Diana's Baths facts for kids
Diana's Baths is a beautiful spot with small waterfalls in Bartlett, New Hampshire. It's close to North Conway in the White Mountains. This special place is part of the White Mountain National Forest.
The water flowing here comes from Lucy Brook. Long ago, in the 1800s, there was a sawmill at this very spot. The Lucy family owned it. After they left in the 1940s, the U.S. Forest Service started protecting it.
The waterfalls drop about 75 feet (23 m) in total. It's an easy hike of about 0.6 miles (1.0 km) to reach the main falls. Today, Diana's Baths is a very popular place for families to visit.
The amount of water flowing changes with the seasons. In springtime, the water is strongest because of melting snow from winter. If you visit from spring to fall, remember to bring bug spray!
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The Story of Diana's Baths
In 1863, a man named George Lucy bought about five acres (2.0 ha) of land where Diana's Baths is now. His family built a sawmill right among the waterfalls.
By 1890, George Lucy noticed that many tourists were coming to see his property. So, he built a three-story boarding house for visitors. However, his business wasn't as successful as he hoped, because there were other big hotels nearby.
In the 1930s, the Lucy family changed their sawmill to use a concrete dam with turbines for power. They eventually left the site when new portable mills became popular. These new mills could be moved easily from one timber cutting area to another.
Mrs. Hattie C. Lucy, who owned the property, ran a gift shop by the falls through the 1940s. She even had an ice house to keep sodas cold for tourists! Mrs. Lucy and her son David lived there until the late 1950s. After she sold the house, the land was eventually bought by the government. That's when it became part of the National Forest, and the old buildings were taken down.
Finding Diana's Baths
Diana's Baths is located off West Side Road. It's about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of the turn-off for Cathedral Ledge, just outside North Conway.
The walk to the waterfalls is short and easy, about 0.6 miles (0.97 km) from the start of the trail. If you keep going past Diana's Baths, the Moat Mountain Trail continues up to the top of North Moat Mountain.
How Diana's Baths Got Its Name
The name "Diana's Baths" has an interesting story! According to a book called Place Names of the White Mountains, these round stone pools on Lucy Brook were first known as the "Home of the Water Fairies."
Old stories say that mean water sprites lived on the ledges and bothered the Sokokis Indians. A mountain god then helped the Indians by sweeping the sprites away in a flood.
Later, before 1859, a visitor from Boston named Miss Hubbard renamed them "Diana's Baths." She probably named them after Diana, the Roman goddess of nature. The pools are also sometimes called "Lucy's Baths," after the family who owned the land.
The name "Diana's Baths" became official in the 1960s when the government bought the land and made it part of the White Mountain National Forest.
Protecting the Area: The Forest Service's Role
The U.S. Forest Service helps protect special places like Diana's Baths. In 2005, they studied how people were affecting the land around Lucy Brook. They found that there was a lot of waste in the area.
To fix this, forest rangers decided to add toilets and trash cans. Since then, there has been very little negative impact on the environment, helping to keep Diana's Baths clean and beautiful for everyone.
