Keeping The Legend Of Becky’s Garden Alive

by Brendan Smith
Weirs Times Editor

Among the 253 islands that inhabit Lake Winnipesaukee, the smallest, at only about ten feet wide, may be the most interesting.
Becky’s Garden is situated at the north end of Lake Winnipesaukee, south of Center Harbor, midway between Two Mile Island and Three Mile Island. Though uninhabitable,it has attracted not only thousands of visitors over the decades, but has also been the stuff of legends.
According to the Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society’s website: “An early settler of Center Harbor had several daughters, of whom the loveliest was Rebecca.While her sisters were frivolous and spoiled, Rebecca was a model young lady, and she beautified the surroundings of her father’s house by her care of her garden, of which she was justly proud. One day her father’s cattle escaped, and, before they were noticed, they had laid waste the beautiful garden plot. Rebecca was heartbroken, and her father, by way of consolation, offered her as a gift any one of the numerous islands in the lake which she might care to choose. Her sisters clamored for the same dower, and their father finally consented, giving Becky her first choice. This caused her sisters to be so envious that Becky decided to choose the smallest island she could find, and selected the one which bears her name today, an island that is scarcely more than a bush-covered rock. The other daughters picked out large, verdant islands.

Over recent history, Becky’s Garden has been adorned with small houses that have been installed on the island during the summer season by various “housekeepers”.
Most recently, Stephanie and Bill Knighton have taken on that task since they purchased Becky’s Garden, establishing themselves as the first actual “owners” of the island in known history.
“We researched as far back as the 1700s and no one has ever owned Becky’s Garden,” said Bill Knighton.
They had a legal team do the leg work and eventually the Knighton’s officially purchased Becky’s in 2004. (At one time it had been under the name of John Wentworth who served as Lieutenant Governor for the Province of New Hampshire from 1717 to 1730).

The Knighton’s have to pay a tax of $21.90 every six months to the town of Meredith for their ownership of Becky’s Garden.
“Before we bought it an older couple who we think may have lived on Bear Island took care of Becky’s Garden for many years,” said Stephanie Knighton. “As far as we know this might be only the third house that has been on Becky’s since a house was first put it.”
Bill Knight has been coming to Lake Winnipesaukee for about sixty-one years and he has lived on Bear Island as well as in Moultonbourgh. Stephanie and Bill married twenty-four years ago and today they own and live on Two-Mile Island.
“We’ve always watched Becky’s Garden,” said Stephanie. “The visibility was always perfect.”

Now as owners of Becky’s, the Knighton’s see to the installation of the House in the summer and the removal sometime after Labor Day.”
The house was built by a friend of the Knighton’s and is made of three-quarter inch plywood and weighs about a hundred pounds.
To get the house on the island, the Knighton’s put an extension ladder at the end of their pontoon boat with the house on the end that sticks out over the water while someone holds the other end of the ladder in the boat. The pontoon is then driven right up on the rocks and then two people jump off and place the house on the island.
“Then my wife tells me how to level it off,” Bill explains with a laugh.
“We try to get it on the island in early June, but that depends on the water level,” said Stephanie. “Once we didn’t get it in until about the Fourth of July.”

Over the years people have left things on Becky’s Garden during the summer. People on power boats will swim in to see it since it is very rocky, kayakers and canoers can ride right up to it.
“Someone once left a little Lego person and so I glued that on so that whenever that child comes back to visit Becky’s their little piece is till there,” said Stephanie. “Another little girl once left a heart with her name on it on Becky’s.”
Bill Knighton pointed out that no one has ever taken anything off of the island, mostly people add things and very rarely does anyone add something not appropriate.
The furniture pieces which sit outside the house on Becky’s garden are purchased at doll house stores.
Many of the doll house pieces are not made to withstand the sun and the wood of the house will start to deteriorate a bit over the years, so it needs some TLC in the off season.

The house is stored on Two Mile Island in the off season and Stephanie takes care of the painting and decorating of the house before it sets out on the pontoon for another season on Becky’s.
Stephanie also started a Facebook page for Becky’s Garden (Becky’s Garden on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH) which, as of this writing, is followed by over six hundred people. Originally set up to cover only a five state region, people from all over now follow the page. The page is enabled so visitors to Becky’s Garden can post their own pictures to the site.
“Facebook has really generated a lot of interest in Becky’s Garden,” said Stephanie.
It’s the twenty-first century way of keeping a Lake Winnipesaukee legend alive.