At Bear Tree Creates a Thriving Hospitality Business in Northernmost NH

Glen Lodge Great Room at The Inn at Bear Tree. (Courtesy photo)

Pittsburg is as far north as you can get in the state of NH. If you don’t pay attention, you can easily find yourself at the Canadian border. Its rural beauty makes it a playground for hikers and ATV and snowmobile enthusiasts. It is not exactly a place one would expect to find fine dining.

Yet The Inn at Bear Tree is home to Murphy’s Steakhouse, a 36-seat restaurant that offers a foodie experience in a casual setting. Chef Jonathan Lasting often walks through the dining area to answer patron’s questions. The Inn at Bear Tree is a historic landmark property dating back to the late 1800s and underwent a major renovation project in 2006 when the property was bought by Bear Tree Rental Properties, LLC.

The inn is one of the many properties in Pittsburg owned by At Bear Tree, a year-round hospitality business that spans over 10 miles on the shore of First Connecticut Lake with access to fishing, hunting, snowmobiling and boating. At Bear Tree’s various properties include the historic inn, as well as cabins and lodges that can sleep from two to eight people.

Chantal Carney, the manager for At Bear Tree and Murphy’s Steak House, says when she joined the inn in 2009, the bulk of customers came for snowmobiling during the winter months. Since then, Carney has seen business expand and many of those who come are repeat customers. “Once we started doing weddings, that brought in a lot more people in the summer. It’s so quiet up here compared to other lakes,” she says.

Carney says At Bear Tree is booking for events as far out as 2030, and she attributes some of the recent popularity to the pandemic. “During that time a lot of new people were traveling, and working from Pittsburg was just as easy to do as working from down south,” she says.

Interior of a cabin (Courtesy photo).

At Bear Tree stopped catering weddings in 2022 but continues to host a number of retreats and group meetings. “It’s hard to keep the staff if we don’t have weddings every weekend, and retreats are more self sufficient,” Carney says. “Weddings are a whole different animal.” In May, Leadership NH will be holding its final session for its current class at At Bear Tree, and Carney says the property is also hosting various birding groups, Trout Unlimited and a crafters retreat in the coming year.  For more information, visit atbeartree.com.