Tom Augustine at his grandparents' cottage in 1971).
Tom Augustine recalls with great joy spending nearly every summer weekend at his family’s cottage on Barron Lake starting in the 1950s.
His grandparents, William Lincoln and Theresa Augustine, purchased a cottage on Elder Court in 1927, and always welcomed their seven children and 49 grandchildren to visit during the summer.
“It was always just a summer cottage,” Tom said. “My grandparents lived in South Bend (Green Township) and we visited every weekend, weather permitting. Grandma stayed for the summer. I spent numerous weeks there doing chores in the morning. We had a garden on the parcel on the opposite side of Elder Court and we carried buckets of water from the lake uphill to the garden. As soon as the chores were done, we hit the beach.”
The cottage was a two-story built into the side of a hill with two bedrooms and a large sunroom across the back of the house that slept six to eight kids. There was no indoor plumbing, so guests used the outhouse behind the house. Tom recalls that with so many people at the house, many times they had to use the neighbor’s outhouse. There also was no furnace or air conditioning so screened windows provided relief during the hot days and the house was closed up during the winters.
“We had a hand pump so there was water on the first floor but not upstairs. We’d take our soap outside with us and bathe in the lake. Then, in the late 50s we got an electric pump. I can remember hearing that pump come on every time someone got a glass of water,” he said.
As a child, Tom, who nows lives in Nevada, recalls the car rides to the cottage. “We would always get so excited,” he said. “I was older, so I remembered the landmarks and my brother and I knew when we were on M-60 just how close we were. I would holler out, “I see the lake first.” Then Sarah, my younger sister, would cry that she wanted to be the first one to see the lake.”
Weekends were always full of activities. “We went to the cottage almost every weekend, but Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day were the biggies, as we had a huge crowd of cousins, and we’d all go out on the rafts and inner tubes. On the 4th of July we’d watch the fireworks from the sea wall,” he said.
He recalls the adults would sit out on the lower sundeck and play Euchre and poker if it wasn’t too hot outside. If it was, they played inside, but the kids were always outside. And the older kids would supervise the younger ones. “We’d wander around to look for bottles to turn in and look for frogs and such. When we’d walk around the lake, sometimes we would try to sneak down to Kugler’s Beach. We didn’t go there too often. It cost money to swim there and grandma’s was always free,” he said.
Neighbors were scarce in those days, Tom said, but he noted that with such a large family there were always a lot of people around. When Tom’s grandmother died in 1965 his uncle Bob and aunt Loretta Barthel bought the house. “We were happy to see it stay in the family,” he said. He and his family members continued to visit the cottage on Elder Court and create more memories swimming, fishing row boating, scuba diving and “frogging.” He said it was a big highlight for them when in the 1970s, his aunt and uncle purchased a pontoon boat.
(Editor’s note: The Barthels sold the cottage (1216 Elder Court) in 1993.)
When reminiscing about his days on Barron Lake, Tom asked if people ever talk about the rumors that Al Capone used to frequent the area. It was mentioned that legend has it Capone and/or his “co-workers” had stayed at Reid’s Resort on the lake. However, that has never been confirmed. “No one really talks about it,” Tom said. “But rumors were flying that either one of my uncles or my grandfather ran whiskey for Capone. All I do know for sure is that if my grandfather did run whiskey for him grandma must have been really upset because her father was a constable in St. Louis back in the late 1880s.”
(Editor’s note: While there are no confirmation of Capone ever staying at Reid’s Resort, which was once where Kugler’s Beach was, there is a plaque on the Four Flags Hotel in Niles with a claim that legend has it Capone stayed at that location. It is also said Capone owned and frequented homes in Berrien County and throughout southwest Michigan.)
There are a lot of wonderful memories for Tom, and his immediate and extended family, from their years at Barron Lake, which for Tom occurred during the 1950s through the early 1990s.
“What I remember most about the lake is that it was beautiful, calming and inspiring.”
Bob and Loretta Barthel enjoyed taking their family for pontoon rides.
Told by Tom Augustine. Written by Jodi Marneris for the Barron Lake Association.
