Carrie and Jeff Reder’s Hancock home has quite a history. At the end of their driveway, an old wooden sign reads simply “The Lodge.”   

While the building is now the Reder family home, the house was built in 1924 by Col. Arthur Johnson Pierce, a former owner of the Monadnock Paper Mill, as a getaway from his Boston home. According to a handwritten account by Mark Spinosa, the nephew of Hazel Dittrich, the home’s third owner, Pierce and his friends would journey to his Hancock home for liquid refreshment during Prohibition.

Spinosa’s account states that in the 1940s, the house was sold to Dr. Victor Carpenter, a dentist from Boston who used The Lodge for “Lost Weekend” parties for himself and his Boston friends who came to the area for the hunting and fishing and enjoyed “roast coon and wild game dinners” hosted by Milt Burke, a “well known local character.”

Black-and-white photos from the Hancock Historical Society show over 50 men seated at long tables in the Great Room, with Milt Burke pouring the refreshments.

Spinosa’s account also claims that John F. Kennedy and Ted Williams both spent weekends at The Lodge in the 1950s. Spinosa wrote that  “they were even broadcasting radio shows from The Lodge featuring Streeter Stewart and Jack Williams” during Carpenter’s ownership of the building.

The Lodge sold again in 1968 to Hazel and Walter Dittrich. Hazel Dittrich sold the house to Rick Sniderhan, a former Navy fighter pilot and “Top Gun” training school instructor, who had retired to Hancock. Sniderhan eventually sold The Lodge to the Reders.

“He was the most lovely guy, and he left things for us, including the andirons in the fireplace, and the hand-painted wood box,” Carrie Reder said.

According the the Reders, Sniderhan deeply loved The Lodge. He modernized and renovated the house around the old great room, including adding the bar and back bar. Sniderhan also moved the original front door to the side of the house facing the road, replacing the door with a large picture window, and added the front porch. The handmade solid oak front door, three inches thick, would not be out of place in an ancient castle.

“This door never sticks, it hasn’t sagged and it still seals tightly, 100 years later,” Jeff  Reder said.

Sniderhan showed the Reders the house’s secrets, including a hidden compartment in one of the two great stone fireplaces.

“It could hold a few bottles, maybe. The story is that they had huge parties here during Prohibition, and that when the booze ran out, everyone went back to Boston,” Carrie said.

The basement still contains an ancient five-gallon glass jug containing some kind of alcohol which has stayed with the house for decades.

Jeff Reder first came to the Monadnock region to visit family at their camp on Nubanusit Lake back in 1976.

“First I brought my girlfriend, who became my wife, and then we brought the kids, and eventually we rented the camp for one week each summer for over 15 years. We just fell in love with this area,” Jeff said.

After their children left home and Jeff sold his business, the couple decided to leave suburban New York to settle in the Monadnock region. Carrie, a nurse, went to work at Cheshire Medical Center, and the couple rented a house in Nelson while they looked for a home to purchase. When the Reders first saw the home and walked into the great room, they knew it was the house for them.

“I’m not kidding, as soon as we saw that room, 10 minutes into the tour, we knew this was it,” Carrie said. “We just loved it! It’s the best house for parties, and our grandkids just love it, running around the downstairs chasing after each other.”

The couple hosted their son’s wedding, with 40 guests gathered in the great room, which was  “no problem at all,” Carrie said. 

Stone fireplaces anchor the great room at either end, and huge barn beams hold up the roof. The fireplaces are so massive that the Reders don’t use them, instead relying on a modern wood stove to heat the space.

“My brother-in-law helped Jeff bring in the giant white birch logs sitting on those andirons when we moved in, and they’re so big that we haven’t moved them since,” Carrie said.

The property, which is on a gravel road not far from Willard Pond, is a bit over seven acres. The Reders are avid gardeners, and the house is surrounded by perennial gardens.

“Jeff does the perennials, and I do the annuals each spring,” Carrie said.

Originally, the driveway to The Lodge circled around to the west side of the house, allowing guests to enter through the front door in its original location.  The Reders screened in the porch on the west side of the house facing the road.

“It’s New Hampshire. We live in the woods. You really need a screened porch,” Carrie said.

The three-bedroom, two-full-bath home has a fully renovated wide galley kitchen, with granite countertops. The family room has the original  commercial-size griddle, which the Reders love to use for entertaining.

“It was surely used in the heyday of  sit-down venison dinners for 50-plus locals,” Jeff said. 

Up the original staircase, the second floor has two bedrooms, a full bath and a walk-in closet. The property also has a detached two-car garage and a large  basement with cement floor, ensuring a dry storage space.

After 20 years, Reders  are ready to move on and let someone else enjoy The Lodge. The property will be for sale by owner in May. For information about The Lodge, send email to j.c.reder@gmail.com.