Lake Estate on Winnisquam under construction. (Courtesy Photo)
On busy summer weekends, countless travelers from New England and beyond load up the car and head north into NH. A good number follow the GPS to exit 20 off Interstate 93 in Tilton for the final leg of their journey.
With its proximity to Lake Winnipesaukee and other summer destinations, Tilton has become the primary western gateway to the Lakes Region. This status has transformed a quiet community of barely 4,000 people into one of the busiest commercial districts in
central NH.
“They are all there, and more of them are coming,” Frank Roche, president and principal broker for The Roche Group, says of big-box development on the busy Route 3 corridor over the last two decades.
You name it, you can probably find it on a two-mile stretch of Route 3 around exit 20. But the biggest draw is probably Tanger Outlets Tilton. The M-shaped outlet center has more than 50 stores, including Under Armor, Coach, Gap and Eddie Bauer.
“If you are not familiar with Tilton, its claim to fame is probably the outlets,” says Jeanie Forrester, a former state senator and current Tilton town administrator.
The collective draw of the outlets and other national retail has shifted Tilton’s center of gravity to the east, away from its historic downtown. Main Street suffered from this change, as many longtime businesses and professionals moved, retired or closed shop, according to William Lawrence Jr., the third-generation owner of Bryant & Lawrence Hardware.
“The town is kind of split,” Lawrence says. “We’re a couple miles from where all the big stores have sprouted starting in the ’90s. That is sort of when downtown started fading as the main business zone.”
Downtown Tilton is by no means the only NH town that is struggling to find a second, or in some cases a third or fourth act. But there is new energy and life within the town’s Main Street community, according to Juliet Harvey-Bolia, a state representative who previously served on the planning board and a local Main Street group. Perhaps the most exciting project for the small town is a new resort under construction at the former Anchorage at the Lake. The 34-acre resort on Lake Winnisquam, which sold in 2021, will soon be the site of a luxury hotel, spa and event center with 114 rooms along with more than 3,300 feet of lake frontage.
Downtown Tilton. (Courtesy Photo)
Geography is Destiny
Geography and history have shaped Tilton since its founding. The area that encompasses the current historic downtown was first settled in the mid-1700s. Then part of Sanbornton and known as Sanbornton Bridge, the small community grew along the banks of the Winnipesaukee River, just across from Northfield and upriver from Franklin.
Tilton gained independence from Sanbornton in 1869. Town residents named their new community after Nathaniel Tilton, a prominent early settler who built a foundry and hotel. The name also honored his grandson, Charles Tilton, a successful businessman and local benefactor whose gifts to Tilton include numerous statues and the Town Hall. His ornate mansion is now part of The Tilton School, an internationally known boarding school that predated the town’s incorporation.
The first town census in 1870 counted 1,147 residents. By 1960, slow and mostly steady growth through the decades brought Tilton’s population to around 2,100. Over the next 20 years, Tilton grew by almost 60%, due in part to construction of I-93, which reached Tilton in 1963. The interstate highway also created a faster, direct route from Boston and its suburbs to the Lakes Region, setting the stage for new development that arrived in the 1990s and continues today.
Tilton’s population grew to more than 3,962 in 2020, an 11% increase compared to a decade earlier. Current estimates suggest the town surpassed 4,000 residents for the first time in 2022, driven in part by those who commute to work in Manchester or Concord.
Forrester became town administrator five years ago. She says the community has tried to strike a balance between development and preservation. And the selectboard and town staff have embraced creative ways to fund services without shifting costs to the taxpayers.
“One thing about Tilton I really appreciate is when we have problems, there is not a ‘woe is me’ mindset,’” Forrester says. “We try to figure out how to turn it around, how to address it and look for funding other than from the taxpayers.”
When the cost of curbside recycling became too high, for instance, Tilton received a grant from Lowe’s to create a recycling center at the town transfer station.
The town also received grant funding through the federal American Rescue Plan Act adopted in 2021. That money has paid for a host of improvements to the community, including new lights downtown, a new police cruiser and police radios, and electrical upgrades at the recycling center. It also covered a fire and security system and new insulation for the town’s senior center.
In With the New
Many people through the years contributed to Tilton’s miracle mile along Route 3. Roche, who has worked in real estate in and around Tilton for almost 50 years, gives credit to Common Man founder Alex Ray.
“Alex Ray took a leap of faith and bought a piece of land at the exit,” Roche recalled, back before there was much else around.
The Tilt’n Diner was one of the first businesses to open just off Exit 20, which is now a major commercial corridor in Tilton. (Courtesy of The Common Man)
Ray opened the 50s-themed Tilt’n Diner off exit 20 in 1992. These days, presidential candidates know to stop there as they crisscross through the state, and locals and visitors know to get there early for a table on the weekends.
Two years later, in July 1994, Charter Oak Properties opened the outlet mall that quite literally put Tilton on the map. Tanger Outlets acquired the mall in 2003, and these days it has 51 stores and several new developments at pad sites within the premises, including a Starbucks and Five Guys.
Collectively, the Tilton outlets are one of the town’s largest employers and one of its biggest taxpayers. By making Tilton a regional draw, the outlets helped attract other national chain stores. Home Depot, Hobby Lobby and Walmart opened in due time. So did hotels, car dealerships and that most sought-after of anchor tenants, a Market Basket
grocery store.
The region has more than just retail. The fashion retailer J. Jill, which operates a distribution center near exit 20, has one of the largest industrial buildings in the state, Roche says. Data collected by the state suggests the center employs more than 1,000 people.
Construction on the new resort along Lake Winnisquam could be a game-changer for the town and the region. Situated on the lake’s north shore, Dan Dagesse is leading development of the property that will have luxury amenities like those found at well-known resorts in Meredith, Laconia and Wolfeboro.
“It’s a really high-end five-star resort, and it is going to be really good for Tilton and the Lakes Region,” Roche says. “It is going to be a big catalyst for Tilton in terms of bringing more second-home people and more tourists to the area.”
Bryant & Lawrence Hardware on Main Street today (left) and in the 1920s (right). (Courtesy of Bryant & Lawrence Hardware)
Revitalizing the Old
Bryant & Lawrence Hardware on Main Street opened in 1859, while Tilton was still part of neighboring Sanbornton. William Lawrence Jr. fondly recalls the 1960s and 70s when a bustling Main Street was home to grocers, attorneys, butchers and businesses that gave Tilton a true sense of place.
Lawrence, whose family has been in Tilton for a century, traced the rise of big box development on Route 3 to the decline of downtown as a commercial hub. “It’s more service industries down here now—restaurants, beauty salons and a few retail businesses.
“I have seen my customer count go from 80 a day down to about 20 in the last 25 years,” he says, a trend he attributed to “the advent of the Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s and the Tanger mall.”
Efforts to restore the downtown have happened in fits and starts since the early 1980s, when the area was added to the National Register of Historic Places. That designation heralded the formation of a Main Street committee focused on preserving the downtown while attracting new investment.
Over time the group disbanded, but there has been new emphasis in recent years on restoring the vibrancy to the historic district. These days, the downtown has restaurants such as the Tilton House of Pizza, classic New England lodging such as The Tilton Inn and Black Swan Inn and myriad local businesses. A local community and economic development committee comprised of select board members, business leaders and town staff aims to build on those strengths.
“There is a lot of interest in renovating downtown,” says Harvey-Bolia. “That work has been ongoing over the last five years.”
There are signs the effort is paying off. Since opening just west of downtown in 2017, Kettlehead Brewing has brewed 375 different varieties of beer poured from 24 rotating taps. Owner Sam Morrissette says the location close to I-93, lakes and rivers has been a boon for business.
“The community has been very open to something new,” Morrissette says. “I feel like we bring something different and new to the town that helps build that community vibe.
“The area is up and coming,” Morrissette adds. “I think we should continue to build on the outdoor adventure scene and embrace all the natural beauty and what the area has to offer. It’s a great place to live and grow a brand. We love what we have here.”
Current Issue - April 2024