‘Chester Inn’ chargers donated to Fullerton, Historical Society Former owners' son presents engraved plates

Photos and text by Cynthia Prairie
© 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Warren Mackensen and his wife Patricia visited Chester on Tuesday from their home in Hampton, N.H., to lunch with old friends and serve two plates, but ones not bearing food.

The historic copper plates were part of a set of 60 chargers that Mackensen’s parents  — Frank and Mary — had purchased in Mexico in 1955 when they owned and ran the Chester Inn, now the Fullerton Inn and Restaurant.  Mackensen presented one charger each to Fullerton General Manager Kim Bryan and to Ron Patch for the archives of the Chester Historical Society.

Mackensen remembers growing up at the Chester Inn and making close friends through the town, including Ruthie Douglas, The Telegraph‘s late Chester Chatter columnist who wrote about Mackensen two years ago.

Mackensen recalls that the chargers were engraved and shipped  from Mexico to Chester and used to dress the dining tables in the formal dining room, each charger also bearing a paper doily.

Following an attempt to sell the inn in 1968, Mackensen says, contents of the inn were sold including a number of the engraved chargers. He retained a set, from which he chose the two he donated to the inn and Historical Society.

Bryan says she is considering displaying the inn’s charger on the mantel of the iconic stone fireplace.