2021 Reunion this week!

Hello again everyone! As we get closer to the October 22-23 Reunion dates, the preliminary weather forecasts look good for the weekend. If the forecast holds up (mid-50’s and partly sunny) for Saturday, we’ll be good for the whole afternoon outside at Coe House (Osteria Poggio) for drinks and the lunch menu starting at 11:00 am and going through at least 3:00 pm.

Mickey Terrone and Mark Gleckman

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Founders Hall has been under reconstruction for several years. The letter from Mark Haines, rebuilder of Founders Hall follows below:

Hi Folks, My wife, Nancy, and I are very excited to share with you an opportunity to tour “Founders Hall” on Saturday October 23, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 noon. We purchased the old estate, the library building, and the stone cottage in the fall of 2017. Mark, owner of Peg & Beam, Inc., has been in the historic restoration business working throughout New England and beyond for the past forty years. Yes, it’s a little overwhelming, but this project is a good fit for us. We also are in love with the Center Harbor area! Our plan is to restore and renovate the property back to its 1904 charm. We optimistically would like to pursue running it as an Airbnb for the 2024 season with 7 – 8 rooms (four will be two room suites). The rooms for the Bed and Breakfast will be in the main house upstairs, with the possibility of one of the smaller rooms on the first floor being an accessible bedroom. The stone cottage would also be available for Airbnb rental as well. The first floor of the main house, the kitchen wing, the porches, decks and grounds will be designed to host guests and small events. Progress to date includes updating and renovating the old library building into two (2), two-bedroom rental units. The upstairs wing of the main house is now home to a large one-bedroom/owners suite. The stone cottage has been renovated as a small one-bedroom unit. The renovation: When we purchased the property in 2017, the power had been cut, the heat, A/C, wiring, plumbing and sprinkler systems were all obsolete, damaged and unsalvageable. The basement had 8” of standing water and the property was uninhabited for approximately 18 years. The first-floor flooring systems had rotted and were falling into the basement. In fact, in the library building, the floor system had actually fallen into the basement. When starting from scratch we had the opportunity to look outside the box to bring life back into the buildings along with making a concerted effort to restore all original antique hardware, doors, finish trim as we can. We decided to provide our heat and A/C needs with geothermal heating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_source_heat_pump And as we renovate space, we’re bringing all the systems up to current code, along with replacing the old windows with new, as one of our goals is to be as energy efficient as possible. Once again, we are very happy to see you all on the 23rd. Feel free to share stories, bring pictures and ask us any questions you might have. Thank you, Nancy & Mark Haines