Lakeside

Today, I'm headed out after a wonderful week in Lakeside, the Chautauqua-on-Lake-Erie. Lakeside was founded in 1873 as a campmeeting and is a thriving community today. Many of the cottages are now year-round homes and it is a gated community. They have wonderful programming at several sites around the resort. And a great dock area for swimming, fishing, and sunbathing. It's where steamers used to bring guests.


It's been so nice to spend a full week here. Last summer, I stayed for a only a few days, so I have enjoyed being able to work at a slower pace and enjoy all that is Lakeside. Several friends from the Chautauqua Network are here and I've made other friends this week. I continue to enjoy meeting with older community members for oral histories.


Lakeside has about 900 cottages, mostly Victorian, but a few were built in each decade of the 20th century, leading to a wide variety of architectural styles. Lakeside's downtown area is bustling with a movie theatre, gift shops, restaurants, and at least four ice cream spots!

Winona Lake

I've been delinquent in writing, so here is my attempt to catch up. Earlier this month, I spent several days in Winona Lake, Indiana. Winona was once the second largest chautauqua, and was founded to be a combination approaches from both Chautauqua and D.L. Moody's Bible institute in Northfield, Massachusetts. The camp meeting remained an important event until much later, but the Chautauqua was active until about 1940. It was the home of both Billy Sunday, a major evangelist of the 20th century, and Homer Rodeheaver, an important hymnist.

Not much remains of Winona Lake as it once was. Grace University and Theological Seminary was the outgrowth of summer schools and year-round schools established early in Winona's history. Grace's library has a wonderfully organized and extensive collection of Winona Lake history.

Fountain Park Chautauqua

Last week, I visited Fountain Park Chautauqua, in Remington, Indiana. Open only two weeks a summer, "Park" is a fascinating spot. Most chautauquans are from within an hour of the park and come to stay in their cottages or in the campground (about 70 cottages and 50 camping spaces). A few (like me) stay in the hotel. Remember, it's open two weeks a year! Their motto is "A lifetime of fun ... two weeks at a time." The hotel serves three meals a day and guests as well as visitors can eat there. For three meals and lodging, it's $50 a day - can't beat that! Plus, all the rummycube and eucre you can play.


As far as programming, Fountain Park has afternoon and evening programs, all-day activities for kids (run by one recreation director), and afternoon devotionals. All of the cottages are built in a circle, with lots of open space, the Tabernacle, and The Stand (run by the local Tri-Kappa sorority) in the middle.

One thing that struck me was that all programs were begun with some type of patriotic gesture - saying the Pledge of Allegiance or singing a patriotic song. The Park festivities begin the season with a parade of American flags and almost all cottages display a flag out front.


While this chautauqua was not on my list of 7 active chautauquas, it should be. Now there are 8 that I have identified.

Back to Bay View

After a marathon drive from Monteagle, I am back in Bay View. Just attended the very fun "Treasures in the Trees," an art fair/antique fair/whatever's in my cottage to sell fair sponsored by Morning Council, the younger women's club.

I'm really surprised at how many people tell me they're reading my blog. It's neat to hear that other people are learning along with me as I make this journey. While I'm here in Bay View, I'm also giving two talks. On Monday, the 20th, I'm speaking about the history of performance in Bay View, in Evelyn Hall at 7:30. The following Sunday, the 26th, I'm speaking about all of the chautauquas (more than posted on this blog) at 3pm in the Library (or if we're too big, in Vorhees). It's great to see so many Bay View people interested in their community's history.

Monteagle

It's so nice to be back in Monteagle, Tennessee! I visited the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly last year for the Chautauqua Network meeting, and am now reconnecting with some amazing people. Both the people and the architecture are very Southern ... the only real chautauqua south of the Mason-Dixon line. People came to Monteagle to get away from the heat further south, but it's still quite warm, leading to very ingenious forms of early "air conditioning" -- most have some sort of cupola to help the heat move up and out.


Monteagle also has some very good programming. The kids programming is active in the morning, but also some evenings and weekends. Most days, there are one or two lectures, plus something in the evening: movies, lectures, concerts. Each night (Monday through Saturday), folks gather for Evening Prayers. Below is their beautiful chapel, also used for most lectures.


Monteagle is at the top of a mountain, sharing the top with Sewanee (The University of the South). The terrain within the assembly is full of ravines, with expansive bridges going across for walkers and bike riders.


Tomorrow is the annual bazaar and Cottage Tour, sponsored by the Women's Club. I was reading bulletins from the 1910s and '20s today, and the bazaar was a highlight of the summer even then.

Mt. Gretna

Every first day I spend at a chautauqua, it becomes my new favorite. This one really surprised me. Mt. Gretna is a secluded town in the middle of the woods with so much going on. Half of the town is a camp meeting (started as a United Brethren meeting, now United Methodist) and the other half of the town is the Pennsylvania Chautauqua.

This chautauqua seems to me to be truer to the roots of chautauqua than any other. The chautauqua group plans all kinds of educational and recreational programming. They do some kinds of religious services in addition. They own and operate a Hall of Philosophy (below). Separate groups run a great (semi-) outdoor theatre and an arts show.


Cottages on the chautauqua side are larger; some have been more recently built; many are year-round homes. Cottages on the camp meeting side sit on tiny lots and almost touch each other.

Also in town are three other neighborhoods, all developed after WWII. All told, in Mt. Gretna, there are four municipalities and three different school districts. The chautauqua side is also the borough of Mt. Gretna, but the camp meeting and the other neighborhoods are other municipalities. It's messy, but it seems to work. More regarding the history of this fascinating place soon.

Inside an Ocean Grove Tent

One thing that makes Ocean Grove so unique is that the association still rents and leases 114 tents each season. They are actually canvas in the front and are wooden structures in the back that accommodate running water and plumbing (added in the '40s and '50s, mostly).


Leases are seasonal, and as long as the residents participate in the programming through their presence and participation in the community, their lease is renewed. Leases are passed down from generation to generation and only one or two cottages open up a season (so they have a very long waiting list).

Today, I was able to visit one cottage. In this cottage, the front room was set up as two bedrooms.


And the back room was a living room, with a kitchen off the back and bathroom off the side. The resident told me her mother put in a bathtub because she didn't believe in showers; it's one of two bathtubs in the tents.

This is the kitchen, added on in the '50s. From the kitchen is a back door to a communal backyard. All of the tents are arranged in blocks, so that all of the back doors open onto this backyard. Now a spot for picnics and games, it was once the spot for the latrine.


In addition to the tents, the association also owns and similarly leases 15 cottages. Other cottages on the grounds are privately owned, and on 99 year leases.