Enduring Grandeur: The Wentworth, Jackson

For intimacy and romance, The Wentworth wins, hands down. Drive over Jackson’s covered bridge and around the loop, and The Wentworth beckons, an elegant baby grand adjacent to tumbling Jackson Falls and just across the way from the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation lodge. The Wentworth was built in 1869 by Joshua Trickey as a wedding gift to his daughter Georgia and her fiancé, Gen. Marshal Wentworth, and operated year-round until 1971. It was resuscitated by a local developer, but it wasn’t until Fritz Koeppel purchased the property in 1991 that it again prospered.

A Swiss hotelier with a background that includes managing the Banff Springs as well as Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton hotels, Koeppel is a stern taskmaster with an eye for detail. He knows service, and he’s transforming this formerly abandoned hotel into a posh country retreat that evokes the easy elegance of a bygone era. Fluffy duvets cover the beds in the renovated guest rooms, many of which have fireplaces and big whirlpool tubs. If you go, opt for a package that includes meals: The dining room is among the very best in the Mt. Washington Valley. Koeppel would accept nothing less.