The Princess of Room 314
The door to Room 314 - Carolyn's Room
Portrait of Carolyn Stickney
The LobbyCarolyn Salome Foster was born on the 17th of July, 1869 in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and became Carolyn Stickney on the 14th of January, 1892 when she married wealthy businessman Joseph Stickney. Having made his fortune in coal and railway investments, Joseph had many interests including building hotels. The Omni Mount Washington Resort would become Joseph and Carolyn’s final pet project since Joseph tragically passed away from a fatal heart attack just one year after it’s completion in 1903.
Carolyn inherited Joseph’s assets after his passing, which included ownership of the Omni Mount Washington Resort. Devastated by the passing of her beloved husband, Carolyn dedicated herself to establishing Omni Mount Washington as the region’s most luxurious and popular destination for the wealthy elite, completing Joseph’s final project.
Over the next decade, Carolyn shifted her focus to honoring her husband’s memory, making countless charitable donations, and creating stunning monuments in Joseph's honor. One such project included the construction of an English Tudor style chapel, complete with Tiffany glass windows and granite from a mountain near where Joseph had grown up.
A charitable, kind, and lovable woman, Carolyn also possessed a touch of vanity. Room 314, where she and Joseph had stayed, remained her personal suite at the Omni Mount Washington, where she spent the summer months. Room 314 was aptly placed to have one of the best views, overlooking the surrounding nature and the entrance to the hotel. Carolyn was known to stand at her balcony, watching as guests would arrive. If she spotted a female guest who she thought was better dressed than her, she would promptly change to be sure she was the best dressed in the hotel.
A decade after Joseph’s untimely passing, Carolyn remarried, becoming Princess Carolyn and wife of Prince Aymon de Faucigny-Lucinge of France. Carolyn left the States to live in her new husband’s homeland, but continued to return to the Omni Mount Washington Resort every summer to stay in Suite 314. After the Prince passed away around a decade later, Carolyn returned to the States where she lived out her final days living at the Omni Mount Washington in the summer and her personal Rhode Island residence in the fall, winter, and spring months.
Though Carolyn eventually passed at her RI residence, guests and staff at the Omni Mount Washington Resort have reported sightings of a shadowy, ghostly figure resembling the princess over the years. Some have sighted the princess descending the stairs to the dining room where she ate every night of the summer, or wandering the halls, seemingly keeping an eye on her hotel.
In Room 314, guests can stay in Carolyn’s bed, which she would have shipped between France and the Omni Mount Washington each summer. Some guests have reported waking in the middle of the night to see Carolyn sitting calmly at the foot of their bed, combing her hair, or have reported phenomena like lights turning on and off, bathtubs filling, and the scent of flowery perfume drifting through the air. Some visitors and staff have even reported seeing Carolyn’s ghost standing at her balcony, looking out over the guests as they arrive, and making sure she is still the best dressed in the hotel.
