Haunted hotel guide · Meredith, New Hampshire

The Haunted Nutmeg Inn: Charlie, Meredith's Friendly Ghost

An old farmhouse bed and breakfast near Lake Winnipesaukee, where the resident ghost is said to hide things, play tricks and then lend a hand with the repairs.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

2.2/5Haunted Rooms Score
1763Origins as the Eliphalet Rawlings Homestead
10Guest rooms and suites

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The Nutmeg Inn is a white farmhouse bed and breakfast on seven acres off Pease Road, on the quiet side of Meredith, about five minutes from Meredith Bay and Lake Winnipesaukee. The inn traces its origins to 1763 as the Eliphalet Rawlings Homestead, and the house was added to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in January 2020. Its rooms are named for spices and herbs, there is a heated saltwater pool in summer, a fire pit, a game room, and every stay includes a full breakfast.

Its ghost is the gentlest in this guide. Staff call him Charlie, a prankster who moves things and plays small tricks but who is also said to pitch in when something in the old house needs fixing. Nobody claims to know who Charlie was. This guide covers what is told about him, what the inn’s own history records about the house, and how to plan a stay.

Nutmeg Inn at a glance

2.2/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation2
History4
Ghost hunter access1
$$ · $150 to $300No pets
  • Address 80 Pease Road, Meredith, NH 03253
  • Built Origins in 1763 as the Rawlings homestead; enlarged by 1805
  • Most haunted spots The Teaberry room, the entryway and the old farmhouse rooms
  • Best-known ghost Charlie, a friendly prankster who helps with repairs
  • Booking the haunted room No room is sold as haunted; ask for Teaberry or a room in the original house
  • Good to know Ten rooms and suites, full breakfast, seasonal saltwater pool; listings say no pets

Check availability

The ghost of the Nutmeg Inn

Charlie the prankster

The Nutmeg Inn’s ghost has a name, and it is a friendly one. Staff call him Charlie. The stories told about him are small and domestic: things moved from where they were left, items that go missing and turn up again, cold spots, and the kind of mischief that makes people laugh rather than leave. OnlyInYourState describes him as a benevolent spirit who plays some pranks but also helps with repairs.

There is no account of who Charlie was in life, and no record links him to any of the families who owned the house. The inn itself does not mention him on its website, so treat him as staff and guest lore rather than something the house advertises.

The outlet in the Teaberry room

The best-known Charlie story, as told on HauntedPlaces.org, is about the Teaberry room. The owners at the time wanted new electrical outlets there but found the quote too high, so they closed the room for the winter. When they opened it again, the story goes, an outlet was in place exactly where they had wanted one. The electricians they had spoken to said they had not done the work, and no bill ever arrived.

It is a charming tale, and like most of the Charlie stories it comes from user-submitted accounts that nobody has checked. Teaberry is still one of the inn’s named rooms, so you can request it.

Help with the paneling, and the flowers

Two more stories round out the legend. Charlie is said to have helped a carpenter with the wood paneling in the entryway, and flowers that had never bloomed are said to have bloomed on the day a new set of owners bought the inn. Both are told in the same friendly spirit: a ghost who seems to approve of people looking after the old place.

The safe house story

The inn’s own history page says the house was likely a safe house for people escaping slavery, pointing to a hidden bench and a trap door in the attic and to the old Concord to Conway stage route nearby on Province Road. Many old New England houses carry the same tradition and few can be documented, so it is best read as a well-loved local belief. It is not tied to Charlie in any published account.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • Teaberry: The room at the center of the outlet story. Request it if you want the room with the best-known Charlie tale.
  • Rooms in the original farmhouse: Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage and Thyme are among the spice-named rooms; ask which sit in the oldest part of the house.
  • The entryway: Where Charlie is said to have helped a carpenter with the wood paneling.
  • The game room: Shuffleboard and billiards, and, according to guest reviews, a posted history of the house from 1763 to the present.

History of The Nutmeg Inn

The inn’s own history traces the land to Eliphalet Rawlings, a tanner and one of the proprietors of the original town grant, who probably had tenant farmers build homes on his holdings. A tenant farmer named Joseph Cram most likely built the first house sometime between about 1748 and 1768 and bought the property in 1768. That explains how the inn can give 1763 as its starting point even though Meredith, first granted as Palmer’s Town and then New Salem, was only settled in 1766 and named in 1768.

William Davis bought the farm in 1778, raised beef cattle and probably enlarged the house for his big household; a large back addition was in place by 1805, when judge and legislator Ebenezer Smith bought it. From 1813 to 1927 the Nealy family held it, running it as Clover Ridge Farm, a stop for travelers and a summer boarding house in a town the railroad had turned into a resort after 1849.

In 1927 the farm became Clover Ridge Camp, a Girl Scout camp and regional headquarters developed by Helen Osborne Storrow, who deeded it in 1937 to American Youth Hostels. It ran as a hostel and working farm school until 1944. After the war it became the Clover Ridge Inn and then the Nutmeg Inn, at times a restaurant and dinner theater and, from the early 1990s, a bed and breakfast.

The Laconia Daily Sun reported in 2021 that Lynne Rainen and Mark Koester, owners for eight years, had sold the 7,867 square foot inn, with ten guest rooms and suites on more than seven acres, to Kevin and Karen LaSella of Goffstown. The LaSellas run it as a bed and breakfast today. The house is listed on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places as the Eliphalet Rawlings Homestead.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Ask for the Teaberry room if you want the room with the best-known Charlie story.
  • Read the history posted in the game room, which guests say traces the house from 1763 to the present.
  • Breakfast runs from 8:00 to 9:30, with coffee and tea out from 7:00; tell the inn about dietary needs when you book.
  • Pets are not allowed, according to current listings.
  • Book summer weekends early: the Lakes Region fills up from July to Labor Day, and the pool is open Memorial Day to Labor Day.
  • Pair your stay with a night at the Tilton Inn, about half an hour south, where guests report a little girl named Laura.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Nutmeg Inn haunted?

Staff and guests speak of a friendly ghost called Charlie, who plays small pranks and is said to help with repairs around the old house. It is a gentle story rather than a frightening one, and the inn does not advertise it.

Who is Charlie at the Nutmeg Inn?

Nobody knows who Charlie was in life. He is the name staff give to a playful presence that moves things around and, in the best-known story, seems to have installed an outlet in the Teaberry room.

Was the Nutmeg Inn on the Underground Railroad?

The inn’s own history says it was likely a safe house, citing a hidden bench and an attic trap door, but no independent record confirms it.

How old is the Nutmeg Inn?

The inn traces its origins to 1763 as the Eliphalet Rawlings Homestead. Its own history says the first house was probably built between about 1748 and 1768, with a large addition by 1805.

Is the Nutmeg Inn a historic landmark?

Yes. It was listed on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in January 2020 as the Eliphalet Rawlings Homestead.

Does the Nutmeg Inn allow pets?

Current listings say pets are not allowed.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

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About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.

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