Christmas at the Castle

November 30, 2024 — I toured Castle in the Clouds in 1959, the year it opened to the public. I've been to the lower field for their annual car shows many times, but never went up to the Castle again until November 30 this year. The event was the annual Christmas at the Castle. The Castle, named Lucknow, a sprawling Golden Age-style mansion built by shoe manufacturing magnate Tom Plant and his wife Olive in 1913-14 in the Ossipee Mountains in Moultonborough, New Hampshire has been a major tourist attraction since 1959.

The many rooms of the mansion are decorated for Christmas by artisans of diverse talents. There's also dining and a crafts fair at the Carriage House below the mansion. Another attraction was supposed to have been Santa Claus, but he was absent the day I was there. I'm sure that was disappointing to many youngsters as well as their parents who love to photograph their kiddos on Santa's lap.

The Christmas event is held three weekends, usually in late November to early December. To get there, you drive up a narrow, winding road to the Carriage House parking lot, then are ferried to and from the Castle by a fleet of trolleys that run every 10 minutes.

You can view my photos of this year's event on a colder than average day for late November with a thin cover of snow at this link:

https://www.linwoodstreet.com/christmasatcastle/