This is a ZOOM recording “interview style” with Robert Goodenough on April 18, 2023, as a result of a series of posts and comments in a Facebook Group (which you can ask to join) called Charlevoix Area Vintage News.
A photo of the Blue Belle Cottage was posted in the group – and the members of the group began discussing their memories of the Blue Belle Cottage.
The interview below is “closed captioned” which helps to follow the dialogue. NOTE: CC is not perfect – but a good aid for understanding the conversation – approximately 30 minutes in length.
On April 16, 2023, I (Chip Leakas) joined a Facebook Group – Charlevoix Area Vintage News by invitation to see if I could find additional photos or videos, or stories about the Belvedere Club to add to the new website.
I posted a few photos of the Blue Belle Cottage which began the discussion – over 22 comments and that’s when Bob Goodenough mentioned the “skeleton in the closet”! I reached out to Bob to see if he had other memories and stories of the Blue Belle Cottage he would be willing to share with me. The Hollingsworth family also owned the “Golly Hoo” boat shown in the photo gallery below. The Blue Belle Cottage was built in 1876 by Oscar M. Allen from Kalamazoo Michigan.
I asked if he would be available to do a ZOOM interview and recording – and he was gracious enough to do the 30-minute recording which is preserved here for the members.
GERALD HOLLINGSWORTH – EMMETT HOLLINGS WOR TH
The BLUE BELL! The first sight of our cottage thrilled us with pride and joy. Painted gleaming white, blue trim with a red roof, it was visible to sailors ten miles or more at sea before the trees grew so tall, and leafy branches obscured the old landmark. Grandfather, Oscar M. Allen, one of the ten who established the resort, was a devout Mason: He built his cottage in the form of a Maltese Cross. The first floor four rooms opened into a central room with outside porches filling up the corners, making the floor plan a “square”. The second floor four bedrooms opened into a balcony that looked down on the first floor, and, at the very top, a cupola (to us alway a “cupalow”), one room with windows from which could be viewed Pine Lake, the bayou, and, way off across the town, Lake Michigan.
Book 1 | Memoirs of Members 1878-1968
