The Hub of a Hanover Winter
■ GIVEN BY THE CLASS OF 1900 ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CLUB AND DEDICATED TO THE ENDURING DARTMOUTH FELLOWSHIP IN OUTDOOR LIFE 0 Memorial Tablet
The new Dartmouth Outing Club House at the north endof Occom Pond will be dedicated by the Class of 1900, whobuilt it for the Outing Club, on February 2. A reunion anddinner to the Class precede the placing of the bronze tablet."Open House" will be held the following day when thehouse will be turned into operation as a Club with lounges,dining room, and sports headquarters. Alumni of the College will always find a welcome.
A sone swings along the Occom Ridge Road, laughter, chatter, and the ring of many skates filter up through the pines. Then come flecks of color, bobbing reds and blues, the sleek figures of bent racers, hobbling youngsters who sit down suddenly, knots of charging boys intent on hockey pucks. The pond is alive with weaving forms.
A vista opens through the pines. Across the ebb and flow of skaters, one catches the grey lines of stone pillars with groups of skaters appearing and disappearing beneath them. The stone mass of the building takes shape behind the pillars, its brown shingled wings stretch to right and left. The snow slopes fall away beyond to hills and haze. The House seems springing with life. In and out pour skaters through the channel of ice that enters the lower porch. Skiers, snowshoers, hikers coming in, starting out, stop for a chat, rest a moment to watch the shifting patterns on the Pond. Beyond, on the open slopes of the Golf Links, more skiers string over the hillsides. White and blue of the hills, blue and white of the ice, and the bright bobbing patches of life everywhere. The bobbing patches on hills and Pond are not new in Hanover, though there are many, many more of them now. The spokes of the great wheel of Hanover's winter life have long been growing and shaping. What is new is that comfortable grey-brown mass of building over there, where the flashing spokes of activities now center —a new hub to this Hanover Winter.
It stands astride the old road that used to cross from Occom Ridge to Rope Ferry Road, near the outlet of the pond, high enough on the knoll to dominate the life of snow sport on the open links to the north, and that of ice sport on the pond to the south. A new road now circles from the Golf Club around the contour of the gully in a wide loop to rejoin Occom Ridge Road.
The House is a story-and-a-half building, mainly of stone, with finished rooms throughout below, at Pond Level. From the Pond one enters by a canal. The stone pillars of a two-story porch along the entire main unit of the building rise above him. The lower porch opens from the skating quarters. The porch above, with iron grill rail, opens from the main lounge.
SKATING ROOM A FEATURE
Wood plank and duck board over the concrete steps and porch permit skaters to go directly from the pond into the main skating room. Here the conveniences of a changing room for skaters have been provided. Benches and settles, the rubber mat floor, a check room, store for hot dogs and coffee, a skate pan for melting snow from skates, and a skate sharpening service are among the facilities. This room is open to everyone; a natural complement to the growing Hanover enjoyment of skating throughout the winter, which has developed through the College and Community project of clearing the Pond of snow for twelve weeks each of the last three winters. The skating room has been popular afternoon and evening since its opening after the Christmas holidays.
The east wing of the ground floor, adjoining the skating room, provides quarters for the Varsity winter-sports team. It contains a large locker room with forty lockers, ski work-bench, rubbing-table, bulletin-board and incidentals; and connects with a shower room. The squad moved in directly after vacation, and now occupy these quarters with forty-four candidates and two coaches.
The quarters upstairs, at golf links level, are designed as club background for the Outing Club. Stairways at either end of the skating room lead up to these rooms which may be reached from the road or Links by three entrances.
A great lounge giving on the Links to the north and overlooking the pond through the porch to the south, fills the center unit of the building. Its floor of slateflagging connects the two stone chimneys at the ends of the room. The walls are pine boarded up to chair rail, with rough plaster above; the roof timbers and trusses are exposed. The tone of the room is warm and mellow with its stained pine and stone.
It will be furnished with divans and deep chairs, reading tables, tables for chess and bridge, and appurtenances. In the west wing, a smaller room dedicated to Cabin andTrail but open to all members of the club will contain trophies, valuable records of the club, a library of adventure and exploration, and the furniture of a reading room which will also serve for special meetings. This room is pine boarded to the ceiling, and has a fireplace.
DINING ROOM ALWAYS OPEN
From the opposite corner of the main lounge, the southeast, a vestibule leads to the dining room. This room also is pine boarded to the ceiling and lighted from the walls by small tavern lanterns in Flemish brass. It is furnished with oaken topped tavern tables in natural finish and Windsor chairs in black. In three of the corners, settle groups of special design with trestle tables are arranged. The settles will be in blue. The blue is echoed in the tavern china with bold design of blue on white. The room will accommodate about sixty-five persons in groups of all sizes. The design has been to create here a room in which men of the College may gather for casual, leisurely dinners. It will not be allowed to become an "eating club," and its intent is far from that of a "tea room." Lunch, tea, and dinner will be served daily.
The quality of food and service is guaranteed by the management of Mrs. E. D. Preston whose Wayside Tea Room at Thetford has been sought by men of the College for years, particularly for fried chicken and waffles smothered with gravy. Mrs. Preston will supervise the entire building and act as hostess for the Club.
Over the entire dining room wing, living quarters have been fitted out for Mrs. Preston and her staff. A similar room over the smaller lounge in the west wing provides for the steward.
DEDICATION FEBRUARY 2
Invitations are out for a dinner to the class of 1900 to be given by the Outing Club in the house on February 2. The venison dinner on this occasion will be the first meal served in the Club. The dinner will follow a reunion of the members of the class and inspection of their class gift to the Outing Club. Following the dinner, a bronze tablet, memorializing the gift, will be fixed in place. On Sunday, February 3, dinner will be served at noon, to members of the Club at large and their guests. "Open House" to the College and community will follow.
The new Outing Club House has been a 1900 project from the beginning. Professor C. A. Proctor 'OO who initiated three years ago the plan for clearing Occom Pond for skating as a College and Community center has always sought a building of the sort now completed, and was instrumental in making it a part of the Class program. Mr. C. G. McDavitt 'OO organized the financial campaign, and insisted at every stage that the building be adequate to its purpose.
Interior decoration has been done under consultation with Homer Eaton Keyes 'OO who has selected and in some cases especially designed pieces for the dining room and lounges.
The land on which the Club stands was given to the College for this purpose by Mrs. C. P. Chase whose interest in the whole College and Community project has led her to allow the use of the Pond, which she owns, for the last three years.
The building was designed by Jens Frederick Larson, resident architect, to express the tradition of Dartmouth's characteristic activity. Its purpose, beyond the practical arrangements for winter-sports, is to provide a setting for a social life through this all-college Club.
The spacious lounges and dining room will open an opportunity to the College for a gathering place where men may meet and bring their guests together in a leisurely club fashion around the open fires and over the tavern tables. With the tradition of the Outing Club as a background, Dartmouth men will find here the atmosphere of the university club individualized by the architect's sense of native Dartmouth character.
This memorial of the Class of 1900 marks the 20th milestone of the Outing Club, and undoubtedly the most significant one in the last decade. It enables the Outing Club to grow as it should with the changing and broadening life of the College.
THE DARTMOUTH OUTING CLUB HOUSE
