Remarkably, there have been very few owners of the land where Home Hill stands. The pre-revolutionary, Federal-style home built by settlers Thomas and Hannah Gallup remained in the Gallup family until 1912.
On July 4, 1763, Thomas Gallup received a grant from King George III for three hundred acres of land along the banks of the Connecticut River in Plainfield, New Hampshire. He and his wife, Hannah Dean, and their three children cleared and farmed the land and prospered on the produce from the rich Connecticut River Valley soil.
Upon his death in 1777, Thomas Gallup’s oldest son Thomas inherited the property. He and his wife continued to farm the land successfully. In 1818, after the original home burned to the ground, Thomas built the present Federal-style, brick home where they lived until his death in 1828.
The property was, once again inherited by the eldest son, a third Thomas, who was captain of a clipper ship. He, his wife and their eleven children operated the large farm as a tavern on the stage route from Windsor, Vermont to Hanover, New Hampshire. In 1862, Captain Gallup died and again, a fourth Thomas inherited the estate. In turn, he and his wife left the property to their eldest surviving child, a daughter, Maria. For the first time the property was inherited by a woman. Maria married Alfred Woodman in 1866 and had three children. Their son, Frederick Thomas Woodman, moved to California and became the mayor of Los Angeles in 1916. Their youngest daughter Kathryn, moved west, married Everett Leighton and became an artist of note. The elder Woodman moved west to join their younger children, and their eldest daughter Ellen inherited the property. Ellen married Roscoe Gray, Justice of the Peace and Quorum for the State of New Hampshire, and had three children.
In 1912, the Grays too moved west and sold their family estate, ending the remarkable, six-generation ownership of Home Hill. The home was owned by two other families including noted Harvard scholar, Henry Lloyd Smythe, before it was initially turned into an Inn in 1981.
At that time the Inn served classic French cuisine under the direction of the former owner. In 1996 the present owner purchased the Inn & Restaurant. The Home Hill Inn became an exclusive French Inn & Restaurant as well as being a member of the prestigious Relaise & Chateaux.
In 2008 Home Hill Inn was reinvented once again. Under different management the bounty and quality of local ingredients was highlighted on our seasonal menus. Today the Inn & Restaurant work closely with neighboring farms to provide the freshest, locally sourced, seasonal ingredients that the Upper Valley has to offer.