CONWAY — The south wing of the Red Jacket Mountain View Resort last Saturday was not the first time fire has struck atop North Conway’s Sunset Hill.
In February 1970, a spectacular blaze destroyed the 1890-built Birchmont, the estate that had been built by Maine Central Railroad treasurer/general manager and Redstone Quarry founder Payson Tucker (1840-1900) and was later owned by Cranmore developer/North Conway native Harvey D. Gibson (1882-1850), who used it as a retreat for 20 years for employees of his Manufacturers Trust Co., operating it as the private Birchmont Club, according to Janet M. Hounsell’s book, “Conway, New Hampshire: 1765-1997.”
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