Background on Pine Beach Association
Bather on a zip line, Lake Rohunta, ca.1925
Founded in Athol, Mass., prior to 1922, the Pine Beach Association operated a summer resort on the northern end of Lake Rohunta. The history of the Association can be traced back to the decision of the Rodney Hunt Company to acquire property with water rights at Partridgeville, Mass., and to rename the adjoining lake Lake Rohunta, a portmanteau of the company name. In 1908, Rodney Hunt built a hydroelectric plant there to power their factories in the nearby town of Orange.
With the development of the Mohawk Trail as a scenic motorway after World War I and the expansion of regional tourism, the Pine Beach Association developed Pine Beach into a summer resort pitched directly to motor tourists. At its peak in the 1920s and early 1930s, Pine Beach, situated on the northern end of Lake Rohunta, included the Rohunta Inn (the former Elm Lodge Clubhouse), the Colony Cottages, a restaurant, camping facilities, and a lifeguard-patrolled swimming area with a high dive, water slide, and other recreational amenities. As stated in their early promotional brochures, the goal for Pine Beach was to become a "leading inland bathing beach of New England."
The resort was heavily damaged in the hurricane of 1938, which washed away the dam and power station, and it was five years before reconstruction was completed. Pine Beach remained a popular destination, freely available to Rodney Hunt employees for another three decades. In the 1980s, the properties were sold to the not-for-profit Lake Rohunta Beach Association, a private association of 15 residential properties.
