Introduction
Many of us know that C. George Armstrong founded the Chelmsford Spring Company and became owner of the Chelmsford Ginger Ale Company. Not many know the story of the farm he built in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Location
The farm was located on top of Ellsworth Hill in West Campton, NH. It offered stunning views of the Sandwich Range and the Pemigewasset Valley. This became Armstrong’s retreat after he sold his company to Canada Dry in 1931. He built a large guesthouse on the land abutting the farm, known as the Armont Inn, for his frequent guests. The words Armstrong and mont, the French word for mountain, combined to create “Armont.” Armstrong’s personal touches graced the interior of the elegant home-style lodge. The most famous of these: Chelmsford Ginger Ale bottles set into the fireplace masonry.
Clarence M. Weed was the person that introduced Armstrong to the Campton area.
- He became president of Lowell State Teacher’s College in 1932 (now part of UMass Lowell)
- The college named Weed Hall in his honor
- Had been a professor of Zoology and Entomology at the University of New Hampshire
- Wrote the book “Our Trees, How to Know Them” with photographs by Chelmsford’s Arthur I. Emerson, published in 1918
Weed’s grandson, Richard Weed Murphy bought the farm in the early 1960’s and converted it into an inn. Various artist groups hosted by Richard created beautiful landscape paintings from the front lawn of the inn. Guests with dinner reservations waited outside on the porch until called to dinner by Richard with two bangs on a gong.
C. George Armstrong’s Armont Farm stood as a link between New England’s industrial heart and its rural mountain heritage. His mountain retreat was a testament to the enduring pull of the White Mountains.
Conclusion
Sadly, the Armont Inn burned down in 2015.
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