John Coe was born in Durham, New Hampshire on November 3, 1797. He was one of eight children whose genealogy dates back to England in the sixteenth century. He was educated in the common schools of the town and worked for his brother in a country store. About 1819, John Coe moved to Center Harbor and purchased his own store in town where he bought, sold and bartered for articles in common use at that time. Mr. Coe was united in marriage with Lavinia T. Senter, the pretty daughter of Samuel and Lettice Senter, owners of the Senter House Hotel overlooking Center Harbor Bay. As was the custom of the day, the institution of marriage was “cried in church” by the uncle of the bride, he being Town Clerk at the time. The next step was building their home, and the site selected was the one with the most extended view as it was called by the early settlers. The foundation stones were quarried from ledges in what is now known as “Alpine Pink”. The quarry was also owned by the father of the bride, Samuel M. Senter. After many years of successful hotel keeping in Center Harbor and Boston, the Coe’s made many interior and exterior improvements to the house about the year 1850. At this time the Victorian Parlor, now known as the “President’s Room” was added with the scenic and brilliant French wallpaper that depicts the Gardens of the World. The family sitting room with its ornamental woodwork, old fashioned wooden shutters that fold into recesses at each side of the windows, and an old mantel was left unchanged. The Coe Mansion was never used as an inn, but many notables of the time were guests of the Coe family. Presidents Franklin Pierce, Ulysses Grant and Grover Cleveland were frequent visitors. Poets Lucy Larcom, Celia Thaxter, Henry W. Longfellow and John Greenleaf Whittier were guests as well.
