MFA Winter Residency - Mountain Grand View Resort
What better place to focus on your writing than a 19th- century resort steeped in literary tradition, nestled in the snow-capped White Mountains of New Hampshire.
SNHU’s four-day M.F.A. winter residency, at the Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa in Whitefield, offers the perfect setting for writing and reflection. Cozy nooks, fireplace-lit libraries and other trappings of 19th-century elegance set the stage for writing, readings with visiting writers and peers, and mentor meetings.
In your down time, recharge your creative energy by visiting the spa or snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, ice skating or just enjoying the view.
Founded in the mid-19th century, the Mountain View Grand Resort, with its 360-degree views and 1,700 acres of preserved land, has grown and been refurbished over the decades to become one of the most elegant resorts in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
The resort has a long literary, artistic and political history. Charles Dickens spent several days at the hotel during an American tour to give his famous dramatic, one-man performances of scenes from his novels (gaslights overhead, stage backlit with muffled screen, windows open to moonlight and mountain breezes). Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Frost and Norman Rockwell are on the old guest registers, as are actors Betty Grable, the Marx brothers and Betty Davis.
For years, local lore had it that the hotel was the inspiration for Stephen King's "The Shining." Though that has since been credited to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the legend lives on with a photograph of the book's famous twins that hangs in the lobby and appeared in the movie.
Among the many celebrity guests were a number of American presidents: Grover Cleveland, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower (who returned frequently and has a library/ conference room named after him).
The hotel offers many comfortable, intimate meeting spaces (with stunning views) for conferences, workshops, lectures and readings. The M.F.A. program will hold a four-day (long weekend) winter residency at the hotel, following a three-day online preparatory component. There is direct access to the Whitefield, N.H., hotel up Interstate 93 from the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
The resort offers its winter visitors cross-country skiing, hiking, sleigh riding, ice skating and snowshoeing, as well as access to nearby state and national parks. An indoor pool, a health center with Techno Gym equipment, a spa and a 17-seat movie theater offer additional activities for guests.