“Liquid Heaven” (20) – Special Pictures and Memories – A Different Time (1) – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba

I would like to share Special Pictures and the memories that go along with them but are not directly linked to a specific place on the Island.

This picture could have been taken on any given afternoon in the late 1950’s. The Dock is directly to the left. The red board was pulled behind our “speed boat”, a 25′ open boat with a 25 Johnson motor on the back. It was powerful to pull up water skiers or the board for the younger children. Notice the black inner tube from an automobile tire. We had many of these when my family was there with four or five other families. Some of the older women would float around the Island in the late afternoon and some of the younger kids, including me, would swim around the Island. It was a ritual I still continue. I try to float around the Island once a day sitting on a noodle.

Lad (my Dad), Chet and Pete, childhood friends who came up with us each year with their families. My Dad very rarely drank but on the Island, he had beer. They are standing next to the Bathtub.

Another ritual carried out by some of the men was going out fishing late at night. Chet and Charlie show off one nights bounty. The men would scale and de-bone the fish then put them in the freezer. Every night the frozen fish supply would grow until there were enough fish so that about 20 people could have a  fish-fry for breakfast. This occurred about once a week.

These are the children who were usually on the Island with my family each summer during the last two weeks of August. They are from my family and four others. All of the parents were my father’s childhood friends. I am the tallest one in the back row, although there are two others who were older than me. This was the first (and last) time I ever had a permanent. I was twelve at the time.

Next weekend will probably be the last posts about “Liquid Heaven”, our Family Island Retreat.

Judy Guion

“Liquid Heaven” (19) – Special Pictures and Memories – Sheba – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba

Sheba between the Cook Cabin and the Sleeping Cabin.

The Fire Pit (hidden by the chairs) and Sheba in front of the Sleeping Cabin in 2007.

Sheba, named by my children and maybe not called that by any other members of the family, is a large rock located between the Cook Cabin and the Sleeping Cabin. My daughters wanted to sit on top of the rock but I would not allow them to go up there until they could show me that they could run up the face of the rock and sit down on top all by themselves. I never wanted to place them up there and take the chance that they might fall off.

When I was a child, we had to take the same test and it was one of the first “rites-of-passage”.

Lad and Pete Linsley in front of the fire pit, with Sheba to the right, in the late 1950’s.

Fire in the Fire Pit in 2020. The Fire Pit has been enlarged and improved over the years.

Tomorrow, more of “Liquid Heaven”, Special Pictures and Memories.

Judy Guion

“Liquid Heaven (18) – Special Pictures and Memories – Sleeping Cabin (2) – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba

A close-up of the stairs to the Loft and the Front Door. The doors at the top of the stairs are two 4×6 sheets of plywood that swing out and are held open by hooks.

The addition next to the stairs is a bathroom. Originally it enclosed a Composting toilet but that was deemed unsatisfactory. At present, it is just a storage area. I have dreams of an electric incinerator toilet. There are a few visitors to the Island who do not like to walk to the Outhouse, especially at night in the rain.

This is a view of the Master Bedroom in the Sleeping Cabin. The back door leads to Bathtub Rock.

This is the Master Bedroom taken from the door. The two rooms with out bunkbeds have very appreciated ceiling fans. The walls and ceilings of the Sleeping Cabin are covered by graffiti from all the family and friends who have stayed there. 

This is one of the two front rooms, each with four bunkbeds. These have been constructed over the more recent years by our amazing Maintenance Team and their friends.

I do not remember when the original windows were put in the Loft but it was probably only a year or two after construction. A big hole was cut into the wall and  two window screens were mounted horizontally and held in place by bent nails. They were not very tight and did not keep mosquitos out, but they did allow a refreshing breeze to flow through when the doors were open. On the outside were two doors just like the ones at the other end which could be closed during the winter. A few years ago, the Maintenance Team installed new windows. What an improvement. As you can see, the divider has been removed.

The new windows in the Loft, above the back door, which leads to Bathtub Rock.

Tomorrow I will begin a week of letters written in 1940. Lad is working in Venezuela for the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, which eventually became part of Mobil Oil. Ced and Dan are planning on leaving in the beginning of June to try their luck and find better paying jobs in Alaska.

Judy Guion

“Liquid Heaven” (17) – Sleeping Cabin (1) – Special Pictures and Memories – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba

In 1955, my family was on the Island with three other families and we were all sleeping in a 20×20 Army Tent. We children had finished our lunch and were in the tent for “quiet Time”, while the grown-ups ate their lunch and had an hour – or more if they could convince us that an hour was not up yet – when they did not have to worry about where the 12 children were or what they were doing. A bad storm came over the surrounding mountains and the wind lifted the corner of the tent closest to Sunset Rock. The rain poured in and it scared us so much that we all ran out of the tent screaming for  our parents.

That winter, the guys met at Pete Linsley’s house and made plans to a 20×24 wooden structure with four bedrooms downstairs, a dog trot between the front door and the back door, and a loft for some of the children to sleep in. As soon as the snow had melted, they were up on the Island building this Sleeping Cabin, which was ready for occupants by July.

 

This is probably the earliest picture of the Sleeping Cabin. It is taken from the path leading down to Bathtub Rock. There is no window in the upper section, the Loft.

Notice the unpainted squares? These are the bent nails made by those who helped build it in 1956. I believe the next year, small white life savers were placed around each bent nail and the name of the person responsible was added. My twin brother , ten years old at the time, created one bent nail.

This was the foundation of the Sleeping Cabin, 50-gal. drums filled with cement. You can just make out the year 1956 on this one.

This is a side view of the Sleeping Cabin, with the Fire Pit and Sheba in front.

This is a picture of the Sleeping Cabin taken from the roof of the Cook Cabin. I was up there removing moss and had my camera with me. The stairs to the Loft were added many years after it was built. We used a ladder inside the cabin, in the dog trot, to climb up into the Loft. It was determined that it was not the safest way after a few bad falls and a broken arm.

The Loft was divided in half lengthwise and the Big Girls (two 12-year-olds, one 10-year-old (me) and a nine-year old) slept on one side, while the Little Girls (a nine-year-old who was friends with my 8 year-old sister and a 5 year-old), slept on the other.

Tomorrow more of “Liquid Heaven”, the Sleeping Cabin and Special Pictures and Memories.

Judy Guion

“Liquid Heaven” (16) – Special Pictures and Memories – Cook Cabin (2) – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba 

When I was young, there was no electricity on the Island. We used flashlights and kerosene lanterns. Only the older children and adults could carry or use the lanterns. We were taught at a very early age to be careful and we never had a fire, even when four families were sleeping in the 20′ x 20′ Army Tent. Electricity arrived at the Island via an underwater line from the mainland in the early 1960’s.

The cooking area of the Cook Cabin. The door is the back door where we children picked up our meals. Just outside, there was a drop-down shelf where the wash and rinse dishpans were. We were expected to wash and dry our own dishes. 

Marian, my Mom, was the General of Organization. Aside from our meal duties, we were also responsible for getting water and gathering firewood and dead branches. Getting water was only done by the older children and it was a privilege. We gathered the containers, 10 gallon Army containers painted Army Green, loaded them into the row boat, rowed over to the mainland, carried the containers uphill to the Spring House, pumped the water and filled the containers and then had to carry them back to the rowboat. Once we were back at the Island, we had to carry them uphill to the back door of the Cook Cabin. A lot of work but we were proud to do it.

This is the eating area which is also used for smaller groups playing cards or doing puzzles. Sheba is outside the right side window and the Fire Pit is outside the two left side windows. The table legs are pieces of the tent poles used to hold up the 20′ x 20′ Army Tent we slept in prior to 1956.

The barrel stools originally contained the nails used to construct the Sleeping Cabin. My Dad designed and constructed the tops and Mom added padding and covered them with vinyl.

The bench seat on the right is as wide as a single bed. It has a large storage area beneath the seat.  It has been used many times, especially if someone comes up in the winter. One night, I was up later than my children and grandchildren, and when I went out to the Sleeping Cabin, the door was locked. One of my daughters thought I was already inside and locked the door. I used the bench to sleep on that night. Needless to say, she was shocked,  quite dismayed and apologetic when she found me in the morning.

Sunset Harbor, the 1000 piece puzzle completed on this table while we were up on the Island in August, 2022

The finished Cook Cabin Porch. The picnic table is 8′ long and can accommodate at least a dozen people, more if there are small children. On the bench closest to the outside, there are two outlines of BIG fish that have been caught by someone. They are not identified and there are no names or dates of the fisherman. 

Here we are playing “Dump on your Neighbor” in 2011

This is what the porch looked like after a strong wind and rain storm in 2012. 

Next weekend I will be sharing pictures and memories of the Sleeping Cabin.

Tomorrow I will begin posting a week of letters written in July and August of 1942. Dan was inducted into the Army in January and is in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina for further training. Lad went in May and in currently at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland to continue his training.

Judy Guion

“Liquid Heaven” (15) – Cook Cabin (1) – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba 

Early picture of the Cook Cabin and picnic table with Rain Fly over it. (Our water and Slalom skis leaning against the outside)

Original Cook Cabin buttoned up for the winter – Pete Linsley on the Island with about 7 other including Lad and Marian

The Cook Cabin open for the summer – the door propped up with tent poles and a group of Boy Scouts having lunch on a weekend adventure in the mid-1950’s. Both of my brothers and a cousin are in this picture.

Stage one of the addition. When I was a child, the picnic table was further away from the Cook Cabin and was covered with a Fly. Ten to Fifteen children were gathered around the table after we waited in line to get our meal from the back door. After we had finished eating, we lined up again tp wash our plates, glasses and silverware. We dried them and put them away before we could leave to continue our adventures.

This is the back door to the Cook Cabin. There was a drop-down shelf to the left of the door that held the wash and rinse bowls. This is the original garage that was moved to the Island, piece by piece, and re-built in the late 1940’s.

 Finished Porch addition

Tomorrow, pictures of the interior of the Cook Cabin as we continue “Liquid Heaven” – Special Pictures and Memories.

Judy Guion

“Liquid Heaven” (14) – Toothpaste Landing – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer, and perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba 

Toothpaste Landing (the cluster of rocks in the center of the picture)

When I was growing up, we would go to the Island for the last two weeks of August every year. My parents would invite anywhere from three to six families to come up with us. This could mean as many as twenty children but fifteen was the usual number.

Toothpaste Landing

When it was time to get ready for bed, we would all troop down to Toothpaste Landing to brush our teeth. Some of the older children would step out on the rocks in the water while the younger ones stayed on the land.

There were two pine trees at the end of the path to Toothpaste Landing. One of the men, very possibly my Dad, Lad, built two shoebox-sized wooden holders with about eight or ten hooks inside for each child to hang their toothbrush from, tubes of toothpaste lined up below them.

Next weekend, more Special Pictures and Memories of “Liquid Heaven”, our Island Family Retreat.

Tomorrow I will begin a week of letters written in 1940 when Lad, the oldest, was the only one away from home. He was in Venezuela working for the Soconey-Vacuum Oil Company maintaining their vehicles and the Diesel Oil Pumps out at their various camps.

Judy Guion

“Liquid Heaven” (11) – Special Pictures and Memories – Sandy Beach – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer or perhaps into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba

Sandy Beach, September, 2020

Sandy Beach was created at some point in the early years after Grandpa purchased the Island. My Father, Lad, arranged for a few loads of sand to be dumped in this cove during the winter. When the spring thaw arrived, the sand settled in this protected, shallow cove. I believe that additional sand was deposited at least once but I have no memory of when that might have been. 

Sandy Beach on the left, the Big and the Flat Rock on the right and you can also see the remnants of a breakwater to the left.

Since Sandy Beach is on the open water side of the Island, boats passing by have always created waves. As the boats got bigger, so did the waves. It was decided that a breakwater would be built from the rocks in the water to protect smaller children who were swimming there. That breakwater has been rebuilt several times over the years, changing shape and size, depending upon who was directing the re-build.

The Big, Flat Rock continues for another four to six feet into the water. Because there are not many small children using the Island at this point, it is quite slippery with algae, a hazard to us older folks.

Sandy Beach at Sunset, September, 2020

A close-up of Sandy Beach and all the Blueberry bushes surrounding it.

Blueberries at Sandy Beach, July, 2013

While I was up at the Island this year, we were there during peak blueberry season. We all came home with blueberries. Between us, we made blueberry pancakes, blueberry muffins, blueberry muffin tops, blueberry jam, a blueberry pie and added blueberries to our smoothies. I am still enjoying them.

Tomorrow, pictures and memories of the Big, Flat Rock and Baby Beach.

Judy Guion

 

“Liquid Heaven” (10) – Special Places and Memories – Sunsets From Sunset Rock – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer and possibly into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba

June, 2015

June, 2016

September, 2020

July, 2022 – This Sunset followed a powerful wind and Hail storm while I was up on the Island

I have other Sunsets but am having a problem getting them from my phone to my computer into my Blog. I will share them when I overcome this obstacle.

Tomorrow I  will begin a week of letters written in July of 1942. 

Judy Guion

“Liquid Heaven” (9) – Special Pictures and Memories – Sunsets From Sunset Rock – 1945 – 2022

Our Family Island Retreat was purchased in 1945 from Rusty Heurlin’s family because they no longer used it and Grandpa’s family was growing. Grandpa and his children thoroughly enjoyed any time they spent there.

From now until the end of the summer and possibly into the fall, I will be posting pictures of places on the Island and sharing stories and memories of these unique places. I hope you can enjoy a few peaceful moments while I share these memories with you.

1. Dock

2. The Point

3. Bathtub Rock

4. Big Rock

5. Sunset Rock

6. Sandy Beach, Big Flat Rock (to the left, Baby Beach)

7. Toothpaste Landing

8. & 9. – Screen Porch and Cook Cabin

10. Sleeping Cabin

11. Fire Pit and Sheba 

August 2006

August, 2007

August, 2011

July, 2013

Tomorrow, some more Sunsets from Sunset Rock on our Island Family Retreat, known as “Liquid Heaven”.

Judy Guion