About the Lodge

A Short History of Juniper Lodge

Outside of Juniper Lodge [n.d., Smith College Archives, Building Records, Box 220.2, Juniper Lodge, Guests (cont’d) – N.]

“When College closed I was tired, and at times felt that I never wanted to study again. Now I am ready and eager to go on.” – Juniper Lodge visitor, 1925 (8)

For many that stayed in its rooms, Juniper Lodge was a place like no other. Nestled in the heart of the White Mountains and above to Lake Chocorua in New Hampshire, Juniper Lodge was a place where you went to escape from the trials of academic and/or professional life. Guests could take relaxing walks through its extensive grounds or go on hikes at nearby trails. (1) If they wanted something more exciting, they went down to the lake and went canoeing, boating, or even swimming at the private beach. (1) The possibilities were endless.

Juniper Lodge guest reading at the porch [n.d., Smith College Archives, Building Records, Box 220.2, Juniper Lodge, Guests (cont’d) – N.]

Juniper Lodge was given to Smith College in 1924 by James B. Reynolds, a graduate of Yale University. (2) The Lodge was gifted in honor of his wife Florence Dike Reynolds, a former Smith College Student. Mr. Reynolds hoped that the home would help the problems of “young people doing graduate study on very limited means” and “foreign students…that very often…had nowhere to go for recreation in the summer.” (3) In the codicil of his will, Mr. Reynolds outlined that the property should be used as a “vacation or rest home” primarily for “women engaged in advanced work at Smith College.” (3) During its initial seasons, one was eligible to come to Juniper Lodge if you were: (3)

  • Female graduate students from Smith College or Yale University
  • Smith College alumnae
  • Faculty and instructors from Smith College, regardless of they were Smith College graduates themselves

My hope is that the property may provide cultural refreshement, as well as phsycial recuperation, for women not financially able to secure such refreshment and recuperation from their own means alone.” – James B. Reynolds (3)

A chart detailing the guests that will visit Juniper Lodge during their 1960 season [n.d., Smith College Archives, Building Records, Box 220.2, Juniper Lodge, Guests (cont’d) – N.]

The Lodge’s season typically ran the length of Smith College’s summer vacation. Typically, 12 to 14 guests were invited per season where one could stay from two to nine weeks, depending on availability and circumstances. (2) As explained above, guests had to have some sort of connection to either Smith College or Yale. This is where similarities between guests typically ended. Guests came from a variety of careers (and at different stages of said careers), ages (20 to almost 80 years old), nationalities, and races.  Both Smith College and Yale offered scholarships and fellowships for students who lacked the funds to stay at the Lodge. Interestingly, the Lodge was run with a limited staff. There was only a cook, a maid, and a groundsman along with a hostess–usually either a Head of House at Smith College or a member of its faculty. (2)  Furthermore, the Lodge was run on a cooperative basis–each guest was assigned a household staff of the week. (2)

With its committed staff and gracious visitors, the Juniper Lodge hosted guest after guest for many decades. Unfortunately, issues started to arise in the 1970s. For one, the Committee on Juniper Lodge was struggling to acquire and hold staff for the two-month period required for the Lodge’s season. (5) According to Betty Baum, the chairman of the Committee, “good wages and a change of scenery are no longer attractive to our Smith College staff.” (5) Attached to the struggle to find available staff, the Lodge’s expenses continued to rise. In 1974, the Committee reconsidered Juniper Lodge’s eligibility requirements and expand them to include a larger group of the college’s community. The Committee noted in their annual report that the changing times and composition of the college community have led them to think about expanding eligibility to “a larger group of staff and administration–‘associates’ or those in similar positions.” (4) The question of eligibility was restrained by the constraints in Mr. Reynold’s codicil. By 1977, the Committee argued that “if there is not substantially increased use of Juniper Lodge by Faculty, officers, and graduate students at Smith College (and women graduates at Yale) in a specified period of time, that the Juniper Lodge Committee recommends to the Board of Trustees that the Chocorua property be disposed of, and the proceeds of the endowment funds supporting the property, be otherwise designated.” (1e) Sadly, Juniper Lodge had to close its doors in 1980. The property was sold and the money from the sale was applied to the Florence Blanchard Dike Reynolds Endowed Fund and any future endowment income was to be applied to support Smith College’s subvention of the Faculty Center. (7) Having hosted many guests throughout its 40-year history, Juniper Lodge continues to live on in the memories of the alumni, faculty, and staff that were able to spend a fateful summer at the Lodge.

We have known this would eventually occur since the Lodge no longer served the needs of graduate students and faculty in accordance with Mr. Reynolds bequest. It has provided an unusual and delightful opportunity for interchange and friendship among alumnae and members of the College community. Guests have made a major contribution to the enjoyment of the summers at Juniper. – Betty Baum, 1980

Outside view from the porch at Juniper Lodge [n.d., Smith College Archives, Building Records, Box 220.2, Juniper Lodge, Guests (cont’d) – N.]

Reading List

Grant, Barbara M. “Writing in the company of other women: exceeding the boundaries.” Studies in Higher Education 31, no. 4 (August 2006): 483-495.

  • Although Juniper Lodge was not advertised as a “writing retreat,” many guests, like Mary Ellen Chase, used their stays at the Lodge to write. Although this article is looking at women writing retreats in New Zealand, we could apply the experiences of these women in New Zealand to those that used their visits to the Lodge as a writing retreat. We could infer how these women felt about their writing productivity and pleasure as well as their identity as academics and writers.

Lea, Jennifer. “Retreating to Nature: rethinking ‘therapeutic landscapes.'” Area 40, no. 1 (2008): 90-98.

  • Juniper Lodge was located in the middle of the mountains in New Hampshire and its isolated location was one of the things that attracted many people to come. This article looks at the question of what is at work when we remove ourselves from society in order to recuperate. Although this article looks specifically at yoga retreats, we can apply its idea of “therapeutic landscapes” to Juniper Lodge.

Stewart, Cindy. “Academic Retreats for Graduate Students: A Qualitative Case Study.” Dissertation, Colorado State University, 2018.

  • Graduate students were recurring guests at Juniper Lodge, considering Mr. Reynold’s requests. Again, this article looks at writing retreats, only this time it is focusing on academic writing for graduate students. It is possible that Smith’s and Yale’s graduate students utilized the Lodge as a writing retreat thus we can infer their experiences from the experiences of graduate students at Colorado State University.

Further Research

Because many of the hosts that directed Juniper Lodge were Smith faculty or Heads of Houses, it would be interesting to see their papers and their perspective of running Juniper Lodge. Smith College Special Collections has Anna Alice Cutler Papers, who ran the Lodge during its early years. The archives also have Katherine Gee Hornbeak papers, who was a professor that visited the Lodge as well as serves as the chair of its executive committee for many years.

Footnotes

  1. Juniper Lodge pamphlet, 1970, Smith College Archives,  Buildings Records, Box 219, Juniper Lodge, A – Correspondence.
  2. Manuscript, n.d., Smith College Archives, Buildings Records, Box 219, Juniper Lodge, A – Correspondence.
  3. Codicil to the Will of James Bronson Reynolds, 1923, Smith College Archives, Buildings Records, Box 220.1, Juniper Lodge, Correspondence (cont’d).
  4. Report by Committee on Juniper Lodge, 1974, Smith College Archives, Buildings Records, Box 219, Juniper Lodge, A – Correspondence.
  5. Letter to Mr. Mendenhall from Betty Baum on Annual Report of Juniper Lodge, 1974, Smith College Archives, Buildings Records, Box 219, Juniper Lodge, A – Correspondence.
  6. Report of the Faculty Members of the Juniper Lodge Committee, 1977, Smith College Archives, Buildings Records, Box 219, Juniper Lodge, A – Correspondence.
  7. Newsletter by Betty Baum, Chairman of Juniper Lodge Committee, 1980, Smith College Archives, Building Records, Box 220.2, Juniper Lodge, Guests (cont’d) – N.
  8. “The Summer of 1925 at Juniper Lodge” by Anna A. Cutler, article on Smith Alumnae Quarterly, n.d., Smith College Archives, Building Records, Box 220.2, Juniper Lodge, Guests (cont’d) – N.