{"id":14703,"date":"2018-03-15T18:45:17","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T22:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=14703"},"modified":"2018-04-05T11:07:35","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T15:07:35","slug":"front-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/front-page\/","title":{"rendered":"Front Page"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 2018 | view this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

For only $165 a night, book a room at the Loon Lodge Inn<\/strong> and channel the Gannett <\/strong><\/span>Publishing <\/strong>empire.<\/span><\/h3>\n

By Colin W. Sargent<\/span><\/p>\n

\"APR18-Loon-Lodge\"What a blast\u2013to rusticate or host a wedding at the mythic Loon Lodge Inn, created in Rangeley in 1909. Your guests will love tucking into craft cocktails at the Inn\u2019s intimate Pickford Pub: \u201cappetizers include calamari, mussels, crisp pork belly, flatbreads, and more.\u201d Or maybe they\u2019ll dream of tearing into ribeye, pan-roasted rack of lamb, or Atlantic salmon in the post-and-beam dining room, with everything made from scratch. This resort is classic Maine in the 21st century.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every blast has a past. Gannett Publishing Co., the legendary former owners of the Portland newspapers, used to own this glamour retreat, along with the 4,116-foot Saddleback Mountain ski resort, so near the lodge the mountain is reflected in the same lake Loon Lodge faces. <\/span><\/p>\n

Today, as vacationers, we can all channel the Guy Gannett empire by booking a room at the Loon Lodge, updated to rustic splendor and more exciting than the newspaper gals and guys ever imagined it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guy Gannett owned secret luxury hunting and flying camps in \u201cMoosehead Lake and Ross Lake,\u201d says his grandson, Guy Gannett Williams, the son of Jean Gannett Hawley\u2013Guy Gannett\u2019s daughter, who herself was the longtime publisher of the Press Herald, Sunday Telegram<\/em>, and Evening Express<\/em>. \u201cGuy Gannett built Forest Park on Moosehead Lake. He also had a smaller fishing camp on Ross Lake.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Let your imagination run wild. Up north, Gannett\u2019s camps likely included famous Red Sox players like Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGuy loved flying. He founded the Maine Civil Air Patrol and had two planes of his own,\u201d Williams, an artist, says. <\/span><\/p>\n

When Guy Gannett died in 1954, his daughter Jean took control of the work and fun of running Guy Gannett Publishing. Outside of the boardroom, \u201cMy mother wasn\u2019t a hunter,\u201d Williams says. \u201cYou\u2019d find her in the kitchen.\u201d But her tastes did include ski resorts and Rangeley. \u201cMy stepfather, Richard \u201cDick\u201d Arnzen, bought Saddleback Mountain.\u201d Guy Gannett Publishing then became owners of the mountain and the lodge, an exciting prospect for young Guy Gannett Williams, who was just a teenager then, because it put a thrilling life of skiing at his doorstep.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI taught skiing at Saddleback when I was a junior in high school, in 1967,\u201d he says. This led to a skiing career that has landed Williams in the Maine Skiing Hall of Fame. \u201cI\u2019ve instructed at Telluride and Silver Mountain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Gannetts moved in, \u201cLoon Lodge was called Davis Lodge. It was like a wind tunnel, with the wind outside shrieking inside\u201d the rustic structure. So you\u2019ll have it better than the Gannetts did if you stay at Loon Lodge. \u201cIt was cold. But that huge fireplace made up for it.\u201d It\u2019s the place that Guy Gannett Williams sees in his mind when he thinks of Loon Lodge and remembers his childhood. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy stepfather, Dick Arnzen, ran Saddleback Mountain for two years.\u201d The dream was sadly shortened because \u201cDick died of cancer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Guy Gannett Publishing bought Saddleback.\u201d As for the lodge, \u201cMy stepbrother had to sell it for next to nothing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI sold the lodge the year after Dick died, around 1973,\u201d says Williams\u2019s stepbrother and Dick\u2019s son, Breck Arnzen. \u201cI was 19 at the time. I sold it for $50,000.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad worked for Guy Gannett Publishing from the summer of 1964 through 1974,\u201d says Bob Myers of Rangeley. \u201cWe moved to Maine for the position. He came in as controller and then treasurer. It was right around then that Jean Gannett Hawley bought<\/span> Saddleback Mountain.\u201d Bob remembers being a guest in the Gannett Lodge in Rangeley. \u201cOf course I was only 11 or 12 back then, but it was beautiful\u2013a gorgeous log building right on the lake, with pine trees all around it. The lodge has fantastic views across the lake. It sits down from the road and is close to the lake, so it\u2019s kind of back-to the Saddleback. In Rangeley, there aren\u2019t many places where you can see Saddleback until it kind of sneaks up to you while you\u2019re driving.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Was it a wind tunnel back then? \u201cMy mother said it had icicles from the room and snow on the roof, \u2018like Dr. Zhivago<\/em>.\u2019 It had a big stone fireplace, which is still there. There was a real bear rug\u201d in the Gannett lodge. \u201cI\u2019d never seen anything like that. Once you stare into a bear rug, it\u2019s the kind of thing you don\u2019t forget.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 2018
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