by Holly Weiss
Lastly, I am indebted to the visionary people of Eagles Mere, past and present, who have endeavored to preserve the heritage of a special town, the purity of the lake and the wholesome spirit of life in a unique place.
Endnotes:
Author’s Note:
*See Distinguished Inns of North America on www.selectregistry.com and the Crestmont Inn’s own website, www.crestmont-inn.com .
*James, Barbara and Bush. Mere Reflections. Montoursville, PA: Paulhamus Litho, Inc., 1988, preface. Used by permission.
Quotes Page:
*Non fatuum huc persecutes ignem.
*The Holy Bible, The Living Bible Translation. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2002.
Prologue:
*Yeats, William Butler. “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” Untermeyer, Louis. Modern British Poetry. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922, p. 257.
*The author chose to deviate from the actual Native American legend as stated in Eagles Mere and the Sullivan Highlands. J. Horace and Robert B. McFarland, J. Horace McFarland Company, Harrisburg, PA, 1944, p. 1, which reads: “… the site of the lake was then a deep valley with many springs on its floor. The east side of the valley consisted of ledges of rock, and under the present Lover’s Rock was a vast cavern. By enticing a beautiful Indian maiden into this cavern, an Indian chief, Stormy Torrent, angered the Great Spirit, who caused a great storm to come, with torrents of rain which blocked the former outlet of the stream flowing from the springs and thus filled the valley to the present lake level.”
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, or People of the Long House, is made up of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Ononodagas, Cayugas and Senecas. These tribes originally lived along the Genesee and Mohawk Rivers and in the Finger Lakes region near Lake Ontario. Founded by the Peacemaker with the help of Hiawatha, it is one of the longest enduring democracies in the world. The French term assigned the derogatory term “Iroquois” to the Haudenosaunee, probably as an insult.
The Crestmont Inn
1910 – 1911:
*Isaiah 41:13, King James Bible.
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
1925:
*Cather, Willa. Song of the Lark, 1915. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, forwarded copyright, 1988.
*The Crestmont Inn consistently hired only African-American male chefs because they were considered to be the most qualified.
*This jewelry box sits on the dresser in the French Country Cottage room of today’s Crestmont Inn.
En route to Eagles Mere
1925:
*Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie. New York: Barnes and Noble Classics, 1900.
The Crestmont Inn
Summer 1925
IV
*Paperbag poems “I’ve fallen in love, again,” “Ticklish Rock,” “I long for the gentle caress of your hand,” written by Ernest L. Whitehouse, husband of the author.
V
*A revised version of “Homemade Ice Cream” from Mere Tales by Barbara and Bush James, Paulhamus Litho, 2005. Used by permission.
VI
*Gruelle, Johnny. Raggedy Ann Stories. NY, NY: 1918.
VII
*Wharton, Edith. Age of Innocence, 1920 D. Appleton and Company. New York: Collier Books, 1968.
Woodshed on Crestmont Hill
September 1925
II
*The Delaware River Bridge, linking Camden and Philadelphia is now known as the Ben Franklin Bridge. It was constructed jointly by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, state of New Jersey and the city of Philadelphia between 1919-1926. For purposes of the flow of the novel, I have moved the date of its completion from 1926 to 1925. The opening of the bridge was delayed because neither side could agree on how to cover construction costs. New Jersey wanted to use a toll system, while Pennsylvania wanted the use of the bridge to be free, using tax money to cover costs. Eventually, the toll system prevailed.
www.aviewoncities.com/philadelphia/benjaminfranklinbridge.htm
Camden, New Jersey
1914
*Warren W. Sloan, maternal grandfather of the author, invented a version of the automatic pinsetter, along with his partner, Joseph Clark, in Clark’s basement in Camden, New Jersey. They later sold the patent to AMF. An article, “Bowlers Soon May Kiss the Pin Boys Goodbye” by Mike Devitt, sportswriter for the Courier Post of Camden, NJ, dated Wednesday, April 9, 1941 states that Devitt attended the first demonstration of the automatic pinsetter, “the brainchild of Warren Sloan.” The machine, which was distributed by the Automatic Pinsetting Machine Company of New Jersey, was constructed to conform to American Bowling Congress regulations. The article states, “It sets the pins accurately and can set as many as nine games per hour, per alley. It returns the ball to the bowler; it clears the alley of dead wood after the first ball in each frame and returns the remainder of the pins to exactly where they stood after the first ball had been delivered.”
Sloan was an officer of the New Jersey Bowling Association for many years and served as representative of the American Bowling Congress. His untiring devotion to the sport was evidenced not only by his excellence as a bowler (averaging close to 200 for numerous years), but also by his dedication to instructing and forming leagues for area young people. Sloan, nominated by his son-in-law, N. John Weiss, (father of the author) is a member of the South Jersey Bowling Association’s Hall of Fame. Sloan also invented the electric scissors in 1939.
Woodshed on Crestmont Hill
February 5, 1926
*A fascinating detail about Eagles Mere history found in Looking Back at Eagles Mere, a history by Joe Mosbrook, published by the Eagles Mere Museum, 2008, p. 145.
*Mosbrook, p. 144.
*Captain Chase was a civil engineer in Eagles Mere in the early 20th century.
The Crestmont Inn
Summer 1926
II
*Collins, Wilkie. The Woman In White, 1860.
*La Forza del Destino, opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi, 1861.
*Rosa Ponselle reigned as queen of the dramatic sopranos at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for nineteen years. In 1927, at the age of forty, she retired from singing on the opera stage at the height of her career. She never lost her love for singing, but the ever-present stage fright, worry over the condition of her voice, coupled with the pressures and rigors of performing wore her down. After her retirement she married, moved to Baltimore and actively promoted the Baltimore Opera. She concertized and recorded for several years. Maria Callas called her “the greatest singer of us all.” Ever supportive of young singers, Ponselle spent forty-four years nurturing aspiring opera singers from her beloved home, Villa Pace, in Maryland. Rosa Ponselle died in 1981. To my knowledge, she never actually visited The Crestmont Inn, although she sang concerts in cities and small towns all over the United States during this time period.
*Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925.
*“I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise,” George Gershwin/B.G. DeSylva and Arthur Francis, (pseudonym for the young Ira Gershwin) composed in 1922.
*Tennis tournaments actually began at the Crestmont in 1907.
The Crestmont Inn
Summer 1926
II
*Il Trovatore, opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi, 1857.
Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania
1926
*Two original tennis courts were built by the Crestmont Inn. Five lower courts were added in 1926. The August tournaments coincided with those in Forest Hills, located in Queens, New York City, which ultimately moved to Flushing Meadows to become the U.S. Open. The Eagles Mere Tennis Tournaments, designed to attract the better players in the country who did not qualify for Forest Hills, ran for 63 years, from 1907 to 1970. Deer charging up and down the courts provided further challenges for maintenance.
*The Holy Bible. Deuteronomy 30:19.
Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania
1927
*Tobogganing has been the main winter sport in Eagles Mere for over
one hundred years. The toboggan run is said to be the fastest in the nation, complete with warm up shack and refreshment stand. In 1904, Captain E.S. Chase, working with other residents, fit large ice blocks together to create a solid ice slide down steep Lake Street. He built a wooden toboggan with metals runners. The Eagles Mere Ice Toboggan Slide is an attraction for winter sports enthusiasts to this day. Mosbrook, p. 123-128.
The Crestmont Inn
Summer 1927
I
*A salad bowl, thirty inches in diameter, hewn from one solid hemlock tree, belonged to the Crestmont in its early days. It is now on display at The Eagles Mere Museum, Eagles Mere, PA.
*A revised version of “Blind Man Working” from Mere Tales by Barbara and Bush James, Paulhamus Litho, 2005. Used by permission.
II
*The Operadio was a brand of radio invented in 1925. Public broadcasting had begun in 1921.
*“How Can I Keep from Singing?” Words and music by Robert Lowry 1826-1899.
1. My life flows on in endless song,
above earth’s lamentation.
I hear the clear, though faroff hymn
that hails a new creation.
Refrain:
No storm can shake my inmost calm
while to that Rock I’m clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth,
how can I keep from singing?
2. Through all the tumult and the strife,
I hear that music ringing.
It finds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?
Refrain
3. What though my joys and comforts die?
I know my Savior liveth.
What though the darkness gather round?
Songs in the night he giveth.
Refrain
4. The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
a fountain ever springing!
All things are mine since I am his!
How can I keep from singing?
Refrain
III
*Now known as the US Open in Flushing Meadows.
*Courier Post Newspaper, Camden, New Jersey, April 9, 1941.
Epilogue
Crestmont Hill
1977
*Peg Woods Dickerson and her husband, Tingle, administered The Crestmont Inn from 1947 (with William Woods as chairman and Tingle Dickerson as president) until it closed in 1970. Peg was an avid golfer and frequently competed as a finalist in the July Women’s Singles’ Tennis Tournaments. The hotel contents were auctioned off over a four-day period in 1977, with Peg in attendance. Her husband, Tingle Dickerson, passed away in 1980 after a long illness. Peg Woods Dickerson died in 1983.
Sources
Books
Cather, Willa. A Lost Lady. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 1923.
Cather, Willa. Song of the Lark. 1915. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, forwarded copyright, 1988.
Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie. New York: Barnes and Noble Classics, 1900.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925.
Gruelle, Johnny. Raggedy Ann Stories. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Co. Inc., 1918.
James, Bush and Barbara. Mere Reflections: A Unique Journey Through Historic Eagles Mere. Montoursville, PA: Paulhamus Litho, Inc.,1988. Third Printing.
James, Bush and Barbara. Mere Tales: A Collection of Entertaining Stories About Eagles Mere. Montoursville, PA: Paulhamus Litho, Inc., 2005.
James, Bush and Barbara. The Crestmont Inn, A History. (Out of print)
Kyvig, David E. Daily Life in the United States 1920-1940 (How Americans Lived Through the “Roaring Twenties” and the Great Depression). Chicago, IL: Ivan R. Dee, 2004.
McFarland, L.H.D. and Robert B. McFarland. Eagles Mere and the Sullivan Highlands. Harrisburg, PA: J. Horace McFarland Company, 1944.
Meade, Marion. Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties. New York: Doubleday & Co., 2004.
Mosbrook, Joseph. Looking Back at Eagles Mere, A History. Eagles Mere, PA: Eagles Mere Museum, 2008.
Ponselle, Rosa and James A. Drake. Ponselle, A Singer’s Life. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1982.
The Holy Bible, King James Edition.
The Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2002.
Remoff, Heather Trexler. February Light. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
Sears, Roebuck Catalogue, 1923 Edition. Edited by Joseph J. Shroeder, Jr. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1973.
Sears, Roebuck Catalogue, 1927 Edition. Edited by Alan Mirke. Bounty Books, A Division of Crown Publishers, Inc., 1970.
Wharton, Edith. Age of Innocence. 1920. D. Appleton and Company. New York: Collier Books, 1968.
Yeats, William Butler. “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” Untermeyer, Louis. Modern British Poetry. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1920.
Websites
The Crestmont Inn: www.crestmont-inn.com.
Eagles Mere Online: www.eaglesmere.org.
The Life and Legacy of Rosa Ponselle: www.RosaPonselle.com.
1920s: Prohibition-era foods and speakeasy dining. Edited by Lynn Oliver. www.foodtimeline.org.
Select Registry: Distinguished Inns of North America: www.selectregistry.com.
The White Deer Named Virginia Dare. www.usscouts.org/stories/s_deer.asp.
www.foresthillstennis.com.
www.aviewoncities.com/philadelphia/benjaminfranklinbridge.htm.
www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.ca.
www.moravian.org.
Other Resources
Courier Post Newspaper, Camden, NJ, April 9, 1941.
Eagles Mere Museum, Eagles Mere, PA 17731.
Eagles Mere – A Short Guide to a Special Place. Eagles Mere, PA: Mere Trifles.
Hammarskjöld, Dag. Markings. Translated by Leif Sjöberg and W.H. Auden. London: Faber and Faber, 1964. New York: Knopf, 1964. Originally published in Swedish as Vägmärken: Stockholm, Bonniers, 1963.
Lowry, Robert. “How Can I Keep from Singing.” 1860.
Rosa Ponselle: In Opera and Song, Prima Voce, Nimbus Records. CD set. 1996.
Whitehouse, Ernest L. I long for the gentle caress of your hand, 1995.
Whitehouse, Ernest L. I’ve fallen in love, again, 2002.
Whitehouse, Ernest L. Ticklish Rock, 2007.