Kevin Johnson poses Monday outside of the Gale River Motel and Cottages in Franconia, which he has owned since 2001, and which recently offered free rooms to local residents who needed a place to quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kevin Johnson poses Monday outside of the Gale River Motel and Cottages in Franconia, which he has owned since 2001, and which recently offered free rooms to local residents who needed a place to quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.
FRANCONIA – Although still closed to paying customers, the Gale River Motel and Cottages is open to local residents who need a place to quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier this month, Kevin Johnson approached the boards of selectmen in Franconia and Sugar Hill, telling them his business would offer free room, but no board, to their residents, as well as those from Easton, who tested positive for COVID-19 or who lived with someone who had the respiratory disease and could not self-distance.
“Fortunately, knock on wood, the communities haven’t had a need for my lodging,” Johnson said on Monday, “but it’s there.”
Born and raised “away,” Johnson, 59, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Tampa and a master’s in counseling psychology from Shippensburg University. He was living and working in Keene when he got the idea to become an innkeeper.
Reasoning that his having been a resident adviser in college was similar to running an inn — the guests, he explained, “just don’t stay as long” as the students — Johnson in 2001 purchased the 10-room motel and two cottages at 1 Main Street and has happily operated them since.
When the coronavirus pandemic started gaining momentum, Johnson promised himself that each day he would try to do something to help his community.
In the first group, Johnson figured that an establishment like his would probably be of service to people in the immediate area.
Anyone with a letter from a doctor can stay at the Gale River Motel; & Cottages for up to two weeks, possibly longer, and will get “a room, two beds, four walls and I’ll give ’em a floor,” said Johnson, who is additionally providing heat, hot water, a refrigerator, electricity, a TV and Wi-Fi.
While quarantining guests won’t get cleaning or room service, to prevent exposure, and are expected to abide by Gov. Chris Sununu’s stay-at-home order, they can bring their own crock pot or microwave.
Johnson said his late parents taught him the importance of giving back to others, something he has tried to do as a member of the boards of directors of the Franconia Notch Regional Chamber of Commerce; the Franconia Heritage Museum; and the Bancroft House, which is a homeless shelter.
Elected last year to the Franconia Water Commission, he has also volunteered as a driver for Meals on Wheels and for a Sugar Hill-based food program, and with Court Appointed Special Advocates.
He thinks more curbside motels should consider offering free rooms for COVID quarantine and hopes that people who read this article “Will say, he’s doing that….what can I do?”
