FOR THE LOVE OF WALLOON

Celebrating the Life of Mary Whitfield Erb 1932-2023

By Lauren Macintyre

Author, historian, community leader and lifelong lake resident, Mary Whitfield Erb was the consummate Wallooner. Mary's family, the Whitfield's, came to Walloon from Chicago in 1907, initially coming north to Petoskey for health reasons. Mary's grandparents Dr. George and Hatta Carlile Whitfield brought their family to stay at the famed Mizer Hotel in the Village, then promptly fell in love with the lake. Before their two-week stay at the Mizer was over, they had bought a lot and commissioned a cottage to be built on nearby North Shore Drive. That cottage, named Buena Vista, still stands today. (Please see above.)

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