The new Inn at Thorn Hill: Continuing a tradition of elegance

By Frank Difruscio

Ibby Cooper had a determined look on her face, dressed casually in the new lounge of the rebuilt Inn at Thorn Hill in Jackson, when she said, A lot of history burned. She was, of course, referring to the fire that decimated the inn on an early morning in the fall of 2002. Her husband Jim concurred, as we sat overlooking a light snow while classical music played in the background and inn employees scurried about performing their daily chores.The Coopers have owned Inn at Thorn Hill since 1992. They combined their careers in education and hospitality in California, Michigan, Texas and Florida before deciding, as Jim put it, To find a small town that we could become a part of, with a year round property. Inn at Thorn Hill fit the bill. There were other potential sites and inns on Cape Cod and on the coast of Maine but it was Jackson, a hamlet nestled in the mountains with a history of being a year round resort area, that caught their eyes on a bleak day in February of 1992. They purchased the property from then-owners, Peter and Linda Larose and, with five children in tow, relocated to Jackson to begin their part of the history of Inn at Thorn Hill that harkens back to 1895.For 10 years the Coopers weathered the ups and downs of the inn business that included snowless winters and rainy weekends and down economies to thrive in Jackson. Two of their children were married at the inn, McKaella, who is now their pastry chef, married Richard Schmitt, who is head chef. The couple share stellar culinary credentials. Another daughter, Nelle, who lives in Jackson and works at Memorial Hospital in North Conway, married Kevin Killourie, a Realtor at Badger Realty. Their reception, held at the inn on a balmy late summer day in September, would, as fate would have it, be the last great celebration at the old inn. Just over a month later at about 2:30 a.m., they received a call from their daughter Nelle, whose emergency radio toned out a fire call for Inn at Thorn Hill.Ibbys immediate reaction to the fire when she and her husband ran from their nearby home to the inn was for the guests. Ibby went to say, I did a mental count of the number of guests we had and she counted in ernest when she saw them all huddled in their robes and accounted for while the inn became engulfed by flames. The fire, which started in the kitchen, quickly spread throughout the old wooden structure with the local volunteer fire department concentrating its efforts to contain the blaze that would ultimately destroy the inn and many artifacts that could never be replaced. Soon thereafter, the Coopers had a big decision to make that included financial considerations. Jim worked with a public adjuster, their insurance company, a bank, in this case Berlin City and Granite State Development/ (SBA) to come up with a strategy that would see the rebuilding process begin as quickly as possible. Financing for the new construction slowed things down, according to Jim, putting us off our schedule about three or four months. But the project was a go, albeit later than planned.With the financing out of the way, our biggest challenge, said Ibby, was to have a building that is new, look old with the lines and appearance of a structure built in the 19th century, but offering the amenities to satisfy 21st century customers.They turned to architect Tom Wilson, of Boston and Jackson. Wilson, in fact, worked at the inn as a child, and his father also had a hand in some remodeling of the original inn. Wilson, Ibby pointed out, designed a building with architectural nuances of the past,and construction began with Couture Construction of Berlin spearheading the project that utilized the talents and experience of tradesmen from the general area. Just before Christmas the inn reopened for business with many guests who stayed at the old inn before the calamitous fire of 2002. Jim said, Our people have been overwhelmed by the new property. Jim, who has spent his whole adult life in the hospitality industry, says people expect outrageous service, but he didnt say it with a negative connotation. Whereas the hotels were the leaders in providing value added amenities, inns have now taken the lead. Inn at Thorn Hill offers silk robes to guests, a complete spa, sauna, facial wraps, massages and, of course, smart casual dining. The inns lounge is spacious and also has a lounge menu. An inn is only as good as the people who work there. Jim and Ibby made the point that they couldnt have completed the project and have it run so smoothly if it wasnt for the staff of around 35 who worked without a day off for the last three weeks leading up to the reopening of the inn. As well as people from the local area, the Coopers have a number of employees from the United Kingdom tending to the daily operating of the place.The Coopers realize that much of what was lost cannot be duplicated but they have strived to fuse the ambiance of a time gone by with the spirit of a new era, and as Ibby put it while the light snow continued to fall, to create our own history. They have succeeded.