LANCASTER, N.H., Roughly $3 million in federal pandemic relief funds have been used to restore and upgrade the John W. Weeks Lodge at Weeks State Park, state officials and park advocates announced at a celebration Saturday.
About 50 people gathered atop Mount Prospect to mark the completion of work that included an outdoor lift for wheelchair access to the second-floor grand ballroom, an ADA-compliant bathroom, and deck repairs. The clay roof tiles were also replaced with reproductions from the original manufacturer.
The lodge was built in 1911, the same year its owner, U.S. Rep. and Sen. John Wingate Weeks of Massachusetts, shepherded the Weeks Act through Congress. The law created the National Forest system and authorized the White Mountain National Forest, which now encompasses nearly 800,000 acres.
Weeks’ great-grandson, Rob Bast of Vermont, said his ancestor “would be very happy” with the renovations. Bast, a retired architect, worked on the project for more than 20 years, including tracking down the original tile company.
Matthew Flanders, director of the New Hampshire Bureau of Historic Sites, said about 70% of the state’s federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars for historic sites went to this project. The state received roughly $1 billion in ARPA funds overall.
Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, called Weeks a “native American hero” and said the North Country lacks a statue of him on the State House lawn, “he would be a good statue.”
The Weeks family donated the 438-acre estate to New Hampshire in 1941. The park includes trails, a restored fire tower, and a paved road to the summit. More information is available at weeksstateparkassociation.org.
Originally reported by InDepthNH.
Photo: Magicpiano (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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