History
LSPA was founded in 1898 and is the oldest environmental organization in New Hampshire
The organization’s first president was Col. W.S.B. Hopkins, who summed up the importance of protecting the Lake Sunapee Watershed as follows:
“The lake is the one jewel that calls in all here. The man who builds his house on a hill and does not reach the shore at all, were it not for the lake, would not have built it there. Carelessness, even the slightest introduction of impurity, will destroy the healthfulness of the region, repel the newcomer who should be invited, and destroy the value of what we have already established.”
Col. Hopkins owned property near Sunapee Harbor and his cottage was called Wawbeek. A Civil War veteran and lawyer, Hopkins hailed from Worcester, MA, and was also the first president of the Worcester County Bar Association from 1887-1889.
Back in the 1890s, environmental education was pretty basic. The Argus Champion of May 5, 1899 had this advice: “Those desiring to dispose of their cats, dead hens, etc, should notify the ‘Lake Sunapee Water Supply Company’ to see that they are properly disposed of, rather than have them left on the ice of the lake or thrown into its waters.”