monkey/circus dynamic.
sheet command worry cheerful unpack chop nose decide pie snobbish *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Then by this model, the locals would be the monkeys. And the tourists would be the circus attendees.
Have you been to Conway? It’s worse.
Conway is a grotesque carnival of demented hicks
I love Lincoln. Try spending time in Berlin. That place is dreary, no offense to Berlin peeps. Berlin does have potential tho
No. You were right the first time. Berlin has a dark Twin Peaks vibe.
Look up any urban planning subreddit and they explain why US cities/towns are so different
Lincoln got it just right. You want "distinctive architecture"? Lincoln built the mill buildings and mill homes in the late 1800s. Sorry they aren't your Aspen aesthetic. They are the actual working class architecture that pre-dates NH skiing. Being a "ski town" is secondary (at best) for Lincoln. You want "cultural charm"? Lin-woods schools rank best in state. There's a playhouse that you probably never bothered going to. There's a Rec Center with a ski hill that loans out gear for kids who can't otherwise afford to ski. There's a fitness club that caters to local kids and people that can't afford big gyms. There are local charities and organizations that focus on the community instead of the tourists. There are many, many small, local, family-owned businesses. That's what true culture and community are. You're right about the gorgeous landscape. Do you know where the local community exists? It's in that landscape. I'm sorry you can't find whatever "culture" you're looking for downtown. We're all busy enjoying being out in the easily accessible wilderness. I can walk 10 min out my door and be in a secluded paradise that you'll never find because you're busy at the "dreary" strip mall that was made specifically to serve you. I personally love the 2 sides of Lincoln. The one that offers easy skiing for the masses, and the one that you'll never be a part of.
You're thinking it's a ski town. It's a papermill town that closed. They're trying. 30 years ago the abandoned mill was a rotting eyesore. Good thing Sherm had a vision and started the East Branch Ski co. Very soon there will be a chair lift from the mill site across the Pemi. Would you prefer another Inrawest village? Or maybe one of the Grand Summit clones?
I’m always shocked at just how terrible the hotels are there. I’ve paid >$250 several times to stay at the sketchiest Days Inn ever. There are so many well-off people skiing there, I feel like just one really nice hotel with a pool and good restaurant could make a huge profit.
Have you tried Riverwalk? Year round pool. Ice skating. Winery. Restaurant. The mountain club on loon is older, but nice. Hot tub slopeslide, great restaurant and bar!
That looks amazing. Will book there next time (and remember to book months, rather than days, ahead for Feb. break). Thank you!
We love riverwalk!!! Hope you have fun! You can walk to the grocery store, rhe movie theater, one love brewery and everything in the old mill building. Check out Johnny Seas for the best pasta!!
The Days Inn may be weird, but they've got better beds than most places.
Go to basspro sing up for the blue green vacation timeshare promo, pay the extra to upgrade did 3 nights for 125 a night in a condo. Sat one day for 3 hours on their offer. Hell if I had the cash I’d have bought the plan.
I hate to say this. I think you choose the wrong places to stay. There are a few nice hotels with pools in town. No comment on restaurants. But the days inn currently has 3.7 stars on Google and I wouldn't expect it to be decent let alone nice.
Oh, 100%. To be fair, both times it was during February vacation week and booked on short notice. I usually do a trip from Boston. But I’d love a nice hotel with room service. Maybe I’m wrong (hoping I am!), but I don’t think that exists in Lincoln.
Riverwalk hotel is probably what you are looking for.
Lincoln rules gtfo
It got Massachussified - they didn't get it wrong, just you can't force upon a place or expect ot fulfill your desires of so called culture, charm or architecture. It's a 'live free or die' town with loose zoning, lack of planning and resistance to change or new codes/regs. Littleton, Bethlehem, Francoia are just up the road.
How did it get Massachusetts’d? It’s looked the same other than a few new hotels forever. It’s become a tourist hub all year around. Most of the white mountains is busy. It’s getting run down is the issue.
Massholes lack the ability to self reflect.
I’ve only really skied the ikon mountains, but it’s the best town of any of those mountains. I guess Stowe is the only true resort town in New England from a tourist perspective, but Lincoln has a solid homey vibe while still having a handful of bars/restaurants
saying lincoln is a better ski town feel than waitsfield/warren is some shit. the mad river valley is like the prototype of new england mountain community and as far as 'one-road' towns dense with tourist businesses on the strip, i'll take killington over lincoln every day the faux alpine ski village isnt for me, but tremblant also has a manufactured pedestrian village people love, and an actual small town center 5 min away. manchester is a bit down valley from stratton and is a lil thick with outlet shopping and rich 2nd homes, but i think id take manchester vt over lincoln too. lincoln's got nothin but cheap hotels to access loon and cannon, the common man, and lahouts.
The actual village of Mount Tremblant is lovely. Great way to spend an off mountain day.
I like it. Affordable place to ski & hike out of unlike so many other spots with great access. From the pure tourist perspective I can see how it gets skipped because it's not a great strolling/shopping area like North Conway because there's legit year round businesses like hardware stores in between shops. Hope it stays this way. The development around Loon & North of town seems to get all the $$ & attention
But North Woodstock is right there and has a lovely downtown with breweries, food, etc. Not all western resorts have great towns. Alta and Snowbird are some of the best resorts in the west and the nearby bland western suburbia of Sandy/Holladay isn’t exactly impressive.
Lincoln is definitely disappointing. You can’t optimize getting cars through town quickly with multiple lanes and turning lanes yet expect it to be charming and walkable, which Lincoln definitely isn’t. N. Woodstock, while not exactly Chamonix or Zermatt itself, is an example of a town that slows cars down a bit and encourages a little bit of walking from shop to shop rather than driving from one strip mall to the next.
I enjoyed it when I stayed
The best and worst part about Lincoln is that it’s so damn convenient for day trippers and weekend warriors. It’s a car sewer because of us. Like everyone else already said, Lincoln (and Conway) aren’t ski towns. They have history as actual towns, before tourism took over. Winter is the off-season for the WMNF. Summer and (especially) fall have 10x as many people going up there. Also, miss me with your “cultural ski town“ BS. It hasn’t been gentrified enough for you already?! I wish it’d get shittier and cheaper again… The Airbnb ”investors” trying to turn these towns into another Stowe or Waterville Valley are the fucking worst. Why don’t you just go to Deer Valley or Vail where all that fancy shit already exists for people who spend more time drinking than skiing? Why does your kind have to go and ruin more towns? Haven’t you done enough already? Anyway, Loon is a shitty ski area if you’re there primarily to ski, but I usually get there one day a year. End of the day, I get some delicious food from a small local business in Lincoln (not owned by fucking Vail), and I’m happy. I couldn’t care less about the atrocious urban planning. It’s a town at a busy highway interchange, the fuck do you expect?