Nebo Lodge
“My family has been on the island for a number of generations. And I came here after three days, having been born up in Bangor, but arrived on the island three days later and have lived here off and on ever since. I and my brothers went to school here first, and then later, I think, I was in the sixth grade, went to Rockland for the remaining school years. I then went to college, Syracuse University, and studied archaeology and anthropology based on my work with the Maine State Museum at Turner Farm here on North Haven. And because I like museology, I ended up working at the Metropolitan Museum in New York for 35 years. So, every summer, all my vacations, I always returned to North Haven. And this is where my heart and my soul have always been,” said David Hopkins, Eric Hopkin’s brother and long time resident of North Haven.
It seems like everyone on North Haven stays there or leaves temporarily and finds their way back. Each islander has a connection to the historic Nebo Lodge whether it is eating a fabulous meal or having friends and family from the main land stay at the lodge. It is a place where people come together. To create more memories and start new traditions.
Photographed by Justin Smulski
The entrance to Nebo Lodge.
“Previously the inn had been called the Mullin House and it was a block over right across from the Catholic Church and it not only was the house itself but several of the homes surrounding the Mullin house were rented out and when the first summer people were coming to North Haven, often they were building houses or they were renting or rooming at a house while they either bought property and built or found places to stay. It was quite well known and a great place to eat. They had a dining room in the main building and then a lot of people from the outlying houses were all able to go and have their meals at the end of the day. It was so busy that there wasn't enough room so they I think had another family member went down the next block and built Nebo Lodge and that was in 1912. It was built as a modest two story home with I think, maybe four or five bedrooms and it became evident that it wasn't big enough. So they later on added a large addition and another on the third floor and it became another big lodge. Ownership transferred from the Mullin family to the Crockett family and it stayed in the Crockett family until I think it was Lloyd Crockett, who was the last Crockett who owned it, had my father, sell it, and he sold it,” said David.
Many families have owned this beautiful home over the years and have continued to keep its tradition alive - the tradition of providing visitors a nice to place to stay and eat. It’s a charmer, and has been popular with many presidents and politicians having stayed at this lovely spot.
Photographed by Justin Smulski
The dining room area of Nebo Lodge.
“President Ulysses S Grant, and a party of 22 of his cabinet and other friends were sailing along the coast of Maine and there was a storm, a dark and stormy night. I think they decided to come in to the closest harbor they could find and that was North Haven and they were all wet, tired and wanting a dry place and good place to eat. They went up and knocked on the door of the Mullin House and Mr. And Mrs. Mullin invited the men in and didn't quite know at that point who their guests were, but soon found out that it was the President and his whole contingent. So they spent a lovely night there and had a great meal. There are a lot of newspaper articles that are still available in our safe here in the gift shop and also President Grant’s cigar-butt, which is the basis of the North Haven presidential cigar-butt collection. So fast forward to 1933 and President Roosevelt arrived on island after a meeting and I think that Mr. Crockett decided to go out and show the President Ulysses S Grant, cigar-butt, and the President decided, well, I'll give you a cigar-butt too. So he smoked a cigar and gave Mr. Crockett his cigar-butt as well. So we have that cigar box with those two cigar butts, along with the guest register for the Mullin house, which has all of the names and signatures of people that are visiting the newspaper articles,” said David.
Photographed by Justin Smulski
An antique chandelier displayed in the lounge of Nebo Lodge.
Photographed by Justin Smulski
Kristan Vermeulen interviewing Angela Ruffolo.
Not only does David understand the rich history of this beautiful spot but Chellie Pingree also holds Nebo in a special place in her heart.
“You know, I was a single mom, I didn't have a lot of money in the bank. I luckily owned my own house and I could mortgage it. But I found two or three friends who kind of shared this idea with me that said, Hey, we should have a lodge in this town. It's it's going to create more jobs for the people in the community. It's a beautiful, old building and it shouldn't be sold to someone who just, you know, guts it and turns it into their summer house and then it doesn't have that sort of history. So we got the money to buy it. We had a an architect come in and look at what we would have to do to comply with the fire marshall’s rules and no commercial business rules and we did have to do a certain amount of renovation to the structure inside because it was kind of built more like a boarding house. There were a lot of single rooms, shared bathrooms, it had a total of about 13 rooms and there was kind of a central staircase that was very likely a fire hazard; it didn't have fire doors. It's not many of the modern things you have to have now. So we changed it as little as we possibly could. You know we complied with all the fire laws, the sprinkler, the exterior doors, and over that first renovation that very first year, I convinced two of my children and they were grown up and out of college and I was like you just got to come and help for a while, you know scrape the old paint off the floor and I was really lucky that they did that…but eventually, we were able to open it. And over the course of a few more years, we added a few more bathrooms, we found out our guests didn't really like to share bathrooms that much. So we've made some small modifications, we built a larger dining area, ADA accessible, you know, just done a variety of things but we certainly have kept to the feel of the place,” said Chellie.
Photographed by Justin Smulski
The dining room area of Nebo Lodge.
Even though there have been many changes, the lodge has stuck to its historic roots. Angela Ruffolo took over the lodge this year and has learned a great deal on how to manage an inn in the midst of a pandemic.
“So we've changed a lot of things. We opened later obviously, we weren't allowed to open and then we have some rooms that share baths. So we stopped the use of those rooms for quite a while. So that took a couple of rooms out of commission…but we couldn't seat all the {dining room} tables before, it would be hard to move around. We had 14 tables and now we have four,” said Angela.
After reading one of the guest books that is placed in each room, many guests create and leave their own stories in this beautiful space; each is different and unique. You need to experience it for yourself.