Doc's Lodge

It's postcards say JUST A GOOD SPOT!  It certainly was!

It was located on a beautiful piece of property on Stony Point.  I think it was closed in the last 10-15 years.  When my kids were little, we used to camp at the Stony Point campground.  We would stop at Doc's Lodge for things occasionally.  I really thought it was JUST A GOOD SPOT!

I have seen it on lake maps dating from the 40's.  It was a really beautiful place!  I'm sure it has a very interesting history!  I would love to know more about it.  Your stories are always welcome.

I posted this in the comment section, but thought I would update the actual post in case someone looked at this.  

I read a story by Otto Ringle in the Walker Pilot-Indepentent about Doc's Lodge. You HAVE to read this article. It is called Doc's Lodge because it was started and ran by Doc Christenson from Albert City, Iowa. It is an amazing story.

A quote from Otto's article: "Most dentists would wait until they retired to fulfill that dream, but not Doc Christenson. He was the only dentist in the small town of Albert City, so he was able to leave his practice for six months during the year and schedule his appointments accordingly. Dentists from neighboring towns took care of his emergencies when he was gone during the summer months, and his patients still returned to him when he came back to his office in the fall. Therefore, his dream came true when he was only 45 years old."

Please read this and if you love Leech Lake and Walker, you should subscribe to to the the Walker Pilot-Independent. It keeps you up on the interesting things going on up "at the lake"

http://www.walkermn.com/news/the-old-and-the-new/article_99c74e7e-93f9-11e8-ba4a-ebbf88387097.html

From the late 1950's early 60's Chamber of Commerce map:

Doc's Lodge - Strictly modern, including showers.  Eighteen and twenty-foot boats every size motor.  Beach, launching facilities.  Everything for the Discriminating Fisherman and Vacationist.  Dr. and Mrs O.A. Christenson,  Tel. KI 7-1772.  Walker, MN

Pine Point Resort

Pine Point resort has one of those old beautiful lodges that made us go ah!  It had over 25 cabins at one point.   It was a beautiful large old resort on one of the prime fishing areas on Leech Lake.

This old resort is now called the Shores at Pine Point.  The BEAUTIFUL old lodge is still up and is available to be rented according their website.  There are two other cabins that appear to be older cabins from the resort and are rented by the season.  There are two other newer ones that are available to rent as well.  The majority of the old resort area is now occupied with mobile homes.  It is still a beautiful area.

The resort has been operating since at least the 40's by my weak research looking at the old maps of the lake with the Resorts on it.  Most likely it could have dated back to the 30's.

Some old postcards of Pine Point.  My favorite of all of them is the last one with the people walking around the resort.  That looks like it was probably from the 40's? I'm guessing.  I always wondered about the dad/grandpa walking with the small child, the other people in the picture, what were their stories.  Great stuff.

It has been around for decades, I don't know a whole lot of the history of the resort.  Any stories would be appreciated!

From the late 1950's early 60's Chamber of Commerce map:

Pine Point Resort -- Modern housekeeping cabins.  Exceptional fishing, meals on reservation, walk-in cooler, freezer, boats, beach, waterskiing, complete playground.  Boat launching, launch service, convention catering.  "The Andersons"  Tel. KI 7-1024

Shady Knolls Resort

Shady Knolls was located just a little bit south of Walker on Walker Bay.  It operated as a resort through the 2000's I believe.  It has been sold off in parts.  The part south of the harbor is private and the area north of the harbor is still intact with some of the old cabins there.  I'm not sure of the ownership of that part.

There are a couple of beautiful old log cabins, and some bigger ones still there.  It is a beautiful piece of land, and a great harbor.

One of the things that I found interesting about Shady Knolls is that the railroad tracks ran right by the beach area and the side of the resort.  I'm sure it got noisy sometimes!

It certainly was a cool looking place.  I'm sure many memories were made by a lot of families through the years.

From the late 1950's early 60's Chamber of Commerce map:

Shady Knolls - Leech Lake.  Two miles south of Walker, Highway 371.  Family Resort, cozy cabins, central showers, clean grounds, safe beach, ramp, boat harbor.  Minerva Dahl.  Tel. KI 7-1334.

I'd love to hear your stories.

Ivanhoe Resort - MJM Resort - Allen's Resort - South Walker Bay Resort

I've posted a new picture of the resort from around the late 40's. It was MJM Resort then. We believe these are the 3 small cabins on the hill overlooking the harbor. A really cool picture.

MJM Resort in the late 1940's

Ivanhoe Resort started out it's resort life as Allen's Resort on the south tip of Walker Bay.  I was told that Mr. Allen was a contractor and built the resort cabins either in the 20's or 30's to keep his workers busy during down times.  The earliest I found any mention of the resort was 1932.  I was told that some of the cabins started life out as small logging cabins that were pulled out of the woods and used for guests.   All had some sort of additions, some were built new, and they are almost all still there.

It was next called M-J-M Resort.   The letters stood for the names of the three owners, Merle Meyer, Jack Meyer, and Mable Mitchell.  I could not find out for sure when it changed from Allen's resort to M-J-M Resort. It most likely happened in the late 40's.

It was M-J-M for quite some time up through the early 60's when it was sold to Ivan and Irene Flowers and became Ivanhoe Resort.

The Flowers ran Ivanhoe until 1976 when they sold it to Bill and Mary DeVries.  Bill and Mary ran the resort through 2012 when they sold it and it became a private resort called South Walker Bay.

Today it looks much as it did when Bill and Mary ran it as Ivanhoe resort.  Part of the cabins were sold off as private homes, and the rest are run as seasonal leases, but it all looks the same.

I have heard many great stories from Bill and Mary about their time running the resort, great stories from others that have been long time renters at the resort, and I would love to hear your stories.  Feel free to post!  Pictures would be great.

As a note of disclosure, I am a seasonal leaser at South Walker Bay Resort and it is a great place!

Here are pictures as Allen's Resort.

As M-J-M Resort

As Ivanhoe Resort

Big Leech Resort

It has been a while since I posted.  I wish I had an excuse, but I just haven't done it.  I'll try to blog more.

I spent a lot of time fishing off of Pine Point on Leech this summer and as always I spent a lot of time looking at the maps and pictures of Leech and the resorts that I have aquired over the years.  I began to wonder about Big Leech Resort.  I know that it was on the south side of Pine Point on Trader's Bay.  I know it was around in 1982 as it was on the Chamber of  Commerce map.  It was owned by Dave and Jan Filkens at that point.  It appears on maps from the 40's as well.

It is now called Adventure North Resort and is still operating as a resort.  It has a beautiful harbor.  I'm going to do a little more exploring next summer!

It had a dining room, a store, and no harbor as you can see the boats on the shore.  I loved the pictures and the cabins in the pictures.  From the pictures, it appears that there were around 10 cabins in the resort, possibly more.

Anyone that has any stories and/or pictures, I would love to hear from you!

I added 3 more pictures from postcards sent in the middle 70's.  The lodge looks so cool.  I wonder if it is still there?  

The lodge is still there.  It is now rented out.  I also found out that picture of the snowmobiles is probably a stock photo.

From the late 1950's early 60's Chamber of Commerce map:

Big Leech Resort - Central location on Leech Lake.  12 modern cabins.  Lodge with dining room.  Launch service.  Ed and Marie Biska.  Walker, Minn.  Tel. KI 7-1532.

Bayview Resort

Finally another post.

Sorry I have been so off and on posting for this.

Bayview Resort was located at the mouth of Kabekona Bay.  It was the first one from the road on the south side of the bay.  I locate a lot of the resorts that I didn't have any personal experience with on a map that my dad had as a kid.  It is one of those that has the cartoons on it.  They call it a cartograph map.  I'm pretty sure that this is a very, very early map.

I'm fairly certain that it is no longer a resort, I believe there are private cabins there now.

If anyone out there has any memories or stories of Bayview Resort, I would love to hear them.  It looks really pretty.  The very unique A-frame cabin that has  BAYVIEW on the roof as well as the lodge picture.  It looks like a nice one!

From the late 1950's early 60's Chamber of Commerce map:

Bayview Resort - Kabekona Bay.  15 ultra-modern cabins, excellent beach, playground, no hills.  Launching ramp, harbor, dock, fish cleaning.  Insect Controlled.  American Plan.  For the best, phone KI 7-1595, Don Cook, Walker, Minn.

Huddle's Resort

I haven't posted for quite some time.  I'm glad to be back posting.

Located on the south shore of Leech Lake, Huddle's resort has been in business and in the same family since 1928!

I found this quote on the Huddle's web page giving some of the history of Huddle's Resort.

"In 2008, Huddle’s Resort celebrated its 80^th year in business. Roy Huddle’s parents, Les and Bernie, and grandfather Roy, started the resort on the south shore of Leech Lake in 1928. In those days, the main highway (now Hwy 200) ran in front of the lodge at Huddle’s and through the small community of Whipholt bringing with it a steady stream of travelers and early vacationers to Leech Lake’s most famous shore"

After my grandpa sold his cabin, we stayed in a lot of different resorts on Leech for a number of years.  I did have the opportunity to stay at Huddle's once.  It was a great week and we enjoyed our time there.  Also, we have taken the opportunity to eat at their restaurant in their lodge many times.  The lodge is truly a a throw back to the early days of "Old Leech Lake Resorts"!   My brother Pete, Dad, Cousin Jeff, and myself used to go to eat breakfast at Huddle's when we were at the lake.  Everyone was always so friendly to us and the food is always good.

Whipholt had a large number of resorts in the early days including Merritt Lodge, Huddle's next door neighbor.  Huddle's owned Merritt lodge for a period of time before it was sold again and now has time share condos on that property.  Always sad to see and old resort go.

However Huddle's is still going strong!  I know that there has to be a lot of you that have stories about Huddle's!  Let's hear some of those!

From the late 1950's early 60's Chamber of Commerce map:

Les was still listed as the owner of the resort.  Anyone know when Roy took over?

Huddle's Resort - 15 housekeeping cottages.  100% modern.  Lodge.  Cement launching ramp in harbor.  Modern winterized motel open 12 months.  Les and Bee Huddle, Whiphold, Mnn.  Tel. Walker VE 6-2420