SWAMPSCOTT — The Historical Commission has opened a new exhibition in Town Hall called “The Era of Swampscott Hotels.” The exhibition, curated by Vice Chair of the Commission Jonathan Leamon, tells Swampscott’s history as a “leading role as a North Shore resort destination” from the 1800s until recently, according to the welcome plaque at the exhibition.
“Drawn to the cool breezes of the seashore, guests would often spend weeks, or even the entire summer, at resorts and hotels of a remarkable range of sizes and styles,” the welcome plaque said.
The exhibition goes into detail about The Cliff Hotel, Willey House, Cap’n Jack’s Inn, Hotel Beacon, The Bellevue, Lincoln House Hotel, Sunbeam Inn, The Colony and others.
The Cliff Hotel, which was built in 1847, was a boarding house in town starting in 1852. The Knowlton family built and ran the hotel.
“Its size, location, and name are visible on one of the earliest maps of Swampscott,” the exhibition’s description of the hotel said. “Map records illustrate the continuity of this small but delightfully situated hotel from 1852 until roughly World War I.”
The house was “in ruins” by 1928.
The Willey House, which was built by James and Fannie Willey in 1910, began as a boarding house and then transitioned into a hotel that lasted until the 1970s, according to exhibition’s description.
“The Willey House as remembered by the Erlewine brothers, who moved to Swampscott in 1956, ‘was an old fashioned hotel with a nightclub on the first floor and corridors of closed doors on the upper floors. It was a large house with three floors and it was probably as much a rooming house as a hotel,’” the description said, quoting the Erlewine brothers’ words.
Cap’n Jack’s Inn was “the last one standing,” according to its description.
“The demise of Cap’n Jack’s in 2012 marked the end of the hotel era in Swampscott,” it said. “The owner received an offer he couldn’t refuse, and the three houses were torn down, replaced by the Concordia condominium. The uproar in Swampscott was considerable, and the loss of the familiar streetscape was a great shock.”
The rest of the hotels’ history can be found at the exhibition, which is on the first floor of Town Hall.
“We have artifacts from certainly The New Ocean House — which was in town until 1969 until it burned — the Preston Hotel, the Lincoln hotel,” said Nancy Schultz, the chair of the Historical Commission.
Mike Cohen of Swampscott was observing the exhibition Thursday afternoon and said he remembers when The New Ocean House burned down. He and his friends used to explore parts of the hotel they had access to, he said.
This is the commission’s fourth exhibition about the history of Swampscott, she said. The first one, starting in late 2021, was about Elihu Thompson. Another was about early Swampscott history, and the third was about indigenous peoples.
“Our mission is to preserve and educate the history of Swampscott, “ Schultz said. “We feel that by educating the citizens of Swampscott about all these various histories that people will really understand the importance of preservation.”
