A LOOK BACK IN TIME The Historic Hotels and Resorts of the Foot

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Pines Hotel

1912 Daily Resorter and Petoskey Evening News ad Mr. Ransom declared Sunset Lodge to be “just a step to the finest bathing beach in the state.” He sold the lodge in 1928 to L.A. and Mary Spalding. Ultimately Sunset Lodge became the family home of Lucile and Ross Renwick, the Spaldings’ daughter and son-in-law who owned the General Store for many years. The Sunset Lodge building briefly housed an antique store, but eventually deteriorated and was torn down to become the parking lot of the General Store.

Sand Beach Bathhouse

Thomas and Jennie Belding were astute hoteliers who sold their lodging in Clarion around 1902 to come to Walloon. Jennie was already a familiar figure in the Village, having managed the Jordan family's Sand Beach Bath House there. The Beldings built their new hotel on a pine-covered site on North Shore northwest of the Village. The popular Pines Hotel inspired a loyal following among resorters, one of whom even penned, an epic poem about the hotel in the style of Hiawatha for a 1912 Daily Resorter and Petoskey Evening News.

SUNSET LODGE (Merrill Cottage)

In the late 1800’s Walloon pioneer Henry Simpson “Harry” Jordan saw a critical need for bathhouse facilities in the Village. Harry, a highly successful Grand Rapids businessman and owner of the majestic Moira Hill Farm overlooking the Foot, decided to build a bathhouse on his own Moira Hill beach. In the 30 room bathhouse swimmers could find dressing rooms and bathing suits, or enjoy the unheard-of luxury of a hot bath for just 25 cents. Operation of the bathhouse was leased first to Mrs. Thomas Belding, then Carl Rofe and Charles Slater. A fire in 1906 unfortunately destroyed Sand Beach. Today, thanks to the generosity of the Jordan-Cawthra family, the Sand Hill site is now part of the Melrose Township Park and public beach.

The glory days of Walloon’s hotels were indeed a dreamy, magical era for those fortunate enough to trade the heat of the cities for the sweet breezes of Walloon. Sadly, most of these grand hotels and resorts are gone, and all that remain are evocative black and white photos of majestic white clapboard buildings, men and women in their Victorian finery and vintage boats in all sizes and shapes.

The versatile R. T. Merrill, who owned a boat building shop, as well as a 50-room bathhouse, built Merrill Cottage next to the General Store in 1902. William Ransom then bought Merrill Cottage in 1909 and christened it Sunset Lodge. He and his family lived there and operated it as a hotel while also owning the General Store. In a

What caused the sad demise of the hotels? Open exclusively in the summer, they were expensive to operate and challenging to maintain. Fire was a constant danger. As automobiles gained in popularity, people were able to travel more freely. Perhaps the hotels were simply too successful in introducing people to the splendors of Walloon — they were then inspired to build cottages of their own. Not surprisingly, many of the lake’s oldest cottages were built near the hotel sites.

This golden era of Walloon’s hotels may be gone, but the scenic appeal of their settings and the graciousness of that era will long be remembered.