Hamlin Lake Preservation Society

Protecting Hamlin Lake for Future Generations 

Locating Map

Map

Song

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Griswolda

In 1902 William and Mary Bridge had the land surveyed on the South side of Indian Pete Bayou and named it Bridges Resort.  They dedicated to the people the roads, alleys and public lands with access to the water throughout the resort. 

Bridges Resort was purchased by George C. Griswold of Princeton in 1903 and he changed the name to Griswolda.  By 1913 Griswolda consisted of 30 cottages, 50 acres and 2,000 feet of lake frontage.  At the Griswolda store you could purchase supplies, get your mail, and use the phone.  Wagons pulled by horses came out from town with supplies for the store.  The store was located in a small building at the waterfront with a long pier.  In later years, another grocery store was added in the lower level of Lakeview cottage called Hi-Tower grocery. 

The Bayou Inn was at the center of Griswolda.  It consisted of a large building with a sitting room with field stone fireplace, four bedrooms upstairs, and a dining room.  Meals were served in the dining room until a dining hall was built down the road near the Griswolda store.  Griswolda Dining Hall, famous for its cuisine was open to the public and burnt down in 1928 and not rebuilt.  The dining room was also used for frequent dances with Japanese paper lanterns hung for decoration.  There were two windup victorolas for music and dance hall floor powder was used to keep the wooden floors shinny. 

A clay tennis court was located next to the Inn.  A large cement roller was used to keep the court smooth. 

Surrounding the Inn were about thirty cottages.  Most of them were part of the Griswolda Resort and were rented by the week or month and some for the whole summer.  Some cottages were privately owned but they did not have kitchens so the people in the privately owned cottages ate their meals at the Inn with the tourists. 

There was a public beach next to the store for those who did not have lake front, a play house, and card parties, hiking activities, and sail boat races. 

A carriage ride to Ludington from Griswolda took an hour and a half.  Grace Avenue was called Griswolda and it did not go through to Shagway.  You had to come down Lincoln and around to get to the Inn.  There was no bridge over the end of the bayou like there is now.  You had to drive around the bayou on a dirt two-track road and attempt to get up the hill which was not always possible, depending on the weather.