Hello!

We are Lucy and Caitlin, a mother-daughter duo behind Topo Pino. In 2017, we decided to revitalize the name Topo Pino and start a family business.

Our mission is to inspire people to connect with the beauty of the natural world and find joy in life's simple pleasures. Through our hand-poured candles and sustainable goods, we aim to create and curate products that bring comfort and promote a sense of well-being. Incorporating elements of nature into our daily lives can cultivate a greater appreciation for the world around us and create a more sustainable future.  

Topo Pino is rooted in history as the former home of Janet McKenzie Hill’s Summer School of Cookery in the early 1900s. A culinary pioneer, food writer, and editor of the Boston Cooking School Magazine, Hill was a leading figure in the movement toward precise, science-based cooking.

After graduating from the Boston Cooking School, she went on to establish her own Summer School of Cookery at Topo Pino, where she taught seasonal cooking in the natural setting of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The school gained prominence following the 1896 publication of The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, who had been the principal of the Boston Cooking School during Hill’s time there.

It was Hill who named the property Topo Pino, a place where she brought her vision of culinary education and seasonal ingredients to life.

For over 55 years, our family has owned Topo Pino, which sits on the Maine/New Hampshire border. Lucy's father, "Doc," a celebrated WWII veteran and Princeton graduate, purchased the property in 1967 after seeing a small ad in the back of Yankee Magazine. Although Doc passed away shortly before Caitlin was born, we forged ahead with his dream, and in the process, discovered our own.

Topo Pino's mother-daughter duo, Lucy + Caitlin