The Cottage

Each year in the spring the boats had to be painted before entering the water. Everyone wanted to help paint but there where other chores and each of the DeWitte girls had her own special job to do to get the cottage ready for summer. Some would clean the inside of the cottage while a group effort was in order when it came to taking the bed mattresses outside for airing. There was the washing of dishes, dusting and removing of cobwebs, and the windows needed to be cleaned. Also, the icebox in the kitchen needed cleaning. What's an ice box? As the term implies it is a box that holds ice and in this case kept food cold. It was like a refrigerator but held ice as the coolant. The Ice Man came to deliver a 50lb. block of ice 2 times per week.

The chores wouldn't take too long to complete and then the fun began. There were games like horseshoes, badminton and croquette. Then there were puzzles to assemble and just plain setting in a comfortable spot and reading a good book. And then Barbara would come up to you with a checkerboard and checkers tucked under her arm and say, "I'll go you a game. I'll go you a game." There was a Victoria for playing 78 speed records. It would also play 33 and a 3rds. and 45 speed records. The Victoria was a hand crank player and didn't need electricity to play the music. As the years grew into the 1940’s some of the favorite tunes were "O'Danny Boy", "I'll be seeing you", and all the early war time songs of WWII.

Fishing was always a desire while spending the summer at the cottage. John Adrian DeWitte would fish for dinner while Shirley rowed the boat. Martha would always attend them for good luck. She always was a happy sister when Shirley included her in the boat.

During the Season there were always special projects that needed attention. There was the extending of the boat dock in 1937 and the fixing of the break wall in 1955. Then came the daily visit with the Dr. George Burns and his wife Doris over the lot line hedge. And as a 1942 sun would set for the evening all would go fishing again. There was nothing like being out on the water after dark and trolling back and forth with a large June Bug Spinner at the end of the line stacked with up to 6 night crawlers on the hook. It trailed through the water at about 30' to 50' out and you just knew the silver glimmer of the spinner was attracting a lot of fish. You could see them in your minds eye all-jockeying for position in the scent path of the bait. And you knew what they were. And you knew they were there. They were the biggest of the big - largemouth bass, and Walleye Pike, and Northern Pike. Yeah!!!

The next morning there was more fishing - because there were jack perch, blue gills and rock bass just waiting to be fed. In the daylight you could look off the edge of the boat and see down 10' to 30' feet and see the fish grabbing at the bait. And once in a while the big one would lunge and grab it - hook and all.

As the poem went: "Fishy Fishy in the brook - Poppa catch em with a hook. Momma fry em in a pan. Baby eat em like a man."

The neighbor on the other side of the cottage was Don Beecher. He and John Adrian DeWitte would team up for the catch of the day while the weekend sailboat races were underway on 7-16-1950.

As in every year there were the summer storms that could be seen coming across the lake as the cottage was on the eastern shore. In the summer of 1937 Barbara DeWitte loved to get in the rowboat and pretend that she was fighting the wind and the waves. It was Barbara against nature, and Barbara would win. But of course the boat was tied to the dock.

Shirley and Martha DeWitte found their own entertainment just clowning around and having fun.

Mae and John Adrian DeWitte had time to sit and watch the sunset as evening came on 9-4-1955.

Martha loved to paint and on Labor Day in September of 1955 she painted the garage while Shirley worked in the garden along side Dr. George Burns and his wife Doris.

There were regular picnic get-togethers at the cottage. Here, on June 9 1949, are L-R Ken Marriott, Lloyd Bragg, Ken's wife Evelyn DeWitte/Marriott and Gordon Marriott at the Barbeque Grill cooking up a chicken finger licking good meal for the annual church choir cottage picnic.

Finally in September, the day before school started, the DeWitte family would gather for one last picture before leaving the cottage for the season. Martha took this picture in 1937.

It was back to the City and the residence at 336 Melville Street, and another year at East High School.

Mae Bragg/DeWitte was always smart and very efficient. The week before the family would leave the cottage for the season she and the girls would make the trip into the City and complete all the preparations for the girls to attend classes the next day after that final day at the cottage.

The Cottage was always a special place in the minds and hearts of the next generation as well. The DeWitte girls would marry and have children who would then share in complete harmony the weeks of the summer. The Coon Family lived only 30 miles away, which made it much easier for Robert Coon Sr. to make the morning/evening trip to and from work some days during the week, but was always there on the weekends. To the Coon children it was one long summer vacation and they loved every minute of it. The DeWitte Cottage was also known as the place to go for Church Choir Picnics, Young Peoples groups like Sunday School Class Outings, etc. Holidays were the best because all the aunts and uncles and cousins with carloads of friends would come for the day or weekend. Great Times - Great Fun! It was a great way to shape the lives of the young people of that time in history.

Back to School meant getting back to the routine of fall and winter for the DeWitte girls. However, there were those warm and colorful weekends that gave special little overnights at the cottage before the weather got too harsh. For the Coon Family there where other things that would need attention in the fall. John Adrian DeWitte would collect the Coon boys and drive them to Orbacker’s Orchard for picking apples for apple pies and the likes. Harvesting those bushels of apples meant Thanksgiving and Christmas meals would be topped off nicely.

Click Pictures

1935	1940	1937

1937	1937	1937

		Summer 1942

Summer 1942	Summer 1942	1949

1955	1938	1955

1938	1938	1955

1955	1938	1939

	1937	1942

1940	1955	1955

1948	1955	1950