Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Summer Resort That Started on a Shoe String (Part 1)

Written by Mrs. Fred (Bertha) Coburn

On May 23, 1923, my husband, Fred Coburn, with the aid and assistance of his father, bought 40 acres of standing timber on Long Lake, 4 1/2 miles east of Fremont. His father had been living with us for a year and working at Berkey and Gay factory. All winter they had been talking about what could be done with this property (to me it sounded like a "pipe dream") but I realized Fred had been born on the other end of the lake property and his father surely knew what the lake was.

Fred had opened his first barbor shop at 700 Ottawa Avenue, March 1, 1916, with hair cuts 25 cents and shaves for 10. It took a lot of courage and perserverance to make a living for a wife and two children. First World War was on, and there was no electric, just gas lights, straight razors and a soft coal stove, with a tea kettle on top, to heat his hot water for shaves.

In 1919, he moved across the street (711 Ottawa) into a shop and the next year got the house that joined it. October 4 we all moved in, by then there were four children. Business imprved. Prices went up, 35 cents for harcuts for men and 25 cents for children. The street cars ran right by the place and probably was the reason business improved on the side of the street. In May, 1921, Fred bought his first car, a 1921 Model T Ford. Two years later he and his father went up to the lake to look the property over and see if it was for sale. It was on the south end of Long Lake and the outlet of the lake ran through the grounds making a point out into the lake. That is why he name it Point Pleasant Resort later, but there was a lot of work to be done before it could be given that name. First a road had to be built from the main road into the lake. A farmer with a horse and a scraper cut off the bumps and by dodging the pine stumps, managed to get to the Point, where a space was cleared enough to put a cottage on it.

When I said the place was started on a shoe string, I meant it!! If it hadn't been for the help and confidence or our relatives and friends, we never would have made it. My brother owned the lumber business at Kent City, 25 miles from the lake. He agreed to furnish the lumber for the cottage and take 3 lots, when we got it surveyed, for part payment. Another brother, who was a carpenter, built the cottage with help from Fred, Sam and Claude. The lumber was hauled up by horse and wagon. Then the surveyor came and surveyed the lake frontage - the lots were 50 x 100. There were 20 lake front lots and a nice area for picnic grounds. Fred advertised the place by printing all over the Model T Ford - "Point Pleasant Resort, 4 1/2 miles east of Fremont, Newaygo County. Lots for sale and boats for rent, free camp grounds." Driving back and forth from the barber shope to the lake, the car attracted attention and lots started to sell at $100 - $10 down and $10 per month. Many lots were exchanged for labor or material. Fred's father started clearing the area along the lake front. He would cut the brush and the children and I would drag it up on the road and burn it. The four children were then age 3 to 9 years.

Besides cutting the brush and clearing the grounds, my father-in-law, Charles Coburn, cug out the pine stumps by puttting two sticks of dynamite under them and so blew them loose. He would put a pry pole under the stump and I sat on the pole so as to raise the roots up so he could see them and chop them off. Later the stump was sawed and cut up into kindling, which was used in the cook stove in the cottage. I baked my own bread, and the day I baked, I gave the children a gunny sack and said, "Go and find a lot of pine knots for I need a real hot fire to bake bread!" They came back dragging a big bag of knots. In payment for their work, they each got a slice of nice warm bread and butter.

I had no transportation when at the cottage, as Fred had the car to get back and forth from the barber shop to the lake. He worked at the shop sixdays a week alone. The first year, he worked until 10 pm on Saturday and then drove up over rough bumpy roads wiith the Model T Ford. We got along fine, by going to the farmers for vegetables (potatoes, carrots, sweet corn, etc) also eggs and chickens. Every night the children and I walked up to the nearest farmer, Gerrit Smoose, and got our milk. We took 2 half-gallon fruit jars along and waited for Gerrit to milk the cows. The children really got a kick out of watc hing the procedure. They had thought milk came in bottles from the milkman. I hadn't realized how much they had missed, as I was raised on a farm and was milking cows at the age of 13. Mrs. Smoose strained the milk and filled our jars. It was still warm when we got back to the cottage, so I poured it into a large pan and dipped it with a long handle dipper until it was aired and cooled. I had seen my mother do this and then it had to be pput in the coolest place. We had no refrigeration, so I put the jars in a tub and pumped water from the well and the cold water kept the milk through the next day. Each night we went through this ritual going to the farmers (about a half-mile walk) and got the milk and vegetables. The farmers gave us all the apples we wanted, if we picked them up off the ground. "Windfalls" they called them. When we ran out of butter we ate apple sauce on our bread. The woods were full of wild blackberries and huckleberries. I picked and canned them, also canned sweet corn and by picking it myself at the farmers, it was nice and fresh. I cold packed it in my wash boiler on the cook stove.

When washday came, I carried water from the lake and heted it on the cook stove in the boiler, with a hand bench wringer and washboard; everything came out fine. The old flat irons also heated on the stove and took care of the ironing.

The first summer we had no refrigeration at all; but, that fall Fred and his brother built an ice house. Saw dust was put in and then in the winter when the ice got about 20 inches thick, they cut it out of the lake with a saw and with ice tongs and a toboggan sled hauled the ice blocks, which were abou 20 x 40 inches plus the thickness, and packed them into the saw dusta and kept it until the next summer, when we got an ice box.

The first few years the place was really wild. The children having lived in the city until we got the cottage, really enjoyed exploring the woods and the wild life. They saw animals and birds they had never seen before. The first summer were were there, a bald-headed eagle sat on the top of a big tree in front of our cottage. But the next year when Fred got some boats to rent and people started coming around, the eagle flew away and we never saw it again. There were several whooping cranes flying over the lake and many wild mallard ducks simming on the lake. It was beautiful to see how the baby ducks followed the mother all around the lake.

Don, our yougest son, like to fish. At the age of five, he learned to dig his own worms, bait the hook and catch the fish. At first he didn't like to take the fish off the hook because it wiggled so. I told him if he wanted to be a fisherman, he had to learn how to do everything. I liked to fish too and learned when I was quite young. We lived on a farm a mile from Kent City. A creek ran through the pasture. It was quite deep by the bridge over the road, and I caught blue gills, horned ace and perch, also some bullheads. One day fishing I caught a black snake, but he got away as soon as he hit the ground.

Don and I always planned to have a nice mess of fish for Sunday morning when Daddy would be there. Pancakes and fish was the regular Sunday morning breakfast. We seldome had less than 14 people for meals on Sunday. Fred's sister, Inez, and her husband and two children came a lot, as there was so much work to do. Fred's father was there all summer, but he couldn't do everything alone. The first thinkg they had to do was build a dock. We didn't have any boats yet, but Fred rented one from Mr. Sims (the farmer across the lake). He had four boats to rent and a picnic grounds with a well on it. We didn't have a well for the first two weeks, so for drinking water someone had to row across the lake, which wasn't very far, and get a pail of water from the well on Sims place. I would use water from the lake for all other uses. We kept the resevoir on the cook stove full at all times so we had hot water.

Fred and his brother, Sam, got the pipes and drove our well. They hit water at 20 feet, as the lake was fed by springs, it was easy to find water.

A big log lay across the yard between the cottage and lake. A big oak tree must have blown over and had laid there a long time. I had to climb over it every time I went for a pail of water from the lake. That was one of the first jobs to be done. With a cross cut saw, Fred and Sam and their father finally cut it up into stove wood size and cleaned the front yard. It really improved the looks of the place.

(To be continued)

3 comments:

  1. My grandfather built on the lake really early on. Having known the Coburns all of my life this is really nice. I enjoyed reading the early makings of Point Pleasant. My Uncle was Mr. Mrs. Coburns son in law and my grandfather helped him build on the bluff above our family cottage. I have been coming there for over 50 years and it has very fond memories for me. Thank you for listing Mrs. Coburns exurpts they are very fun to read. Cynthia R. Hallum

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  2. It makes me happy to know that my great-grandmother's story has brought joy to others. Thank you for posting this for others Sandra :)

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