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.

Ocean Grove, New Jersey

After a great 4th of July in Vermont (and jokes about my becoming chautauquasized), I've spent the day traveling to Ocean Grove, on the Jersey Shore. Ocean Grove is really a camp meeting, though it is in the Chautauqua Network. One of my tasks it to determine whether it ought to be catagorized as a chautauqua, or is solely a camp meeting (was it ever a chautauqua? is it still one?)


On first glance, Ocean Grove seems to be a place of rich contrasts. It is right on the beach, but much of the construction of the community is focused inward, toward the Great Auditorium. Some houses are four floors while others are literally still tents. Most striking is that, to get here, one must drive through next door neighbor, Asbury Park, which is very poor. While Asbury Park appeared to be all-African American, Ocean Grove is very white (though not entirely). Ocean Grove's architecture is mostly from the 1880s and 1890s, but some are brick apartment blocks. Quaint cottages are next to massive condo buildings.

It does have a neat downtown area, which I will take pictures of tomorrow.

This evening, I watched the moon rise over the Atlantic and listened to the Ocean Park Community Band practice right on the boardwalk.

Ocean Park, Maine

Apologies for not writing more regularly. I spent last week at an American Studies conference at Dartmouth, and this week at a rainy Ocean Park, Maine. Ocean Park was founded by Free Will Baptists ins 1881, and is part of the town of Old Orchard Beach, about 20 minutes south of Portland.

This was my second trip to Ocean Park, and I had a great visit with Frank and Helen Gwalthney. Their little cottage has three bedrooms, but they're all connected by closets. The beams in the living room are open to the rafters. A neat little spot to spend a few cold, rainy days.


Ocean Park is an especially neat spot because it is right at the edge of the ocean, and also has a town square just a block away, complete with soda fountain, gift shop, sub shop, and association office.


Most of the architecture at Ocean Park is a cross between Cape Cod and Victorian - in the woods and also right on the beach. The Temple, their auditorium and church, is an octagon with one center pole; the construction was so solid that, to make way for better movie projection early in the 20th century, the pole was cut off about 20 feet in the air.


Ocean Park is a very down-to-earth, pretty community ... very Maine (though residents hail from around New England and beyond). Next week, I'm off to Ocean Grove, NJ and Mt. Gretna, PA.

Bay View researching

I'm back in Bay View, doing some research in the Archives. Today, I spent some time looking at old Bulletins. At each chautauqua I visit, I'm working to quantify the types of performances given in particular years; that way I can compare the kinds of performances over time and across chautauquas. It sounds more glamorous than it is - really, a lot of counting and tallying. But it's a great way to get a feel for the kinds of programming at each chautauqua.


I'm also researching the history of Hall Auditorium, in preparation for my lecture on July 20. Very interesting how it came to be and the performance history in its almost 100 year history.

Today, I also stopped in at the Bay View Library. My talk on July 19th will be for a Library lecture series, and will compare Bay View with other chautauquas.

Theodosia Ammons

A little more from the Colorado Chautauqua...

Theodosia Ammons was an early resident at the Colorado Chautauqua. A professor at Colorado State in domestic arts, she was hired to teach on the Chautauqua faculty and built a "model cottage" at the park. She was especially interested in designing a home that would make life easier for the women who lived there.

Her cottage, called the Gwenthian Cottage (her sisters were Gwendolyn and Anne, so the name is a combination of their three names), is one of the best examples of a cottage as it was early in the century. Theodosia's great-niece showed me around.
The three sisters had another sister and a brother (who happened to be governor of Colorado). The three sisters have top billing over the mantle.
The porch was the center of the home -- facing in to the chautauqua activities rather than out at the beautiful view of the Flatirons. An ingenious invention - a bit of railing that slides right into doorway - eliminating the need for a gate and still keeping the architecture. This turns the porch into a big play-pen. Might look good on the front of Hors d'oeuvre or Bay Winds.


I left Colorado yesterday, am in Iowa City for a day, then on to see Katy and Shridhar, before returning to Bay View for further research there.

More from Boulder

The Colorado Chautauqua is a fascinating place. It’s a strange combination of cottagers, renters for a few days, Boulder residents visiting the dining hall or attending concerts or just having a picnic, and people who’ve come to hike the surrounding area for a few hours.

I’m learning quite a bit from the archives (both at the chautauqua and in the town historical library) and from people I meet, especially about how these groups with differing purposes have all influenced how Chautauqua has developed and is used today.

Today, though, I explored the mountains and rock formations nearby (mostly in the rain, sometimes in the hail!). It’s amazing to walk out the door and be on a trail in less than a minute.

Colorado Chautauqua

I am really enjoying my visit to the Colorado Chautauqua in Boulder. Founded in 1898 by the Texas Board of Education, the Gulf and Southern Railroad, and the City of Boulder, it is now a small chautauqua with a neat spirit. Cottages are small – 39 are privately owned and about 60 are rented out by the association to visitors.
Built right at the base of the Flatirons, it is now a Boulder City Park, surrounded on three sides by Boulder Open Space (great areas for hiking). I had a nice short hike yesterday and hope to do more while I’m here.

The Colorado Music Festival brings both cottagers and locals together for great music in the Auditorium, which was built in 45 days in preparation for a July 4, 1898 opening. On nice evenings, the sides are opened so people can sit outside and enjoy the music without a (rather expensive) ticket. The first night I was here, I paid to hear Lucinda Williams and last night, I sat in the growing thunderstorm to enjoy Dave Bromberg.

Last night, I also had dinner on the porch of the Dining Hall. It has quite a pull from Boulder, with good food and an amazing view. The Dining Hall also opened in 1898.

The dining hall and the auditorium were the only buildings in 1898. Visitors from Texas or elsewhere stayed in tents. After one windy summer, plans for permanent cabins were made. The chautauqua held a contest for groups of school teachers to build the best cabin in 1899. Here’s one from the Houston teachers – still owned jointly by Houston teachers.

Family, Friends, and Billy

I had a quick trip to Bay View to drop off Mac and see my mom and dad before heading towards Colorado. On the way, I stopped in Iowa City for the night and had great fun with Jen, Wayne, and his girlfriend Emily. Good laughs and good martinis!

I've been very excited to head west because, before yesterday, I'd never driven west of Williamsburg, Iowa. Yesterday, I got to see how flat Nebraska really is -- and it's quite pretty. You really can watch your dog run away all day! I stopped in Lincoln for an early dinner at a restaurant called "Billy's" ... named after William Jennings Bryan. Bryan was one of the most significant political figures of the early 20th century, but was also THE MOST popular Chautauqua speaker. He made the rounds to almost all of the permanent chautauquas more than once. How funny to walk into a restaurant and see a sign announcing the "Chautauqua Bar"! Bryan was from Lincoln and though the home was not his, it was previously owned by a great Bryan collector, so all of the rooms were decorated with images of and writings by Bryan. The hostess said that, because it is right across the street from the state house, it is a very policital place when the house is in session -- in a way, reliving Bryan's memory.

Off to the Colorado Chautauqua Assembly in Boulder today for about a week!

Mrs. Ruth Mougey Worrell

Left New Hampshire on Friday, and had a fun quick trip through Sewickley. I loved catching up with my dear friend Rebecca and her family. Mac and Callie (2) literally saw eye to eye, and Callie loved it when Mac kissed her face. And spending time with my goddaughter Hannah is always a gift.

Then visited the Ohio Historical Society, to look over the papers of Ruth Mougey Worrell, a woman who wrote and directed historical pageants at chautauquas and for other organizations like the Red Cross. Worrell wrote and directed pageants for Bay View in 1925 and 1950, and for Lakeside in 1923 (and did some other sort of pageant/sketch, I found yesterday, for the United Methodist conference at Lakeside - not yet sure of the year).

My greatest finds at the archives were two scripts - the undated sketch at Lakeside and the 1925 Bay View pageant. I hadn't seen either of these before, and hope to share them with the archivists at Lakeside and Bay View.

I also got a better sense of this woman, Ruth Mougey Worrell. She never graduated from college, but was already recognized as a dramatist by the time she married (and her husband encouraged her to keep her maiden name as part of her professional name). But at times, he was also frustrated with her that she was not able to be home as regularly as he'd hoped (she had three daughters). Her work was most popular in the '20s and '30s, but she was still directing pageants of sorts until the '60s. Much of her writing was published under the auspices of the Woman's Home Missionary Society and she was, at one time, the pageant master for the United Methodist Church. In '64, she was Ohio's Mother of the Year (must have spent some time at home!) and in '65, was given an honorary doctorate by Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio. Her letter of acceptance was quite poignant, pointing out that she had not received a college degree, but had accomplished so much.

Worrell's work extends far beyond chautauqua, all quite fascinating. The archives had some good information, but I wish I could learn more about her.

Now in Bay View for a few days before heading out again, next to Colorado!

The adventure begins!

This summer, I am spending three months visiting fourteen different sites to research permanent chautauquas. On this blog, you'll be able to track my movements, learn about where I'm visiting, and get my thoughts as I go. (It will also force me to write as I'm traveling -- so it's as much for me as it is for anyone else reading it). I'm scheduled to visit the following chautauquas: Colorado Chautauqua (Boulder, CO), Bay View Association (MI), Epworth Assembly (Ludington, MI), Ocean Park (ME), Ocean Grove (NJ), Mount Gretna (PA), Monteagle Sunday School Assembly (TN), Fountain Park Chautauqua (Remington, IN), Winona Lake (formerly a chautauqua, in IN), New Piasa Chautauqua (IL), Lakeside (OH), and Chautauqua (NY). To end it, I'll visit Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association (MA). A whirlwind summer, but significantly easier than circuit chautauqua performers' schedules. I don't have to go by train (sometimes freight trains!) to a different place every night. Very excited for the research, to see these amazing communities in person, and to reconnect with friends I have met throughout the Chautauqua Network.