Newfound Sands · Bungalo Village

Our History

A century on the west shore — from farmland to Hiland Park, Bungalo Village, and Newfound Sands.

  1. Before the 1920s

    Farmland on the west shore

    The land that became the cottage colony was farmland across the road from the lake — remembered locally as the old Kimball farm.

    Hand-tinted linen postcard of a white farmhouse and red barns on open farmland above Newfound Lake, with wooded hills and the lake beyond
    Newfound Lake, Bristol, N.H. — a farm above the lake, as the west shore looked before the cottages.Tichnor Brothers Postcard Collection, Boston Public Library. No known copyright restrictions.
  2. 1920s

    W. F. Darling builds Hiland Park

    W. F. Darling of Bristol builds a colony of housekeeping cottages on the west shore. First known as Hiland Park, it lets guests rent a cottage by the week or the season, cook their own meals, and take in the lake view from their own porch — a friendly alternative to the grand hotels then ringing the lake. His letterhead — carrying his own portrait — calls it “Tourists’ Mecca, Campers’ Delight, Sportsmen’s Paradise.”

    Printed letterhead of W. F. Darling, proprietor of Bungalo-Village, Bristol, New Hampshire, with his portrait at center and the slogan "Tourists' Mecca, Campers' Delight, Sportsmen's Paradise"
    W. F. Darling’s letterhead — the proprietor’s portrait front and center.
    Sepia real-photo postcard captioned "Bungalow Village Newfound Lake, N.H. 234" showing the original farmhouse with its wraparound porch and a long low annex building behind a stone wall
    The earliest photograph — the farmhouse and long annex, when the name was still spelled “Bungalow.” Real-photo postcard.
    Hand-colored postcard, about 1920, of the cottage colony taking shape: a farmhouse and half-built cottage in the foreground, an early automobile, and a row of small cottages along the road at the tree line
    The colony taking shape, about 1920 — cottages going up along the west shore road. Hand-colored postcard.
  3. 1927

    “An estate you would love to own”

    By 1927 the colony bears its distinctive name — the sales brochure, marked “Copyright 1927,” spells it Bungalo-Village — and Darling mounts a campaign to sell it: a broadside crowns the west shore “The ‘Miami’ of New Hampshire,” and letters to prospective partners promise fifteen percent a year. No buyer takes the whole, and the village keeps renting cottages — cards postmarked into 1931 still invite guests to “send for illustrated booklet.”

    FOR SALE broadside offering Bungalo Village — "an estate you would love to own" — with photographs of the cottages and text calling Newfound Lake the Miami of New Hampshire
    The 1927 broadside — “An estate you would love to own.”
    Cover of the Bungalo-Village sales brochure marked Copyright 1927
    “Copyright 1927” — the brochure that fixes the name in print.
    Inside spread of the 1927 Bungalo-Village brochure with photographs of the cottages, beach, and grounds
    Inside the 1927 brochure.
    Sepia multi-view postcard headed "Bungalo Village, Newfound Lake, Bristol, N.H." showing two-room cabins, four-room bungalows, and the dining house, captioned "Send for Illustrated Booklet"
    “Send for illustrated booklet” — postmarked Bristol, July 1931.
    Advertising card headed "Bungalo Village - Lake Newfound - Bristol, N.H." with the words SUMMER HEAVEN down the sides, a halftone photograph of a row of two-room cabins, and the slogan "Up where the tall fir-balsams grow"
    “Summer Heaven … up where the tall fir-balsams grow” — advertising the two-room cabins.
  4. 1934 → mid-century

    The Hewitt years — open the year ’round

    In 1934 the village passes from the Darlings to the Hewitts: an April envelope still reads “Darling’s Bungalo Village,” while an August card is signed “R. S. Hewitt, Prop.” Mr. & Mrs. Hewitt — “Managing Owners” — run it year-round: in winter the Community Key by the road becomes the Bungalo Ski Lodge, with heated cabins, family-style meals, dancing by the huge fireplace, and the only ski trail in Bristol.

    Envelope postmarked Bristol, N.H., April 25, 1934, with a red and navy corner card reading "Darling's Bungalo Village, Newfound Lake, Bristol, N.H. — New Hampshire's most perfect recreation grounds for tourists, campers, fishermen", addressed to Mr. Merrill Walker Hewitt
    April 1934 — still “Darling’s Bungalo Village,” addressed to Merrill Walker Hewitt.
    Postcard back postmarked August 1934, printed header "Bungalo Village, Bristol, N.H. … Rooms, Cabins, and Bungalows … Restaurant with Delicatessen … R. S. Hewitt, Prop."
    August 1934 — “R. S. Hewitt, Prop.”
    Advertising blotter for The Community Key, Bungalo Village, Bristol, N.H. — "A Ski Lodge in Winter" — showing the dining room and recreation hall building
    The Community Key — “a ski lodge in winter.”
    Advertising card reading "Ski at the Key — the center of activities on Newfound Lake! Open the year 'round … heated cabins (wood stoves), rooms, meals served (family style), recreation hall (huge fireplace), ping pong, dancing (bring your slippers), games … M. W. Hewitt"
    “Ski at the Key … bring your slippers.” — M. W. Hewitt
  5. ca. 1935–1945

    The postcard era

    Tichnor Brothers of Boston and Curt Teich of Chicago print linen-texture postcards of the village — the shore road, the cottages by number, the beach. A card postmarked in 1939 describes it: “Bungalo Village, on the west shore of Newfound Lake, has thirty-eight cozy, well equipped bungalows, and main lodge, commanding a fine view of lake and mountains.”

    Hand-tinted linen postcard of Bungalo Village on Newfound Lake: white cottages and the main lodge on a lawn above the shore, an American flag on a tall flagpole, wooded hills across the water
    Bungalo Village, Newfound Lake, Bristol, N.H.Tichnor Brothers Postcard Collection, Boston Public Library. No known copyright restrictions.
    Black-and-white six-view postcard of Bungalo Village from 1939: cottages, the tennis court and playground, the lodge, and the waterfront
    Six views of the village — cottages, tennis court, lodge, and shore, 1939.
    Four-view linen postcard showing individual numbered Bungalo Village cottages: numbers three and four, five, six, and the cottage called Zero
    The cottages by number — Nos. 3 & 4, 5, 6, and “Zero.”
    Linen postcard looking down the west shore road past the Bungalo Village cottages, tall trees on the right
    Down the west shore road — Curt Teich linen, printed 1938.
    Linen postcard of a mother and two children wading in the surf at the Bungalo Village beach, captioned "Greetings from Bungalo Village, Newfound Lake, Bristol, N.H."
    “Greetings from Bungalo Village” — bathers at the beach. Curt Teich linen, 1940.
    Four-view linen postcard of Bungalo Village on Newfound Lake: a bungalow, a woman with binoculars at the Mt. Celo lookout, a motorboat off the shore, and cottage No. 7
    A bungalow, the lookout, the shore, and No. 7 — Curt Teich linen, 1943.
    Four-view linen postcard of Bungalo Village showing the office and the annex buildings among the cottages
    The office and the annex — four-view linen card.
  6. Mid-century

    The housekeeping-cottage tradition

    Through the postwar decades, Bungalo Village operates as a classic rental colony: guests bring their own linens, families return the same week every summer, and evenings center on the beach, the porches, the dining room, and the rec hall.

    Four-view color postcard from 1951: the colony above the lake, the dining room and community store with fifty-cent dinners, cottage number one, and swimmers at the beach
    Four views, 1951 — the grounds, the dining room (“Dinner 50¢”), a cottage, and the beach.
    Postcard of the interior of the Bungalo Village community store and dining room — booth tables in front, the stocked store counter behind
    Inside the community store and dining room.
    Hand-tinted linen postcard looking across Newfound Lake toward Mt. Cardigan, with autumn trees in the foreground and hills beyond the water
    Mt. Cardigan across the lake — the view from the village.Tichnor Brothers Postcard Collection, Boston Public Library. No known copyright restrictions.
  7. 1961–1979

    Your hosts, the Parsons

    In 1961 the village — which had passed from the Hewitts by way of the Nelson family — is bought by Bob and Marjorie Parsons. Their postcard of the era puts it plainly: “The ideal vacation spot for the entire family. Cozy housekeeping cottages accommodating from 2 to 9 persons. Reasonable rates. Your Hosts: Bob and Marjorie Parsons.”

    Aerial color postcard of Bungalo Village seen from over Newfound Lake: the beach, the west shore road, and the white cottages spread across the hillside lawn among the trees
    The whole village from the air — aerial photograph by Frank L. Forward, from the Parsons years.
    Color snapshot of the Bungalo Village roadside sign — day, week, season, May thru Oct, office, vacancy — with two children standing in front
    The roadside sign: by the day, week, or season, May through October.
    Color snapshot of children playing shuffleboard at Bungalo Village
    Shuffleboard by the courts, 1970s.
  8. 1979–2004

    The Thompson years

    Douglas and Madeline Thompson buy the colony in 1979 and keep the rental-village tradition going for a quarter century — the last owners to run Bungalo Village as a summer cottage colony, advertising its cozy bungalows (and their raccoon mascot) to a new generation of lake families.

    Bungalo Village Cottages tri-fold brochure with raccoon logo, area map, and aerial photo — Madeline & Doug Thompson
    The Thompsons’ brochure, with the raccoon.
    Inside of the Bungalo Village brochure: “Welcome to Bungalo Village & the Newfound Lake area”, photos of the beach and cottages
    “Welcome to Bungalo Village” — inside the brochure.
    Business card: Bungalo Village Cottages and Motel, On Newfound Lake — Madeline & Doug Thompson, Bristol, New Hampshire
    The business card — Madeline & Doug Thompson.
  9. 2004

    The colony changes hands

    After roughly eight decades as a rental compound, Bungalo Village is sold, and the individual cottages are offered for sale to permanent owners — the first time in the colony’s history the cottages are individually owned.

  10. 2005

    Newfound Sands is established

    The colony becomes Newfound Sands, a shorefront condominium of thirty-four individually owned cottages. The main lodge — namesake landmark of the old village — still stands, and the beach remains shared, as it has been for a century.

  11. Today

    A summer village still

    A century after Darling laid out his cottages, Newfound Sands remains what it has always been: a simple, friendly summer village on one of the clearest lakes in New England — in every season.

    Sunrise over Newfound Lake behind the main lodge, the sky streaked pink and violet, morning fog on the far hills
    Daybreak over the lake — the lodge at first light.
    The white cottages deep in snowdrifts under a bright blue winter sky, a picnic table half buried
    The village asleep — deep winter on the west shore.

From the Album

Bungalo Village Through the Years

Seven mini-albums of postcards, brochures, and snapshots — from the farm years to the village today.