Up North with the Hemingways
by Michael Federspiel
Prospective Michigan History Magazine Article
Juuly/August 2007 Issue
Spending time “Up North” in Michigan is one of summer’s special delights. The rituals
repeat summer after summer – packing, enduring the unbearably long ride, making friends
(and saying goodbye), enjoying beautiful water, and longing all winter for the next summer.
While much has changed in Michigan over the last 100 years, the essential elements of the
“Up North” experience remain consistent. The lure of summer vacations is a powerful force for
generations of families.
A century ago, the Clarence and Grace Hall-Hemingway family was one of those who
loved summering in northern Michigan. They were in most ways a very ordinary family for their
time but in one way they were quite unique. Their son, Ernest, would eventually become world
famous, write stories set in northern Michigan and win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
But when he spent summers in Michigan, Ernest Miller Hemingway was simply “Ernie,” a boy
who loved getting away from home and spending time “Up North”. This is the story of his and
his family’s Michigan experiences between 1898 and 1921.
The Hemingways
Clarence Edmonds Hemingway was a successful doctor in the Chicago suburb of Oak
Park, Illinois, when in 1896 he married Grace Hall, a talented musician and artist. Dr.
Hemingway was a naturalist and sportsman who enjoyed fishing, hunting and spending time
outdoors while Grace’s interests were the arts and Oak Park society. Beginning with their first
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born in 1898, the family would eventually include six children (Marcelline, Ernest, Ursula,
Madelaine, Carol, and Leicester). They all would keep busy with school and community
activities from Labor Day to Memorial Day but the summers were set aside for leisure. Grace
and the children could enjoy long summer get-aways bracketed only by one school year’s end
and the beginning of the next but Dr. Hemingway’s busy medical practice would somewhat
limit his ability to be gone for long periods of time. Rather than vacationing at traditional
resorts around Chicago, the Hemingways decided early in their marriage to instead enjoy the
developing opportunities in Michigan.
Bear Lake
The railroads’ arrival in the 1870s changed much in northern Michigan. With easier
access, people from all over the midwest “discovered” the area and their numbers led to new
boarding houses and resort hotels on many lakes – including Bear Lake, south of Petoskey.
The first residential cottage was built there in 1878 and by the 1890s new structures dotted the
shore. In 1900 the lake’s name was changed to Walloon Lake to keep it from being confused
with other Bear Lakes around Michigan.
In August 1898, Dr. Clarence (often referred to as “Ed”) and Grace Hemingway visited
Bear Lake with their infant daughter, Marcelline. They stayed at a cabin owned by Grace’s
cousin, Madelaine Randall Board, on Bear Lake’s Wildwood Harbor and were so captivated
that they spent two weeks looking at property to purchase. Finally they found the perfect spot
and bought an acre of land from Henry Bacon, a local farmer, on a small bay. Returning home
to Oak Park in September, they commissioned the building of a cottage and in August 1899
they briefly returned to the lake to check on its progress. Staying about a mile from their
property at the Echo Beach Hotel, this was to be six week old Ernest’s first Michigan trip. The
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following year the family of four spent their first summer at “Windemere,” their new cottage,
beginning a relationship that would last decades.
Are We there Yet?
With the new century, the Hemingways started their annual tradition of traveling “Up
North.” Compared to today’s trips, it was a slow and awkward affair beginning with the excited
packing of most of what they would need for a three-month stay. The trunks and boxes were
heavy and awkward -- filled with clothes, personal items, and precious library books borrowed
from the Oak Park Public Library. Their luggage was first conveyed eight miles to the Chicago
River docks and was then loaded on a steamship such as the Manitou, Missouri or Illinois to
travel north with the family along Michigan’s coastline. On their first trip in 1898, the
Hemingways took the luxurious SS Manitou. Forty-two feet wide and almost as long as a
football field (274 feet), its top speed was 19.5 miles an hour, making it among the fastest
ships on the lake. But even at this speed, the trip to Harbor Springs took over a day to
complete. Once there, porters transferred the Hemingway’s possessions to the nearby rail
depot where a local suburban train took the family the eleven miles to Petoskey. Hugging
Little Traverse Bay, the train stopped at as many as eleven resorts along the line. At
Petoskey, the Hemingways and their trunks transferred to a different station and yet another
suburban train to Walloon Lake Village. The village, originally known as “Talcott,” gained train
service in 1892 making it possible to reach it and Walloon Lake via luxury rail coaches from far
away cities such as Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and Detroit.
Once at Walloon Village, the Hemingways completed their journey by taking a woodburning lake steamer such as the two-decked Tourist or the smaller Outing, directly to their
cottage. These steamers made regular trips around the lake providing a valuable link to the
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outside world. A white banner or flag at the dock end (or occasionally a blast from Clarence’s
Swiss ram’s horn bugle) signaled them to stop at the Hemingways.
One notable exception to the usual travel routine was the 1917 trip. With knowledge of
improving roads and a sense of determination, Dr. Hemingway decided to make the journey in
his Model T touring car. Ernie, Grace and young Leicester accompanied him while the girls
went ahead on the familiar steamship SS Manitou and met the family at Walloon. Dr.
Hemingway’s journal and family photos tell the story of the five-day journey with nights in tents,
freshly caught fish fried for breakfast, terrible roads, and adventure. The 487-mile trip had 100
miles added on for detours and the family carried a shovel to use when the car became stuck
on rutted roads. A thirty-one mile stretch between Traverse City and Walloon Lake was
especially difficult. The road was only a sand track on which they averaged a whopping 8
miles an hour! During the remaining summer, daughter Marcelline remembered Clarence
driving to Petoskey over sand hills on unimproved roads. He carried a shovel and an axe to
cut branches along the way. One can image his embarrassment when he became so stuck he
needed to be pulled out by a laughing farmer and his team of horses. The return to Oak Park
was much easier with the Hemingways and their car returning via steamship.
Cottage Life at Windemere
The journey’s frustrations were forgotten when the family finally arrived and threw open
the cottage door and windows. As designed by Grace, Windemere cost $400 to build and was
a simple, functional structure measuring 20 X 40 feet. Facing southwest, it included a living
room dominated by a large brick fireplace and two window seats that doubled as children’s
beds. Additionally it had two small bedrooms and a kitchen complete with a wood burning
range and an iron-handled pump that supplied fresh well water. Oil lamps provided evening
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reading light and a piano, music for sing-alongs. White pine was used on both the interior and
exterior where the clapboards were painted white. The porch was a perfect place to look out
at the lake and to watch the children play. While water for drinking came from the well, bathing
and clothes washing used the cool lake water. An outhouse was discreetly tucked in a pine
grove at the back of the property. The beach was sandy and the water, a beautiful blue.
Birch, cedar, maple, and beech trees surrounded the lot and tree covered Murphy’s Point
provided shelter from the north wind. As the years passed, this point would be the site of many
adventures, picnics and campsites.
As the family grew to include all six children, additions and improvements were made to
the original structure. With the birth of their third child, Ursula, in 1902, a kitchen wing was
added complete with a screened dining area linking it to the main cottage. A sleeping annex
was built behind the cottage containing three additional bedrooms and providing more peace
and quiet for the parents. Having four sisters undoubtedly contributed to Ernest’s eventual
desire to get away from the annex. After his fifteenth birthday in 1914, he slept on a cot in a
canvas tent pitched close to the back fence. There he kept a kerosene lamp and a pile of
magazines and books that sister Marcelline remembered him often reading late into the night.
Behind the back property line was the Bacon’s Farm. The Bacons were just one of the
local families who became good and valued Hemingway friends. In 1879, Henry and Elizabeth
Bacon homesteaded an eighty-acre farm that gave the Hemingway children many new
experiences. It also supplied the family with much needed milk, meat, cream and vegetables
during the summer. Indeed, the farm’s proximity had been an important factor in the original
land purchase. In return, Dr. Hemingway provided medical services to the Bacons (and any
other locals who were in need) at little or no cost. So strong were the bonds with the Bacons
that the Hemingway children referred to Henry as “Grandpa Bacon.”
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Clarence delighted in the physical activities and work associated with cottage and farm
life. On July 13, 1900 – the day Ernest took his first solo steps – Dr. Hemingway attended a
barn raising at the Bacons where he helped with construction, photographed the proceedings
and was given the honor of driving in the last stake – something he fondly remembered for
years. Marcelline Hemingway Sanford recalled the improvised trestle tables made of long
boards and sawhorses filled with food for over a hundred people and the cheer that went up
when the final timber was put in place.
Items the Bacon’s didn’t supply were purchased locally or were shipped directly from
Chicago. Stores such as Crago’s Delicatessen at Walloon Lake Village were a source of
provisions and, in extraordinary circumstances, the family might even travel to Petoskey. But
these trips to town were rare indeed. According to daughter Madelaine, before each trip north
Dr. Hemingway made careful and elaborate lists of what would be needed for their stay.
Staples such as flour, sugar, slab bacon, chocolate, and spices were ordered from the
Montgomery Ward catalog and delivered to Walloon Lake. Dr. Hemingway sometimes even
ordered special treats for the family. Madelaine remembered the children delighting in
peppermint candy, gingersnap cookies, and marshmallows.
Wish You Were Here!
Like most families, the Hemingways’ cottage life revolved around the water. It
was a source of food and entertainment and at this time of few roads, it connected the
Hemingways to others on the lake and to the outside world.
Dr. Hemingway taught his children to swim and spent much time in the lake with them.
Beginning with postcards made in 1901 showing Ernest and Marcelline paddling along
side the family rowboat, dozens of photographs capture the family splashing and posing. One
can picture the growing family with deeply tanned Dr. Hemingway conducting swimming
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lessons while the fair skinned Mrs. Hemingway watched anxiously from the porch as the family
moved to deep water. (She sun burned easily and disliked the “slimy” lake bottom.) Dr.
Hemingway was very safety conscious and he often conducted lifesaving drills involving what
to do if a boat capsized. Turning them into races, the children enjoyed the competition while at
the same time learning valuable swimming skills. Over the years, the Hemingways owned
several boats including launches, rowboats, and a canoe that they kept in the off-season in
Windemere’s living room protected by a favorite bed quilt. The rowboats, Marcelline of
Windemere and Ursula of Windemere, were well used and loved. In about 1910 Dr.
Hemingway purchased the family’s first motorboat, an 18-foot launch christened Sunny (in
honor of daughter Madelaine’s nickname). It was powered by a Gray Marine inboard engine
that proved to be an ongoing challenge to the non-mechanical father.
It was also with Dr. Hemingway’s guidance that Ernest and his siblings learned about
and developed talents with fishing rods and reels. Countless photos attest to the family’s
success at catching trout, pike, perch, and bass. The Hemingway Collection at Central
Michigan University’s Clarke Historical Library is home to a wonderful letter from Ernie to a
friend in 1919 describing the perfect way to catch trout on a lake. It details how to bait the
hooks with skinned perch, how to position the rods and reels on the boat, and even describes
the screeching sound the reel makes when you get a strike. In his youthful enthusiasm, he
proclaims it “the best rainbow trout fishing in America.”
Hunting and shooting were also a part of the summer experience. Dr. Hemingway was
an excellent shot who knew the importance of safety and responsible hunting. Marcelline,
recalled Dr. Hemingway enjoying a skeet trap and barrels of clay pigeons shipped from
Chicago. Shooting skeet on the grassy hill behind the cottage soon became a Sunday
afternoon tradition with everyone learning how to shoot. When it came time to move on to
game rather than targets, Clarence insisted nothing be killed unless it could and would be
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eaten. This included a porcupine that Ernest and his friend Harold Sampson shot in retaliation
for quills it left in the Bacon’s dog in 1913. It’s easy to imagine the look on the boys’ faces
when they were reminded of the family rule. The haunches cooked for hours but years later
“Sam” still remembered that the meat “tasted like a piece of shoe leather.” But usually, hunting
brought in more tasty fare.
Like other families then and now, the Hemingways entertained guests and celebrated
special occasions. Frequently family members, including grandparents, visited them from Oak
Park for extended stays. Holidays like the Fourth of July were celebrated with friends who
were fed with pit barbequed lamb, oven roasted pig, potato salad, and gallons of lemonade.
Friends came from around the lake and as far away as Boyne City. The evening’s highlight
was sky-rockets set off at the lakeside by Dr. Hemingway. The children were allowed Roman
candles and could light the pinwheels the Doctor nailed to the dock’s flagpole.
A very special occasion for the Hemingways was the birth of a new baby in July 1911.
Rather than stay at Oak Park that summer, a very pregnant Grace Hemingway escaped the
city heat and made her way to Windemere. When she went into labor on July 19, Marcelline
reported being sent a half-mile away to Murphy’s Point with a sketch pad and book, Ernest
went off fishing, and the younger children were hurried off to Bacon’s farm with a promise that
they would be summoned when they had a new sibling. With a trained nurse assisting Dr.
Hemingway, a beautiful baby girl was born and named “Carol.” Beginning the following year,
she and Ernest (whose birthday was July 21) would annually celebrate with a special tradition
of cutting and decorating the “birthday tree.” With great pageantry, a small evergreen was cut
each July, decorated, and placed in a special stand on the dining porch in celebration of their
birthdays.
As anyone who owns a cottage knows, there is always some work mixed in with the
play. The Hemingways began their stays by removing the winter shutters, opening windows
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and airing out the cottage. There were sticks and branches to clear from the yard and
firewood to cut and split for the woodstove and fireplace. Older girls who either came along
from Oak Park or were hired locally for the summer assisted with housekeeping, cooking and
childcare. There surely was much to do with a family of six children – especially with Dr.
Hemingway’s frequent absences to attend to his patients at home.
While many Oak Park formalities were abandoned at Windemere, Dr. Hemingway
insisted others remain. According to son Leicester, the Doctor demanded that meals remain
formal with freshly scrubbed children wearing proper clothing and exhibiting dignified manners
while eating correctly served food. Chores were assigned and expected to be performed with
both the beach and yard raked daily. Ernest went to Bacon’s farm with Mason jars on a “milk
run” for that day’s supply. As the oldest male when Dr. Hemingway was away, an increasing
number of expectations would eventually frustrate Ernest who really longed to enjoy his
friends, books, and summer rather than tending to chores.
For the Hemingways work soon extended beyond normal routine cottage maintenance.
In 1905 a forty-acre farm on the opposite shore of Walloon Lake was being sold for back taxes.
Standing on it were an old house, some sheds, and a nice timber stand. Dr. Hemingway liked
the potential for teaching his family the value of good, honest physical labor and for securing a
food source during the summer months. It was purchased, named “Longfield Farm,” and
introduced into the family’s summer routine. The Frank Washburn family agreed to be tenant
farmers with Clarence paying the bills and receiving a third of the crops. The Hemingways put
in long hours planting trees -- black walnut, cherry, plum, peach and evergreens -- and
vegetables. In good years there was enough surplus produce for the children to go around the
lake selling potatoes, beets, carrots, and peas to other cottage owners and small resorts.
Ernest likely preferred spending time fishing with friends to planting and digging potatoes, but
he accepted his father’s desire to have him help the Washburns and his own family.
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Understanding his son’s claim to a vacation, Dr. Hemingway contracted work with him.
Leicester explained that this provided Ernest with spending money and at the same time
accomplished the tasks Dr. Hemingway wanted done. In 1917 twenty additional acres were
purchased and Warren Sumner, a local farmer, was hired to take Washburn’s place. Ernest
usually slept at the farm in his tent and worked that summer with Sumner removing the tenant
farmhouse, cutting 20 acres of hay, and building an icehouse that they then filled with sawdust.
During the cold winter, Sumner stocked it with ice cut and hauled from Walloon Lake. All
summer long, chunks of that ice were brought across the lake to Windemere and kept in an
icebox under the trees until needed to preserve food or cool drinks on hot, muggy summer
days.
As they grew older, both Marcelline and Ernest spent more time away from Windemere
with friends their own age. This was especially true in 1917, the summer after their high
school graduation. While Marcelline’s attention turned toward Petoskey where she played viola
in the Bay View Orchestra, Ernest became a regular across Walloon Lake at Horton Bay.
Nestled on the shore of Lake Charlevoix (and a three mile walk from Longfield Farm), the
village had a slow pace and a nice mixture of locals and summer people. Family friends
included the village blacksmith, Jim Dilworth, and his wife, Elizabeth, who ran Pinehurst, an inn
famous locally for its chicken dinners. Ernest often stayed there and was comfortable eating
his suppers and then lounging, reading day old newspapers. Away from his family, he was free
to act as a typical teenager – trying to impress the girls, hanging out with buddies, telling
exaggerated stories about his fishing exploits and life back in the city.
While the family would continue to enjoy Walloon summers, Ernest’s experiences there
ended in 1921. In all, he spent at least part of his first twenty-two summers in Michigan. In
1918 World War I was raging and he only had a few days of fishing with friends before being
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called back home to join the Red Cross as an ambulance driver. Shortly after arriving in Italy
he was wounded and spent the rest of the year in a hospital recovering before sailing back to
America in January. He would head back to northern Michigan in 1919 and 1920 but spent
most of his time away from Windemere living at Horton Bay where he enjoyed friends whose
interest were more in keeping with his. When he decided to marry in 1921, he did not do so in
Oak Park. Instead he selected Horton Bay where he wed Hadley Richardson, a woman from
St. Louis, Missouri, whom a Horton Bay summer friend had introduced him to at a Chicago
party the year before. The service was held September 3 at the now demolished Methodist
Church and was followed by a two-week honeymoon at Windemere. It would be the last time
he ever stayed there or visited Michigan for any amount of time.
From Reality to Fiction
All the love went into fishing and the summer. He loved it more than anything. He had loved digging
potatoes with Bill in the fall, the long trips in the car, fishing in the Bay, reading in the hammock on hot
days, swimming off the dock, playing baseball at Charlevoix and Petoskey, … the fishing trips away
from the farm, just lying around. He loved the long summer. It used to be that he felt sick when the first
week of August came and he realized that there were only four more weeks before the trout season
closed…..the hills at the foot of Walloon Lake, storms on the lake coming up in the motorboat, holding
an umbrella over the engine to keep the waves that came in off the spark plug, pumping out, running the
boat in big storms delivering vegetables around the lake, climbing up, sliding down, the wave following
behind, coming up from the foot of the lake with groceries, the mail and the Chicago paper under a
tarpaulin, sitting on them to keep them dry, too rough to land, drying out in front of the fire, the wind in
the hemlocks and wet pine needles underfoot when he was barefoot going for the milk. Getting up at
daylight to row across the lake and hike over the hills after a rain to fish in Hortons Creek… (Ernest
Hemingway, from On Writing, The Nick Adams Stories)
Today, Ernest Hemingway is remembered as a world famous author, not a young boy
tagging along on family vacations. While his later life and writings focused on extraordinary
stories of marlin, African safaris, and wars, in truth, a good part of him never left the ordinary
experiences of a boy learning about life in northern Michigan. A firm believer that good writing
was based on firsthand experiences, he began creating stories about the Michigan people and
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places he knew and loved when he was still in high school. Those writings grew into many
published short stories based in Michigan and The Torrents of Spring, a novel set in Petoskey.
Sometimes controversial because they too closely (and unfavorably) suggested actual friends
and family, the stories nonetheless provide readers from around the world amazing northern
Michigan experiences from the comfort of far away easy chairs. While “Ernie” was a son,
brother, and simply a part of a regular family that called northern Michigan home for part of the
year, “Ernest” gave the world timeless stories that recall the magic “up north” holds for all of us
who spend time there.
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