Sugar Hill, New Hampshire: The Granite State’s Lupine Capital
Every June, the fields of Sugar Hill, NH, come to life with thousands of purple, pink, white, and blue lupines. Enjoy a selection of pictures from our tour of the town.
Note: The official 2021 Lupine Festival has been canceled due to Covid-19 concerns, but visitors are welcome to safely and respectfully enjoy the display on their own. The Lupine Festival Committee hopes to bring the celebration back in 2022.
Just northwest of the White Mountains and past a few wrong turns off I-93, you’ll find the tiny town of Sugar Hill, NH. Nestled in among hills and fields, and offering stunning views in almost every direction, the town can only truly be described by one word: picturesque.
Sugar Hill, NH | The Granite State’s Lupine Capital Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
Despite its small size, Sugar Hill, NH, is home to several well-known businesses, like Polly’s Pancake Parlor and Harman’s Cheese & Country Store. These places alone make visiting worthwhile, but on this occasion, I was there for one of Sugar Hill’s more seasonal attractions: lupines. The town is known as New Hampshire’s lupine capital, and it hosts a festival dedicated to the plants’ breathtaking blossoms every summer.
Lupine blossoms can grow up to several feet in length. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
In peak lupine season, which tends to be in early June, you’ll see thousands of purple, pink, white, and sky blue lupines crowding the fields that line Sugar Hill’s roads. The flowers, which can grow up to several feet tall, typically last a few weeks in good weather. Even without the flowers, though, the views of the Franconia and Presidential Ranges from Sugar Hill are spectacular.
Pictured here are Mt. Lafayette (left), Mt. Lincoln (center background), and Cannon Mountain (right). Photo Credit : Chris BurnettOn a clear day in Sugar Hill, NH, you can see for miles. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
A Celebration of Lupines
As part of Sugar Hill’s annual Celebration of Lupines, the town holds a handful of lupine-themed events on the first or second weekend of June. During this time, authors, chefs, artisans, and many others present their works at locations all over town. If you can’t make it to Sugar Hill on that specific weekend, you can still get your fill of lupines from public spaces around town, where paths are mowed through some of the largest lupine fields.
Lupines typically bloom during the first half of June in Sugar Hill, NH. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettViews from the (now closed) Sugar Hill Sampler’s upper field are breathtaking. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
Sadly, I wasn’t able to make it to the Celebration of Lupines weekend, so I instead set out to discover Sugar Hill on my own time. My tour of Sugar Hill began with breakfast at Polly’s Pancake Parlor, where I filled up on delicious pancakes. The visit to Polly’s was so good, it warranted it’s own separate post, which you can read here: Polly’s Pancake Parlor | Breakfast in the White Mountains.
Polly’s Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill, NH, proved to be the perfect pit-stop prior to my peeping of Sugar Hill’s plentiful pastures of purple perennials. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
St. Matthew’s Chapel
I next stopped at St. Matthew’s Chapel — about half a mile up the road from Polly’s — and I could instantly see why this church claims to be among New England’s most-photographed. The small summer chapel was built in 1893 and today serves a congregation of only 15 or so people. But don’t take that to mean that St. Matthew’s has been forgotten about: weddings and other community events take place here in the summer, and the chapel catches the eye of every photographer passing by. I was particularly lucky, as I happened to pull into the driveway at nearly the same time as one of the parishioners, who kindly offered me a peek inside the building.
St. Matthew’s Chapel claims to be New England’s most-photographed church. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
To the surprise of no one, St. Matthew’s is just as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside. The multicolored boards that make up the walls and ceiling of the chapel give it a rustic and traditional look, and the large, stained glass windows act as beautiful accents.
The inside of St. Matthew’s Chapel is beautifully rustic. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettThe chapel’s many large windows allow in plenty of natural light. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
Sugar Hill Sampler
My next stop was the Sugar Hill Sampler — a gift shop and museum housed in a huge, 18th century barn overlooking fields of lupines. Here, I began my walk through the flowers, taking in the stunning mountain views and poetry of the “Inspirational Walk.”
The Sugar Hill Sampler (now closed) was housed in a huge, 18th century barn. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettSouvenirs, gifts, crafts, quilts, and more can be found at the Sugar Hill Sampler. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
I was lucky enough to be in town on a gorgeous — though quite warm — day, which resulted in me taking many more photos of the lupines than I really care to admit. (It’s hard to resist when everything around you is just so photogenic!)
Blue skies and white clouds were a welcome sight after several days of rain. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettMt. Lafayette towers over the surrounding area. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettMost of the lupines were purple, though there were also some pink and white blossoms scattered about. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettPaths are cut through the fields to create a maze of lupines and poetry. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettThe vast majority of lupines were purple, but some were darker or lighter shades than others. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettHere you can see the different stages of development that the lupine’s petals go through as the flower grows. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
As I crouched down to take yet another picture of the flowers, my traveling companion shouted “Look!” and I turned around to catch a glimpse of a deer leaping through a nearby field.
I would’ve gotten a better picture, but she seemed to be in quite a hurry. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettThe White Mountains are a fantastic backdrop for Sugar Hill’s fields of lupines. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettPink and white lupines were a nice change of pace from the many dark purple ones. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettA wide variety of colors and patterns could be seen on the lupines’ petals. Some were deep pink and purple, while others were light blue or purple with white stripes and tips. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
Downtown Sugar Hill, NH
After meandering through the lupines for probably longer than necessary, I continued on to Sugar Hill’s main drag just a few minutes away. Here, you’ll find the town’s quaint little post office, as well as the library, town offices, and Harman’s Cheese & Country Store. Harman’s may be tiny, but it’s home to some of the best cheddar cheese in the state — or maybe the world, as they claim — which they sell more than ten tons of every year.
Harman’s Cheese and Country Store in Sugar Hill, NH. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettThe tiny town post office. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
Just One Last Stop…
I was nearing the end of my Sugar Hill, NH, tour, but I couldn’t resist stopping just once more at a clearing I had spied on my way into town. The field’s vast swaths of yellow buttercups had caught my eye, and their brightness contrasted nicely with the deep pink and purple lupines that also saturated the area.
A stone wall in Sugar Hill. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettPurple lupines. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettWhite lupines. Photo Credit : Chris BurnettPink lupines. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
Although the lupines in Sugar Hill had yet to start turning, the ones in my own garden had. Here are a couple photos of their fresh seedpods, so you can see what the plant looks like post-blossom. You may think that they resemble pea pods — and you’d be right! Lupines and pea plants are both members of the legume family and are distantly related.
Fresh lupine seedpods. Photo Credit : Chris Burnett
After spending the day wandering through fields of purple lupines backdropped by impressive mountain vistas, I left with a full camera memory card, only one tick sighting (miraculously), and an appreciation for all that the tiny northern treasure of Sugar Hill had to offer during peak lupine season.
Have you ever been to Sugar Hill, NH?
This post was first published in 2016 and has been updated.
As a native New Hampshirite, Chris grew up enjoying the boundless nature of the state, which gave him an appreciation of all things outdoors and all things New England. He is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, where he studied Linguistics and German.