This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
On Friday, state officials will take the unusual step of marking the 200th anniversary of one of the worst disasters to ever hit the White Mountains.
Why? Because it helped kick off the region’s modern era of tourism.
The disaster was an avalanche that took the lives of the Willey family in their tavern. They had built it hoping to draw tourists in the very early days of people heading north from Boston and New York to vacation, but weren’t having much success.
They knew the location had been hit by avalanches so the family built a stone shelter away from the house, as protection. In August of 1826, a violent rainstorm hit the area, unsettling hillsides and sending tons of stone and dirt cascading down.
As it turns out the Willey house was untouched by the avalanches but the stone shelter had been swept away. And in a painful irony, the family had taken shelter there just before the avalanche hit. All six family members and two workers were killed.
The story drew national attention and was the subject of articles, novels and paintings and helped kick off what is called “disaster tourism” with people flocking to Crawford Notch to see the site. That, in turn, fueled the idea of vacationing in the North Country and, in the words of the Appalachian Mountain Club, “unknowingly turned the White Mountains into one of the biggest tourist attractions on the East Coast.”
The commemoration will take place at 11 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 28, across from the Willey House museum.
