The Wigwam Story

The Wigwam Story 

by Betty (Gray) Roelofson and 

Sandy Roelofson-Belovari

This recollection of events was written by my mother the summer of 2012, the summer we spent a wonderful 3 months at 1020 Oak Road, with added recollections by Sandy

This is my story, Betty Roelofson (nee Gray) as well as I can remember it. The first time I heard of the property which eventually became known as Wigwam Lodge was after dinner one evening at our home on Stibbard Avenue in Toronto. My uncle Wally Gray and his sisters Evelyn and Dorothy had vacationed at what they called Kahshe Lake Hotel or Sopher’s. While there they had taken a boat trip and had seen the log cabins and big building on what was to become the Wigwam property. 

After asking about this property he was told it was for sale and excitedly wanted to try to buy it. This was at the end of the summer of 1940. Evidently ( as was told to me later) he approached his employer, Lloyd Wright (at the service station owned by Mr. Wright and his partner Mr. Johnson) and they went to Kahshe Lake to look at the property. Unfortunately for Wally, they decided to buy it for themselves and Wally became their handy man.

The buildings had been constructed by Mary and Maude Lean in the early '30's as a Girl Guide Camp, but unfortunately they lost it for back taxes in the depression. The sisters did however build side by side cottages on Oak Road near the narrows. Mary would come for meals at the lodge frequently and would often come by way of her beautiful wooden canoe. It was also legendary that she often skinny dipped for her morning swim.

The camp sat unused for several years before Mr. Wright and Mr. Johnson bought it and they called it Wigwam Inn. 

In the Summer of 1941, my Uncle Wally came to our cottage on Lake Muskoka to ask my parents if I could go and work at the Inn as a cabin girl as they were in need of help. As I was only 11-1/2 years old, my mom and dad said I could go if Wally supervised me, as they knew Lloyd Wright very well. I was pretty mature for my age, and was to be starting high school in the fall. I had skipped several grades in public school due to the depression. They were short handed at the resort. I had no pervious experience working but had lots of household training as I lived in my grandmother’s house with all my aunts, uncles, parents, brother and sister. I had lots of experience changing beds and cleaning!

I worked for Mr. Wright almost all of every summer from 1941 to 1945. It was in 1945 that Mr. Wright sold the Inn to two Majors, Mr William Roelofson age 25 and Mr Dick Medland age 26. I passed for 16 years of age for all the years I worked there, so when I actually turned 16, (I was born in 1929.) I already had two years cabin girl experience and two years waitressing.  

Mr Wright changed the name from Wigwam Inn to Wigwam Lodge when he bought his partner out after their first year of operation. 

The kitchen became the small lounge with the beautiful stone fireplace and lovely half cedar log walls. The kitchen was built on the lake side of the building off the dining room at the end of the largest main lodge room. It also contained the staff dining room. The office was built off the side veranda and was at the end of the snack bar in the small lounge. Years later we added a bakery off the kitchen, which my father’s sister Rita ran. It proved to be VERY popular and my daughter Sandra would spend countless hours helping her make her famous Chelsea buns and Butter Tarts. Many lake cottagers would come for meals and enjoy Rita's baking!

When Mr. Wright sold the Lodge to the two Majors, the staff (including me. At the time I was dating Mr. Wright’s son.) were asked to work for them in the summer of 1946, as the Majors had no experience running a resort. They were both just recently home from the Second World War in Europe and had little other work experience other than the military.

Bill Roelofson had lied about his age to enlist in the army and was the youngest soldier to achieve the rank of Major. He obviously had the ability to manage, but they both had a lot to learn about running a summer resort !

I waitressed for them that summer of 1946, and during that summer Bill and I had become very close, romantically involved in fact and by the end of that summer he asked me to marry him. He gave me an engagement ring on my September 10th birthday. I was 17 and he was 25. 

My parents were obviously more than a little apprehensive and felt I was much too young. They wanted me to attend university so were not overjoyed. I hadn't even finished grade 13. At the very least they wanted us to wait until I was 18 to marry. I did not begin grade 13 but instead took a job at an insurance company. By April of 1947, Bill had bought out his partner.

The division of work was increasingly uneven. Dick enjoyed the social aspect while Bill did all the physical work. Bill went to my parents and asked if it would be possible for us to marry before June as he really needed my help at Wigwam. By this time my parents could see we were deeply in love and knew he couldn't run it on his own and said if we could arrange it in that short period of time they would give us their blessing. 

We began our feverish whirlwind wedding preparations. May 17th it would be! We had a lovely traditional wedding at Eglington United Church and then off for a two day honeymoon at Killarney Lodge in Algonquin Park. After that it was straight back to Wigwam for lots of hard work to prepare for our first summer together as proud owners of Wigwam Lodge.

Lloyd Wright had built the cottages on the ridge on the right of the parking lot as two room units -cottages 1, 2 , 3 and 4. He had also built cabins 15, 17, 18, and 19 which were on the lake side closest to Oak Road. Bill then built the log cabins 10, 11 and 20 and the other smaller interior cottages to make up the total of 20 cottages with a little help and a lot of sweat. He took the dividers out of the two bedroom cottages making them one bedroom, each of  which had closets and later bathrooms.

He then added a veranda to the side of the small lounge and changed the entrance to the office which then faced the parking lot. It was several years after that the roof of the small lounge collapsed under the heavy weight of snow which then lead to further renovations on the small lounge. 

The fourteen room motel came in the mid 60's. Extensive filling

and innovative construction was needed by a local contractor to build this structure as three upper and lower units extended over the water. During the early years running the lodge together we had many busy and happy summers.

We added three children, first Randy in 1950, then Doug in 1953 and finally Sandra in 1956. Each pregnancy was carefully planned so that I would not be huge in the summer and they would not be newborns in the summer months. Two were born in December and the other in January.

During our years of ownership we made many, many wonderful friends. Some were staff, others guests. Some guests loved the Lodge so much that they bought property nearby and built cottages; some are still owned by the same families today, the Lowreys and the Trelevens being two. The Trelevens were instrumental in the construction of Oak Road. Until that time everyone had to access their cottages by water from the Lodge.

Other area good friends were Les Ring and his wife who owned Rockhaven Inn further down the Lake past Nagaya Beach, and Albert and Wilda Denne who owned Denne's Marina and snackbar/grocery store. My children spent many days at the Denne's store playing pinball, dancing, listening to the juke box and of course spending their hard earned wages on comic books and candy. 

We spent many evenings in the off season playing cards and socializing with our lake friends, some of the wonderful reasons why we loved Kahshe Lake so much. 

During the 60's an Art school was constructed and run by a woman named Tootsie Seguin. The large red structure was a popular spot for our guests to visit on Sunday evening when she would hold her open house. People would view the pottery and other wares and often purchase items. She was a very charismatic women who would make many lengthy swims past our dock with her trademark huge goggles. She ran the art school for many years with many, many students that mostly came from the Toronto area and she also ran smaller programs for guests from Wigwam.

So many lifelong friendships and marriage unions happened at the lodge. The first of course being Bill and I. Next came my sister Myrna who worked for us as a cabin girl. This was after a summer of her working at Sunny Crest Resort. We wanted her to have some experience before working for us as I didn't have time to babysit her! During her summer working for us she met her husband Donald Fox who was a Bellhop. They married, and are still married today with four wonderful children. 

Bill's cousin Jeannie Roelofson married and is still married to our bellhop Paul Walsh are among many staff members that met and married their mates after working at Wigwam. Many guests that honeymooned there returned year after year and became great friends. There certainly was some kind of magic there! One of my daughter’s friends who she recently became reacquainted with, Mike Hasting and his wife Chyvonne Williamson, met there too. Their family has property across from the lodge where they still reside with their family today.

In the spring of 1969, we made the painful decision not to operate the dining room and only remained open in a housekeeping capacity. It was time to spend more time with our teenaged children and aging parents. The demands of the Lodge were becoming more difficult and the trend of vacationing was in traveling abroad and south. There was a huge push for the Lodge to be licensed and the cost and work would be more than we wanted to undertake.

We sold the Lodge with heavy hearts in the spring of 1970. It changed hands twice after us, one change being to the present owner, Henry, in 1972. After a season or two of operation we had an alarming visit by some OPP officers who said they were sorry to report our main lodge had burned to the ground. Of course, they had not filled in the proper address. It was distressing nonetheless even though we were no longer owners. So much of our lives were tied to it. 

A year later the motel burned under somewhat suspicious circumstances. Now the Lodge is just a fading image of its glory days. There are still a few original cottages, although somewhat in disrepair. 

I am so glad my daughter rented an Oak Road cottage for the summer of 2012. We sat on the deck looking at the lodge recalling all our fond remembrances as a family. My sister Myrna and husband as well as her children joined us. It was a magical year of remembrances looking over at Wigwam and sitting enjoying the lake as we seldom had time to do while we were busy running the lodge.

This Wigwam chapter is now closed for me as I doubt I will lay eyes on it again. Happy wonderful years just fond memories now. I hope this helps shed some light on the happier and booming time that were had by the Roelofson clan and all that shared the Wigwam Lodge years with us.

Her Own Recollections by Sandy:

There aren't many people still living that know about those days. They were the glory days of Wigwam for sure. Always busy and bustling with guests. Weiner roasts on the small beach near the dock every Tuesday night. I'm sure cottagers for quite a distance could hear the singing of the old songs such as the "The Hokey Pokey, and Down by the Bay, Moonlight Bay". Such fun !

Card night was Wednesdays, Ping Pong tournaments Thursday nights, Bingo Fridays and Sunday was movie night, usually National Film Board pictures which really didn't excite us kids too much, but the guests seem to like them.

In the early days they had bands play at the opposite end of the dining room where there was a small band stand and an old player piano. Lots of dancing and fun, I understand --that was well before my time ! The piano was later converted to a regular one. I loved that piano with its panel that opened in the front and beautiful ivory keys. In the late 50's there was also a 5 cent one armed bandit (slot machine) that was really cool. We had to hide it in the pantry when we would have inspections. Les Ring of Rockhaven would always phone and let us know they were coming.

We had pinball machines and an awesome old juke box, too. Wish I had it now; it was beautiful inlaid oak and played 33's. There were cards or puzzles going on in the small lounge most of the time, so rainy days were never a problem. There wasn't even a television anywhere on the property until the moon landing in 1969, I think it was. My mom insisted we have one so we could all watch that momentous event. A simpler time for sure, before all the electronics.

She told me last night about the Donahues who owned quite a bit of land surrounding the lodge and Oak Road. Quite eccentric they were. They ended up living at highway 11 and North Kahshe. I believe it was a trailer park.

One story she missed was one summer, 1968, I believe, when we had gotten quite a lot of rain and the dip on Wigwam road (it is graded down now) just before the fork to Oak road, had filled with water. The old 57 Buick we used to pick up the mail at the highway drove through okay, but as it came to the top of the parking lot, my dad pressed the brakes but there was no response. I was sitting in our cabin that bordered the parking lot and the swamp and saw them go by at quite a good clip. I ran out to see what was going on and heard the horn blaring many times. By the time I got to the beach all you could see was the back fins and tail lights of the car.

The beach was full of guests so he was very happy no one was hurt. He did have an old staff member in the car with him who was up visiting for a vacation. They both managed to escape the car through the windows. The car had hit our aluminum boat, and by guest accounts hit it nose on and it flew up in the air and landed in the bay in front of Stenson Island. I'm sure they all had many stories to tell of that vacation. Joe Donahue pulled out the car with his tractor and dried the engine out with a hair dryer. They got it running, but it never ran reliably again.

The worst thing was when dad handed my mom the mail finally, my report card was in it. It was so wet all the ink had run and we couldn't tell if I had passed. We all had a good laugh for sure! 

Another one was one Sunday at the end of the water skiing time. We had water skiing for the guests every Sunday, and if there was enough time, and my dad felt up to it, he would take the staff and us kids. It was the last run, and it was my turn. I had gone for a good run, through the narrows and turned in the bay at Dennes and were heading back to the lodge. All of a sudden the boat sped up and everyone was frantically waving and pointing at the lodge.

I had no idea what was happening and I was desperately trying to hold on. When we got close enough I could see that the veranda of the lodge was on fire. Someone had dropped a cigarette on the ledge. The wood was old and dry and full of many coats of stain. My dad signaled for me to let go -- it was a long swim in– and they feverishly docked and raced up the 66 steps to the lodge. My dad raced into the kitchen and grabbed the first thing he saw which was a huge pot of water and dumped it on the fire. It took a few more, but they got it under control with not too much damage. It could have been a disaster for sure. It’s easy to see how it went up so quickly in the end. 

That was the craziest ski ride of my life, and the cook wasn't too happy either --the first pot was full of potatoes for dinner It had taken a few hours to peel, and a few more to peel again!

Illustrations: Old postcards courtesy of Grant Heaps