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Directions to Diana's Baths:
Diana's Baths are
located on West Side Rd on
the North Conway/Bartlett town line just North of Cathedral Ledge
within the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Cathedral Ledge can be easily seen on your drive North on West Side Rd. headed
towards Rt. 302. The parking area for Diana's Baths is very well
marked with a state sign along the roadway. There is a $3 cash fee
to enter. If you are using a GPS, please refer to the GPS
coordinates for Diana's Bath above. This will make it much easier to
locate this NH State Park. Diana's Baths can also be found on some
NH maps that show waterfalls in NH.
Diana's Baths, as well as all historic
sites are protected by federal laws! Always leave historic sites as
you found them. Theft and vandalism carry very hefty fines and jail
time!
View the Archaeological Resources Protections Act
for information on the laws that protect historic sites such as
this.
Information About Diana's Baths:
Diana's Baths is located in the White Mountain region of New
Hampshire which is also part of the White Mountain National Forest.
Diana's Baths offer a well marked and well maintained trail to the
waterfall. The hike is an easy one for all ages. Pets are welcomed
but be sure to bring a bag in case you dog makes a mess. Once you
arrive at Diana's Baths, be sure to look towards the end of the
falls on the trail side and you will see the remains of the old
sawmill. Be
careful with kids as there is a hidden 10' drop into the area where
the water wheel was located.
A little bit further
up, you will notice there are a couple picnic tables next to the
pools at Diana's baths. Upstream on Lucy Brook from the picnic area are the
cascades which are great for taking photos of this NH waterfall. The
trail continues past Diana's Baths but becomes a lot less easy as
the trail heads towards Moat Mountain.
Diana's Baths are fed by Lucy Brook in Bartlett New Hampshire
and are created by a series of ledges which originates near the
summit of Big Attitash Mountain.
The water levels vary greatly at Diana's Baths. After heavy rains
the waterfalls change dramatically. In the photos of Diana's Baths
below you will notice the water flow was light when we were there.
We were able to walk across the slippery rocks to get close to the
remaining waterfalls. Along the edges you will see evidence that the
water levels get much higher and the waterfall flow can be much more
aggressive and dangerous, usually in the Spring during the time of
snow melt. The snow melts on the nearby White Mountains and runs
into nearby streams and rivers, like Lucy Brook.
Outdoor NH Weddings:
Diana's Baths may also be a good
place for a wedding if you wanted to have your
NH
wedding near a waterfall. The ease and short distance of the
trail leading to Diana's Baths make this a waterfall you could
consider for an outdoor wedding or any event. Contact
The Saco Ranger Station for a permit.
History of Diana's Baths:
An interview
with Carrie Gleason
says that "Historically, the Lucy family operated a sawmill at the
falls and had a residence there. G.G. Lucy is the name sited on the
1892 map. His widow lived on the site until her death in the 1940's,
after which the house was vandalized and burned."
But, in another interview
with Chester Lucy on 12/5/92, Chester stated the the house and other
vacant buildings on the property were a liability to the US Forest
Service when they purchased the property and were dismantled by a
local builder named Stuart Robertson, Jr. in the mid to late 1960's. He
salvaged the framework and may have used the materials to build his own
house.
More Excerpts
From the Chester Lucy Interview:
Interview by Steve
Marlens in North Conway on 12/5/1992
In 1863, George Lucy
purchased 5 acres of land at the Diana's Baths site. Prior to this,
George had been a confectioner in North Conway opposite from the
railroad station but had to find a move as the dust from the road
was bothering his asthma. So he built a small house and a barn at
Diana's Baths and moved there (cellar hole still remains approx 200
yards east of the present mill clearing on the north side of the
Baths trail). George then built a sawmill on the Lucy Brook. The
mill was powered by an "undershot wheel." The dust from the sawmill
proved to be just as irritating to George's asthma.
Around 1890, Diana's
Baths began attracting tourists, so George built a 3-story boarding
house and a barn opposite of the dam. The house had 12 rooms and a
shed chamber for the kids to sleep in during the Summer months.
Unfortunately, there were 5 big hotels within a square mile in
Intervale, NH. These hotels provided 6 and 8 horse carriages and
gave tours that visited Pitman's Arch, Diana's Baths where they had
a picnic, and then on to Echo Lake, North Conway and back to
Intervale. The tours took about 4-5 hours.
Around 1910, George's son
John added a small souvenir shop at the Diana's Baths site. John
sold Balsam Pillows and Spruce Gum to the tourists. In the early
1930's, John had ice cream delivered to the store from town as there
was no electricity at Diana's Baths.
Chester Lucy said his
parents operated a small farm in the valley and ran their own
boarding house in the summer. Chester's father purchased the old saw
mill at the base of the Baths. He fixed up the mill and added
overhanging rakes and returns to give it a finished look. He then
built the concrete dam and penstock pipe in the ledge upstream from
the mill and installed a turbine to replace the old water wheel.
After 5 or 6 years operating the mill, he he abandoned it for a
portable mill that he transported to the timber sites he was
harvesting.
The tourists business
kept building through the 1930's. The access road eventually became
a town road The boarding house was also eventually sold in the late
1950's to Mr. DeSimone, who was a local a druggist. Mr. DeSimone
wanted to install electric power at the property and live there but
the National Forest officials didn't like the idea as the power
would need to come over the national forest land. After 6 or 7 years
Mr. DeSimone sold the land to the government and it became part of
the surrounding National Forest.
In the 1960's the
abandoned buildings became a squatting place for the "hippies." who
used the railings in the boarding house for firewood and robbed
items from the property like old sleighs, wagons and lanterns.
Eventually, the sawmill
was also sold to the government by Robert Lucy (Chester Lucy's
brother). The vacant buildings on the property were a liability to
the US Forest Service when they purchased the property and were dismantled by a
local builder named Stuart Robertson, Jr. in the mid to late 1960's. He
salvaged the framework and may have used the materials to build his own
house.
(Historical Photos of
Diana's Baths are below)
How Did Diana's Baths Get It's Name?
According to “Conway, New Hampshire 1765 -1997” by Hounsell and
Horne, Diana’s Baths was earlier called Merrill’s Mills. There seems
to be no record of why it became Diana’s Baths. There was a small
house constructed there in the mid to late 18th (sic) century which
was later expanded to a three story structure.
In an interview with
Carrie Gleason in November 1987 (source: Conway Public Library), it
states that when the property was taken over by the White Mountain
National Forest, the name was changed to "Diana's Baths."
D.B.
Garvin from the NH Division of Historical Resources checked Robert
and Mary Julyan’s "Place Names of the White Mountains" (revised ed.)
and found the following explanation:
“These
curious circular stone cavities on Lucy Brook originally were known
as the Home of the Water Fairies; tradition says evil water sprites
inhabited the ledges, tormenting the Sokokis Indians until a
mountain god answered the Indians’ prayers and swept the sprites
away in a flood. But sometime before 1859 a Miss Hubbard of
Boston, a guest at the old Mount Washington House in
North Conway, rechristened them Diana’s Baths,
presumably to evoke images of the Roman nature goddess. The pools
are also called Lucy’s Baths.”
There
are no citations for the statement that Miss Hubbard re-named the
cavities, and there is certainly more to this story, possibly
recorded in local newspapers of the period. But the renaming was
clearly part of the strong impetus, beginning with the Willey
Landslide in 1826 and accelerating in the 1850s, to elaborate upon
the romance of the White Mountains
and to add to their evocative mythology as the region became more
and more a destination for tourists.
From Eastman's White Mountain Guide from 1867:
"The overhanging trees throw a pleasant
shade around, inviting one to agreeable report. Above this, and
indeed in many places below, are great numbers of holes or basins in
rock, smoothly polished by the action of the water. It is from
these, or perhaps from the largest, which is not less than ten feet
deep, that the place derives its name. As you look into the limpid
water with which they are filled, sparkling like crystals in the
sun, or calm and quiet under the shadow of some overhanging tree, so
that you may almost see the water sprites floating in the depths,
you will readily acknowledge it to be such a bath as the goddess
would have chosen for herself. An hour or two may be very agreeably
spent in exploring the hidden beauties which are disclosed only to
the observing eye."
Google image search for Diana Bathing
There really is no solid evidence as to how Diana's Baths got it's
name. But it appears that there are many different opinions on how
Diana's Baths was named as well as the past history there. We have
verified the name was used since the 1860's.
The mysterious poem below also gives a little insight as to how
Diana's Baths got it's name.
DIANA'S BATHS
INTERVAL, NEW HAMPSHIRE
By Edward W. Barnard
Where Kearsarge towers, and gray Moat Mountain makes
Through seas of mist toward Heaven's changeless blue,
A crystal torrent born of shower and dew
Comes tumbling through the thick of birchen brakes
To fill
the silvern pool where Dian takes
Her midnight plunge, unseen of men's wide view:
As chaste, as
wanton still, as when she drew
Her bow in Latmos woods, by Ida lakes.
In the dim light
of stars, when no moon beams,
Here, who has aught of poet's sight
may see,
Stretched on the torrent bank, seamed, glacier-worn,
Half walking and half lost in pensive dreams,
Grown tristful at his mistress' truantry,
The shade of young Endymion, pale and lorn.
Photos of Diana's Baths:
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