For over 150 years, the Mount Washington has been cruising the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee, embodying the linked histories of lake transportation and tourism in the Lakes Region. Built by the Boston & Maine Railroad company, the SS Mt. Washington was launched in July 1872 to transport passengers and goods to key ports around the lake, as seen in early maps such as Calvert’s Map of the Lakes Region (1893). Tourism soon boomed at the Weirs transportation hub.

The Mount dominated lake transportation by the end of the 19th century, carrying more than 60,000 passengers annually. However, with the advent of automobile transportation and gradual decline of the railroad, the ship was sold in 1922 to Captain Leander Lavallee, who promoted area tourism with destinations around Lake Winnipesaukee. The original Mount burned at the Weirs landing in December 1939, where the fire also destroyed the wharf and railroad station.

Captain Lavallee then acquired the SS Chateaugay on Lake Champlain, and had that steamship cut into 20 sections and transported by train to Lakeport for reassembly. The new SS Mt. Washington II was launched in August 1940. The Mount has since undergone many changes, including lengthening and renaming as the MS Mount Washington. From a steam-powered sidewheeler to the 230-foot motorship today, the celebrated Mount endures as an icon of life on Lake Winnipesaukee.