“Crossed Bay for Shave But His Beard Caught Up” from the March 22, 1962 Door County Advocate
Crossed Bay for Shave But His Beard Caught Up
By MARY C. LEWIS
Mrs. John Rhind of Ephraim brought in these reflections based upon the 1902 diary of Mary C. Lewis, Chicagoan who first came to Ephraim with her family at the turn of the century. The Lewises vacationed at Anderson hotel, later built a home in Ephraim.
[Mrs. John Rhind is Eleanor Rhind.]
Ephraim has become one of the most popular and always has been one of the loveliest summer resorts in the Great Lakes region. Some of us old-timers, however, look back with a feeling of nostalgia to the days of long-ago when we first became acquainted with the little fishing village on the shores of Green Bay. How we enjoyed the long boat trip from Chicago. In 1902 when my sister and I first visited Ephraim, we left Chicago on the S.S. Sheboygan at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday. We sailed through Sturgeon Bay canal, down to Green Bay city, up to Escanaba and down to Ephraim, arriving on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
We had a fine big room at the Olson house—now Hillside. In my journal I find the following description:
“Above us on the bluff is Stonewall Cottage where Mrs. Valentine serves us our meals. It is a pretty little house with a wide porch on two sides, from which there is a fine view over the bay. Mrs. Valentine takes only a few roomers but serves excellent meals to from 15 to 20 people.”
When my father came up later in the summer he engaged a room at Stonewall Cottage, but because of the overlapping of the schedules of north and south bound steamers, there was no room for him there the first night. So Mrs. Torgenson, who lived in the present Wilson home, agreed to take him in for one night for the sum of 25c. Then she decided it was a good deal of trouble to bother about sheets, etc., for one night, so Mrs. Valentine agreed to furnish bedding and my father was to pay half price. Thus he paid 13c for his first night’s lodging in Ephraim.
There were no hotels in town then—only a few places where guests were accommodated. No autos raced through the streets. Cows grazed peacefully along the road sides. Sail boats and fishing tugs were anchored at the Anderson dock and at the old wood dock at the south end of the bay. Two of those, early sail boats, lovely and graceful, the Arrow and the Ebenezer, have been photographed or painted by many a young artist. The latter had about finished its days of usefulness that first summer and Capt. Olson and Capt. Hogansen who owned her jointly used to row out alternate mornings to pump her out. Then Susan and I would watch from our window and hum to ourselves, “Here I raise my Ebenezer.”
[“Here I raise my Ebenezer” is the beginning of the second verse of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”: https://namethathymn.com/christian-hymns/come-thou-fount-lyrics.html ]
The stage came in every day from Sturgeon Bay with mail and freight and perhaps a passenger or two. If we wanted to go for a ride we hired horses and a surrey. Another entry in my journal is:
“Mr. Anderson drove us to Baileys Harbor across the peninsula and nine miles from here. The drive took about three hours and we greatly enjoyed it. Mr. Anderson himself is a very interesting and agreeable young man. He and his six sisters and two brothers make one of the most influential families in the town. They own the dock and warehouse and the store at the head of the dock.”
By the next summer Mrs. Valentine had built an addition to her cottage with a large dining room on the first floor, six bedrooms on the second and three on the third. These attic bedrooms were the habitation of half a dozen of us young women for several summers. The rooms were large with dormer windows and a magnificent view. The journal says: “The rooms are unplastered but sealed up with cute little closets under the eaves for shoes and nails put up to hang our clothes on.”
The fact that there were no bathrooms and no electric lights never bothered us at all. There was a pitcher and washbowl in every room and a little kerosene lamp. Hot water could be obtained in the morning by placing a little pail of water on two big nails laid across the top of the lamp chimney. And besides we had the whole of Green Bay to bathe in.
Our pastimes were simple but exciting. On pleasant evenings the bay would be dotted with row boats filled with folks enjoying the moonlight or playing with the echo under the bluff or singing, with two or three boats fastened together. Twice a week in the parlors of the Olson home ice cream with soda crackers was served to the public.
That summer of 1903 saw the first tennis court set up in Ephraim. A group of us sought out a pasture half a mile back of Stonewall Cottage level enough to use. Then we persuaded Mrs. Valentine, who was always cooperative in planning sports, to ask the owners, two old ladies who lived in the first lane, to let us use the land. At first the ladies refused because “games were wicked,” but the offer of a dollar on the spot and another at the end of the season converted them. Then we hunted up some lime and an old broom and marked out a single court where many lively games were played.
The most thrilling of sports was sailing. We would sail to the island and walk all around it as there were no buildings on it then, or to Shanty Bay and walk across to the Light House. Sometimes Capt. Hoganson would take out 10 or 15 in his pound boat and besides managing the sails would sing Norwegian songs in his native tongue. Or a party would sail to Little Sister Bay in the afternoon and others would come by hayrack, bringing provisions with them. Bacon and eggs and coffee would be cooked over bon fires and marshmallows toasted and then all would ride home singing all the way.
Every able-bodied person went on hikes. Often a party would walk to Fish Creek on the highway and come back by the eight mile trail through the woods which are now in the State Park. Or a group would walk along the upper road to a point just north of Knudson Hotel and there strike into the woods and follow the “Indian trail” along the shore to Little Sister Bay.
When Goodrich steamers came in on a (more or less) regular schedule, it was a favorite stunt to take the steamer to Fish Creek or Sister Bay and walk back or vice versa. The young lads of Ephraim used to climb up to the top deck of the S.S. Carolina as she came into the dock and dive from there into the bay. The captain finally forbade this stunt as too dangerous. So one day at Fish Creek, three young ladies in long skirts and picture hats boarded the Carolina, paid their fare and mounted to the top deck. As the steamer came into the dock at Ephraim, much to the consternation of passengers and those watching from the dock, the three young ladies rose from their chairs, jumped onto the railing and dived. The two Hardin boys and Bobby Morrison shook off their mothers’ skirts and hats and had a good swim.
North of the dock among the balsams and white birches along the shore, several cottages were built, mostly by professional people, so that the group was called “Professors’ Row.” The people in the row were most congenial and had many good times together. Usually on Sunday evenings there was a community supper, every family bringing its contribution. On rainy days, and there are some in Ephraim, the ladies would gather in one of the cottages with sewing or knitting and one of the group would read aloud. Later on men would come in and there would be a “kaffee klatch.”
When the Foldas were building their cottage on the island they used to come over in their launch and gather all the folk along the row and take them over to the island where bon fires wore built and freshly caught fish and bacon, etc., were cooked for a picnic supper. The completed house was a center for most delightful hospitality. The great living room, 30 by 40 ft. was the scene of many a gay party.
Picnics were a most popular form of sport. One place to which all enjoyed going was the Marshall Farm. Two or three carriage loads would drive to the farm, take their baskets out to the rocks along North Bay and prepare their dinner in the “playhouse.” Another favorite trip was to Europe Bay. We would drive out in Mr. Anderson’s three seated surrey and have dinner on the lovely sand beach. Then we would walk along the shore and through pine woods to that beautiful little sheet of water, Europe Lake.
For several years the Hart line of small steamers used to send their boats up and down Green Bay and they stopped at Ephraim with some regularity. Then it was that we found it a convenient way to come from Chicago, to take the train to Menominee, stay over night at a pleasant hotel there and then cross the bay the next morning on a Hart boat.
One summer my father, who hated to shave himself, decided to take a boat across the bay to Menominee to visit a barber, returning by the late afternoon steamer. It seemed a good plan, but the captain of the return boat took a notion to go up to Escanaba before coming to Ephraim, so that when my father finally got back he was ready for another shave.
The little Moravian church was attended by most of the summer people, as in those early days services in the Lutheran church were conducted in the Norwegian language. All loved the little church and many helped in the services, preaching, giving lectures, playing the small organ or singing. I remember one double quartet that rendered good service most of one summer.
Those were good old days. The folks who lived in the village had time to visit with the summer visitors and we all knew each other and together enjoyed the lovely scenery, the songs of the birds, and fragrance of the firs and pines.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
Articles about history
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/history