IDLEWILDE FARM INN
IDLEWILDE FARM INN
“The Most Attractive Summer Home in New England”
A dairy and vegetable farm, owned by Mr. Moses Davis, was recorded on a map dated 1857 but, after several changes of ownership, the property was ultimately purchased on May 20, 1911, by Mr. Arthur H. Hosford. It was Hosford who invested heavily in “renovations”. He built a restaurant, an extravagantly appointed inn, multiple outbuildings, several barns, a massive porch, a library, kitchen and dining room, an assembly hall, six very large bedrooms, golf links, a fishing pond, and other amenities. “Idlewilde Farm Inn” opened its doors as an exclusive summer resort for wealthy patrons to escape the heat of Lowell and Boston. It was a successful business during the 1920’s and 30’s, attracting many of “the rich and famous” until its destruction.
Among the many notable guests at the Inn was Admiral Richard E. Byrd and his family. Admiral Byrd was the first man to fly over both the North and South Poles. It was after his first expedition to Antarctica in 1928 that the internationally acclaimed hero came to Dunstable to recover in body and spirit and rejoin his family. According to a Lowell Sun newspaper article written in 1989, Donald Kennedy and his friends solved the mystery of the Admiral‘s success in arrival and departure without unwanted fanfare. A skilled aviator, Byrd simply flew his silver-colored Navy bi-plane below the tree line in and out of a field facing the Inn. That field is now the McGovern pasture seen upon entering the town on Route 113. At the crest the hill on High St. there is a farm where the Byrd children and other guests of the Inn rented horses and rode the property.
All went well, even during the Great Depression, until the early hours of May 13, 1933, when an argument erupted between the owner, Mr. Bert Spaulding, and a couple who were employed as chef and maid. As a result, the chef was fired, but the maid chose to stay on at the Inn.
At 4:00 a.m. fire was discovered, and a large dinner bell rang out, allowing Mr. Spaulding, his family, and the three guests present to barely escape with their lives. The volunteer fire department was alerted by the ringing of the church bell in the center of town, but by 6 a.m. only the chimneys of the Inn remained. The discharged chef was arrested in Nashua, where he confessed that he had poured gasoline on the building as an act of vengeance. He was convicted and sent to prison.
There were a couple of buildings that escaped the fire, one of which can still be seen today! Traveling north on Forest Street from Route 113, the modern explorer will find, on the right, an old garage of known as an “Auto-Labri” which is French for auto shelter. Over its doors is the sign, “Idlewilde”. The most unusual feature of the building, in addition to its survival, is that inside, is a giant turntable which could be spun around so that drivers would never have to back out onto the street blindly!