Life in Omena

When Patty was 11, her grandfather built her a treehouse ten feet off the ground. Because he loved her very much, he put tall chicken wire fencing around the outside of it so even if she or her brother got to tussling, they would not fall out. Patty had a brother, and just so he would not feel left out, her grandfather made it a two-room treehouse. Now this was in 1934, in the heart of the depression. Money and materials were scarce. Can you picture what this tree house must have looked like? Probably made from scrap wood, with… Read More »

It is believed that Carmichaels boat house underwent several transformations, in this case into a garage along the shore road. Courtesy Linda Kemper Giving your cottage a name gives you “dominion over a part of your world, and gives you a sense of stability,” according to Mike Curtis in an article last November. In other words, it makes your cottage your own, and says something about how you feel about it. There are a lot of interesting names in Omena: Idyllcrest, Idyllwild, Sandlapper, Robin’s Nest, Pioneer, and Birchwood Terrace are a few of them. But what about “House by The… Read More »

One of the railings made by Ron Sutton with the pitchforks that had been in the barn. There were many ways to move a building back in the 1900s. You could put it on rollers and roll it. You could saw it apart at the corners and move it wall by wall. Or, you could take it apart and use the materials to make a house of your own choosing. Or you could do what we did, and carefully take it apart, number the parts, and then put it back together again on a new spot just the same as… Read More »

Spitz and Tom load wood into Tom’s truck, while Lynn dodges a swinging board. My husband Spitz had something to deliver to Janet that spring day. After he was through with his business, she came out to the car where I was waiting. “If you ever want to sell your barn, let me know.” I said casually. I had loved barns since we had lived in upstate New York’s Allegheny Mountains years ago. That we lived in Trinity’s parsonage now, after 3 years of seminary dorm living, intensified my desire to have a house, a house with history, a house… Read More »

Schram and Bauer’s sawmill when Bob Bauer lived there around 1980. Photo Courtesy Lynn Spitznagel Mary Louise was frightened by the spiders and scurrying little creatures in the dark, abandoned outbuilding at the end of Omena Point. Her friends liked to play there though, so she went too. When Mary Louise Vail was a child in the early 1910s, the bowling alley was all that remained of the first Omena Inn. It had burned to the ground in 1904 in a sudden and devastating fire, sending up a tower of black smoke seen all over the area. Only the outbuildings… Read More »

Rhoda Wheeler stuck in the mud while enroute to visit her Aunt Rhoda and Uncle Leonard Wheeler at Sunset Lodge. (ca. 1905) Courtesy of Omena Historical Society. It is pothole season here in Michigan. In the early 1900’s in Omena, there were no paved roads, and the dirt and gravel roads were made for horses and wagons. The roads were not often repaired, and come spring rains, the potholes filled with mud. Sinking up to the hub caps in mud was not unusual. Keeping a rope, ax, and shovel handy was essential. The rope was to wind around the rear… Read More »

One of Hector Carmichael’s boats on Omena Bay circa 1930’s. – Courtesy Omena Historical Society. Once there was rich man, a very rich man, who had a son he dearly loved named Charlie, “Doc” for short. Why “Doc”? Perhaps it was short for “Douglas Carmichael” or perhaps it was because he was in constant need of doctors. Charlie had congenital lung disease for which there were few treatments in 1914. It was a happy accident that Charlies family discovered Omena and its clear cool summer air where Charlie could play and have adventures like a normal boy. In 1920, when… Read More »

Marsha Buehler recalls her uncle, Paul Center, hitching a ride hanging on to the gunwales for quite a distance. He either fell off or let go but had a “pretty good swim back to shore”. This happened in the late 30’s when Vin Moore and his friends had parties in the Mignon boathouse, and the Sutton’s Bay fire engine caper occurred. They were a mischievous bunch! Photo courtesy “Omena, A Place In Time” by Amanda Holmes. Although her name means “small and delicately pretty,” she was “a monstrous boat,” remembered Martha Fisher Klitgaard, the largest yacht ever to have a… Read More »

Omena’s own Santa on a snowy Christmas Eve arriving by Fire Engine. “They came to the little white church on the hill from all around the countryside by cutter and two horse sleighs, bundled up against the cold with lap robes tucked around them. Under the big candle-lit tree were presents for every child, Indian and white.” Before electricity, candles provided the sparkle to the Christmas tree. Did they sometimes catch trees on fire? You bet they did! Luckily, the candle-lit tree never caught the Omena Church on fire, but there were many fires from Christmas tree candles during the… Read More »

Alonzo’s Sled. Photo credit Joey Bensley. When it snows it reminds me of Alonzo’s sled.  Alonzo Craker lived in Omena in the  1860’s, played in the abundant snow with his two little brothers.  He built his own sled, a little bobsled that he could steer,  to go sailing down the hills on.  He only used it a few years however when he was taken sick with Scarlet Fever and died at the age of ten. The little sled hung in the attic all that winter.  So grief stricken was this little family, that no one would even think of using… Read More »