1880 Hotel Building on Lake Winnipesaukee at Weirs Beach, New Hampshire
Lakeside Ave, Laconia, NH 03246
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to enter the marketplace during open hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Boardwalk and footbridge access along Lake Winnipesaukee.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1880 · 1880 Lakeside House / Lakeside Hotel · 1917 elevated footbridge construction · Weirs Beach golden-era resort district landmark
The Winnipesaukee Marketplace building at Weirs Beach in Laconia, New Hampshire, was constructed in 1880 and originally operated as the Lakeside House, a hotel serving the Lake Winnipesaukee summer resort trade. According to the Weirs Beach community history page and Laconia Daily Sun coverage of the property's 2021 sale, the building's most distinctive architectural feature is an elevated footbridge that connects the second floor of the building directly to the porch over the railroad tracks below, built in 1917 by then-owner Edward T. Milton.
The building was renamed the Lakeside Hotel after Alberic Favreau acquired it in the early 1940s. It continued to operate as a hotel through the mid-20th century. In 1986 the building was converted to its current use as the Winnipesaukee Marketplace, a multi-tenant retail and event space serving the Weirs Beach summer tourist trade. The property is one of the principal historic structures of the Weirs Beach golden-era resort district, which historically connected via the M/S Mount Washington passenger steamer and the Lakeside-Beach Mountain Cruise tradition.
Sources
Folklore at the Winnipesaukee Marketplace centers on two recurring figures. According to regional paranormal folklore documented in Pinterest's GhostQuest collection and Lakes Region tourism coverage, customers occasionally describe a transparent female figure who briefly interacts with them in the marketplace's interior corridors before vanishing. Separately, a tradition holds that a male figure has been reported hanging in an upstairs window late at night when the building is closed, with local lore framing the figure as a suicide death from the building's hotel era. The specific identification is not documented in news archives readily available online and is presented as folkloric tradition rather than verified record.
The Lakes Region tourism association periodically promotes Haunted Winnipesaukee evening cruises aboard the M/S Mount Washington in conjunction with seasonal programming. The marketplace itself is principally a daytime retail destination during the Weirs Beach summer season.
Media Appearances
Walk the Weirs Beach boardwalk and cross the 1917 elevated footbridge into the Winnipesaukee Marketplace building, the former Lakeside House / Lakeside Hotel. Pair with a Mount Washington Cruises departure or the seasonal Lakes Region tourist district.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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