PROTECTING, PROMOTING & ADVOCATING FOR LAKE CHARLEVOIX
THE LAKE GUARDIAN
FALL 2026
Written in Ice
PHOTO CREDIT: JOEL VAN ROEKEL
Landscapes That Built Communities Joel Van Roekel
LONG BEFORE FAMILIES BUILT COTTAGES ALONG THE SHORELINE, BEFORE BOATS PLIED ITS WATERS, BEFORE ROADS CONNECTED ITS COMMUNITIES, THE LAND AROUND LAKE CHARLEVOIX WAS BEING SHAPED BY SOMETHING MORE POWERFUL THAN HUMAN HANDS: GLACIERS. In the last Ice Age, mile high sheets of ice covered northern Michigan. As the glaciers advanced and retreated, they scraped and sculpted the land. Enormous quantities of rock and soil carved depressions that eventually filled with water. The wetlands, waterways, hills and valleys surrounding the lake are all part of that ancient process. As the glaciers retreated, melt water found its way through those valleys creating the system that carries rainfall and snowmelt into the lake today. The Jordan and Boyne Rivers and the multitude of smaller streams flowing into the lake follow pathways whose origins date back thousands of years. FALL 2026
Inside...
That landscape would eventually shape human settlement. The first Indigenous peoples lived and depended upon the lake as well as the watershed. Generations of settlers found a place where water provided transportation and fish, while the land offered abundant forests and fertile valleys in which to
1|W ritten in Ice: Landscapes That Built Communities 2|P resident’s Message 3|M artha’s Lake Legacy Continues
settle. Towns developed along the rivers and the lake. They supported those who worked the water and the land, as well as families who returned year after year to enjoy the lake as a place of recreation and renewal. For some, year after year has turned into decade after decade. Children who once learned to swim off their beach have taught their own children to swim off that same beach. The cottages, boats, and shorelines may have changed, but the lake itself is the common thread that connects generations. There is something special about that continuity. A landscape created thousands of years ago has allowed generations to live, play, and add their own chapters to this story. Preserving that continuity means protecting Lake Charlevoix. We are its caretakers and at the same time members of a living community whose future depends on it. Glaciers shaped the land. People shaped the community. Lake Charlevoix connects them all.
4|H istoric Eveline Orchards: Where Agriculture and Summer Life Met 5|S equanota: More Than a Club, It’s a Community
6|T he Rise & Rebirth of Ironton 7|C ontinuation from Page 6 8|N ewsbites
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PHOTO CREDIT: JULIE STRATTON
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President’s Message
uring my time on the boards of Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council and LCA, I’ve written my fair share of essays for newsletters. I've learned to be watchful for inspiration as deadlines draw closer. This time around, the inspiration began as a simple inquiry from a member. Were we aware of a proposal to spread septage (the material pumped from septic tanks) on farm fields? My first reaction was skepticism. I thought that when my septic tank was pumped, the truck went to a wastewater treatment facility to pump out. Further research revealed a completely different story. It turns out that most septage removed from septic tanks in the Lake Charlevoix Watershed is spread on farm fields, some of which are in our watershed, some in other watersheds.
According to Jaimen Waha, an Environmental Health Sanitarian with the Health Department of Northwest Michigan, "In our area there is a lack of capacity at most wastewater treatment facilities, and combined with the cost of disposal, leads to most septage haulers utilizing land disposal sites." There is a licensing process overseen by the State of Michigan Department of the Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. We have a lot more to learn and share about this practice. Before we received the inquiry about septage, I had planned to write about seeing a Merganser duck during a recent lake excursion. When I first became active in watershed affairs a decade or so ago, one of the big concerns was Swimmer's Itch. At the time, it was thought that Mergansers were a prime contributor to the conditions that produced the disease. There was a practice, approved by the predecessor to EGLE, which allowed relocation of Merganser broods from the lakes where the young were born in the hopes they would not return to breed. We
Mission:
Protect the natural quality and beauty of Lake Charlevoix. Promote understanding and support for safe and shared lake use. Advocate sensible and sustainable practices for lake use and development.
LCA Board of Trustees
Tom Darnton | President Dan Mishler | Vice President John Hoffman | Secretary Erin O’Donnell | Director
Ed Willis | Director Sheryl Ryan | Director Jaimen Waha | Director
sponsored three years of research into conditions on Lake Charlevoix, trying to learn more about the disease. We learned that waterfowl in general served as hosts for the organisms that caused the disease, thus making Merganser removal pointless. We also learned that the "little swimmers" that, when encountering human skin, caused the irritation known as "Swimmers Itch" were also a critical part of the food chain supporting what life is left in our lake. We've since focused on education about where and when to swim as the best way to deal with the disease. Lake Charlevoix Association has been in the business of learning about our watershed and sharing that information widely for over half a century. During that same half-century, development in the region has marched on exponentially. One element of our mission is "Promoting Understanding and Support for Safe Shared Use" of the watershed. Fulfilling that mission requires significant resources and organization. We are grateful for your support.
Tom Darnton, LCA President
www.lakecharlevoix.org Like us on Facebook!
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Martha’s Lake Legacy Continues Joel Van Roekel
IN 2013, THE FALL ISSUE OF THE LAKE GUARDIAN OPENED WITH THE STORY OF MARTHA FREIBERG’S FORESIGHT IN BUYING A QUIET STRETCH OF LAKE FRONT IN HOLY ISLAND BAY. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN YEARS LATER, THIS LAND IS STILL PART OF OUR FAMILY’S STORY. Life on the shore of Holy Island Bay offers a front-row seat to the changing seasons. In many ways it’s a glimpse of the larger lake itself. This bay is a microcosm of Lake Charlevoix, reflecting its rhythms, its beauty and its changing moods. In early spring, it’s quiet in the bay. The ice is gone, the shoreline is beginning to awaken, and there are no
boats yet. Trees that seemed lifeless only weeks before begin to swell with buds. As the first signs of green appear the Loons and Mergansers announce that another season has begun. In the stillness there is a sense of anticipation. When summer arrives, the bay changes almost overnight. The docks are in, boats are on hoists or at anchor, and the water takes on a new energy. New sounds float across the bay. Family gatherings, kids at play on those giant floating patios, and sun seekers chatting on the foredecks of cruisers. The once quiet shoreline has become a busy summer community, much like Lake Charlevoix itself. And then, almost as quickly as it began, summer starts to fade. The
boats head for storage and docks are pulled. The shoreline becomes quieter as the leaves turn to brilliant shades of autumn. Wildlife reappears and the bay gradually returns to a peacefulness that is different from the quiet of spring. By late fall, bare branches frame the water, and the familiar shoreline takes on a stark but beautiful simplicity. Perhaps what we treasure most is not any single season, but the opportunity to see each one return year after year. Every day is a reminder to imagine what Grandma Martha saw in 1911. The shoreline was undoubtedly different then. There were fewer houses, fewer boats and far fewer people. But the essential beauty of the bay and the lake, the water, the woods, the wildlife and the changing seasons was there. However, the privilege of enjoying this place also carries with it a responsibility. The beauty that drew one woman to Holy Island Bay in 1911 is not guaranteed to remain unchanged. The lake, its shoreline, its forests and wildlife all need our care and protection. More than a century ago, one woman recognized that Holy Island Bay was worth cherishing. Our hope is that, through our care for the lake and its shoreline, we can pass that gift along so that another generation, many years from now, can look across Lake Charlevoix and see what she saw in 1911.
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Historic Eveline Orchards Where Agriculture and Summer Life Met
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Julie Stratton
veline Orchards was established in 1910 when Professor Levi R. Taft of Michigan Agricultural College arrived on the South Arm of Pine Lake with an idea that blended science and summer living. He wanted to grow, test, and observe new varieties of apples, cherries, and plums. To support that work, he established a small resort on the hillside, where families vacationed among fruit trees while researchers tended their test plots. The orchard became both a place of discovery and a setting for summer life. The old dock, built by the Pine Lake Iron Company for loading timber, became the orchard’s front door. Boats were the only dependable way in and out. A small craft called The Hum ferried visitors across the South Arm, while Taft’s boat, the Evelina, carried families to East Jordan for groceries
and mail. Made from a discarded lifeboat and powered by a one-cylinder engine, she was plain and sturdy, but became part of the orchard’s story. The resort grew quickly. Lots went on sale in 1911, and by 1913, ten cottages lined the shore. The orchard continued producing fruit for research and sale, and Taft’s work with sour cherries and spraying methods influenced growers across Michigan. Children staying at the resort sometimes helped gather fruit, and the finest specimens were packed into crates and sent away by boat or wagon. Work, recreation, and family life all found a place on the hillside. By the 1920s, agricultural research had moved to larger stations, and Eveline Orchards’ scientific role faded. In later decades, the land took on a different significance when Eveline Properties, Inc. was formed to protect
the hillside from development. Its efforts helped preserve a green corridor through the heart of the old orchard, keeping an important piece of the landscape intact and supporting the health of Lake Charlevoix. Today, Eveline Orchards remains a place where the landscape still carries its history, and where each cottage, each family, and each season adds another layer to a story more than a century in the making. Its past offers a reminder of what drew people here in the first place — the land, the lake, and the shared experience of summer — and those qualities continue to give the place its meaning. Editorial support from members of Eveline Orchards contributed meaningfully to the development of this piece, and their insight and generosity are sincerely appreciated.
Eveline Orchard apple tree – 115 years old and still bearing fruit PHOTO CREDIT: EVELINE ORCHARD
PHOTO CREDIT: EVELINE ORCHARD
PHOTO CREDIT: SEQUANOTA
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Sequanota More Than a Club, It’s a Community Joel Van Roekel
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he summer of 1901 finds a group of ministers and college professors from Central Illinois spending a few weeks at Ironton’s Sweetbriar Farm. Their lodgings are renovated ironworkers’ cottages from the now-defunct Pine Lake Iron Company. Hiking along the shoreline, they picnic in a meadow overlooking Pine Lake. Taken with the land, the view, and the lake, they spend the next year negotiating with the owner, Mrs. Wolcott, to buy her quarter section. This is the start of a community for friends and family. Such was the beginning of the Sequanota Club. 125 years later, the meadow remains much the same, as do the bridge to the dining hall and the 1903 Clubhouse, where lunch and
dinner are still served five days a week in season. While electric and telephone service came swiftly in the 1910s, it took another decade to add the marina and tennis courts. Aside from the inspiring views and pleasant lakeside climate, the club retains its spirit of community. Limited by the original bylaws, 22 cottages snug up to one another on only a third of the roughly 116 acres, giving it one of the longest shorelines on Lake Charlevoix. Sequanota is an “apart/together” place with shared spaces for returning families to reconnect and catch up on the news year after year. A lakeside sidewalk connects each cottage porch for conversation about what is happening on “the line.” The remaining land was intentionally left as beautiful
virgin forest to allow for “the healing power of solitude in nature.” Sunday Vespers Service is still held in the Clubhouse, led by a member in gratitude for the gift that has been handed down. Records note that the 600th Vespers Service was held on July 31, 1977, marking the Club’s 75th anniversary. Reminiscing is a curated art form at Sequanota. Each cottage knows its lineage and contains artifacts from former occupants. Tales of heroism, near disasters on the water, and hijinks of teens now grown old are often told. Service defines Sequanota membership. Beyond its full-time manager, volunteers oversee grounds, beaches, dining, and history, while cottage owners’ children serve tables. All of this reflects a longstanding commitment to community over individual interests. Respect for both the area’s beauty and the bond of community has kept Sequanota recognizable to its founders while still allowing it to remain a refuge from the detachment of the modern world. The author wishes to extend his thanks for editorial contributions from a fellow Lake Charlevoix member that greatly strengthened the final piece. He is grateful for their insight and generosity.
1910 PHOTO CREDIT: CLEMENTS LIBRARY
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The Rise and Rebirth of Ironton How a 19th Century Startup Created a Town and Recast Lake Charlevoix’s South Arm Ole Lyngklip
IRONTON, ALONG THE NORTHWESTERN SHORE OF LAKE CHARLEVOIX’S SOUTH ARM, EMERGED FROM A 19TH CENTURY INDUSTRIAL GAMBLE LAUNCHED AT IMPROBABLE SCALE AND ASTONISHING SPEED. AN AMBITIOUS YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR FROM CHICAGO, BACKED BY EASTERN INVESTORS, CHOSE THIS REMOTE PART OF THE COUNTY FOR AN EXPANSIVE CHARCOAL-FUELED SMELTING OPERATION, AN AUDACIOUS PROJECT REQUIRING AN INVESTMENT THAT WOULD AMOUNT TO MANY MILLIONS TODAY. WHAT FOLLOWED WAS A COMPANY TOWN CREATED IN LITTLE MORE THAN A YEAR TO MEET THE NATION’S RISING DEMAND FOR IRON. THE VENTURE SOARED, THEN FAILED ALMOST AS ABRUPTLY AS IT BEGAN. When federal surveyors arrived in 1840 to map Charlevoix County, they found a pristine expanse of old-growth forest. Although they did not record Indigenous habitation here, archaeology confirms the long presence of the native Odawa people throughout the
Little Traverse region, extending back thousands of years. Permanent non-Indigenous settlement on the western shore of the South Arm began in the early 1860s. Families, including the Hammonds, Birds, and Hollands cleared the forest to establish farms. By the late 1870s, the settlement supported a school, a few merchants and tradesmen, and rudimentary ferry service. The transformation of these isolated farmlands began in late summer 1879, when Robert M. Cherrie, an iron and coal dealer from Chicago, arrived to prospect for a pig-iron manufacturing site. He saw opportunity in the region’s forests, ideal for charcoal fuel, and access to iron ore shipped from the Upper Peninsula. Later that year, Cherrie purchased the farm of Samuel and Flavilla Holland for $1,200 and organized the Pine Lake Iron Company. Before construction could begin, Cherrie confronted a major obstacle. The upper channel connecting Round Lake and Lake Charlevoix — then known as Pine Lake — required significant dredging to allow large cargo ships to
reach the site. Cherrie made dredging the channel a prerequisite for the project, and local residents eventually raised about $3,000 to complete the work. In the course of 1880, an industrial complex rose across acres of former farmland. It included a 52-foot smelting stack, a casting house, wharves, and as many as forty beehive-shaped charcoal kilns. The town of Ironton was formally named with the establishment of its post office in January 1881. The furnace went into its first blast on February 6, and formal plats of the surrounding settlement were laid out beginning later that fall. Cherrie’s undertaking became the largest private industrial investment in early Charlevoix County history. The operation reshaped the South Arm, elevated Charlevoix’s status as a Great Lakes shipping port, and helped stimulate the growth of the inland communities along Lake Charlevoix. For more than a decade, the furnace drove Ironton’s rapid ascent. The plant was capable of producing up to 60 tons of pig iron per day and employed
PHOTO CREDIT: CHARLEVOIX HISTORICAL SOCIETY
seven three The Ironton smelter had more than three dozen brick kilns near it, averaging 15 feet tall, which burned the region’s hardwoods that created the charcoal needed to smelt the iron ore brought down from the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTO CREDIT: CHARLEVOIX HISTORICAL SOCIETY
hundreds of workers. The company store was the largest in the county. Logging and charcoal production provided valuable winter employment for farmers while accelerating forest clearing for agriculture. Company wages and incentives enabled many of its workers to acquire land of their own. Ironton briefly supported what was said to be the county’s largest population. By the late 1880s, however, the venture was in peril. Changing economic conditions, mounting debt, and speculative expansion had put the company’s finances at risk. When a national economic crisis hit in 1893, the pig-iron industry fell sharply, with many Michigan manufacturers driven to insolvency — including the Pine Lake Iron Company. In
late 1894, its primary lender foreclosed on its extensive mortgages, and, in within months, its major assets had been seized and sold at public auction. Local lore later claimed Cherrie dynamited the furnace in protest of Grover Cleveland’s 1892 election victory. But surviving records strongly disfavor the story. Photographs show the furnace stack and kilns still largely intact, until the site was eventually cleared around the turn of the century. In 1899, Cherrie’s sisters, Sarah Cherrie Adams and Eliza Cherrie, purchased the company’s former landholdings to create Sweet Brier Farm on the grounds just north of the industrial site. For more than two decades, it flourished as a modest summertime resort, helping pioneer
Ironton’s reinvention as a lakeside retreat. By the mid twentieth century, Ironton’s industrial landscape had vanished, reclaimed by summer communities, productive farmland, and residential development. Ironton’s furnace era was brief, but it permanently altered land and water use along Lake Charlevoix, reshaping settlement patterns, transportation routes, and local economies in ways that continue to define the shoreline today. Adapted from the Charlevoix Historical Society’s award-winning new book, The City on Three Lakes: A Maritime History of Charlevoix & the Surrounding Region, available at the Museum at Harsha House, 103 State Street, Charlevoix.
PHOTO CREDIT: CHARLEVOIX HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PHOTO CREDIT: CHARLEVOIX HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Petoskey, MI Permit No. 110
Join now!
Ironton Ferry Marks 100 Years
Lake Charlevoix Association P.O. Box 294 Charlevoix, MI 49720 info@lakecharlevoix.org www.lakecharlevoix.org
Joel Van Roekel A century of history crossed the Ironton Narrows on Saturday, September 12th. More than 100 people gathered at The Landing restaurant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ironton Ferry. A Michigan Historical Commission marker designating the ferry a Registered State Historic Site was installed at the Ferry Road fork. Despite overcast skies, the celebration was filled with pride and good spirits. Remarks came from members of the Ferry Board, ferry captains and managers, along with representatives of the Michigan History Center. Speakers reflected on the ferry’s remarkable 100-year legacy, its importance to the community and its enduring role connecting generations across the narrows. The new marker now stands as a lasting tribute to a local institution that has carried passengers—and community history—across the water for a century.
News Bites
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Lake Charlevoix Invasive Species Shoreline Surveys Katie Gray, CAKE CISMA Coordinator
In September, CAKE CISMA staff Sarah Snyder and Alexander LaPointe surveyed the Lake Charlevoix shoreline, focusing primarily on identifying new stands of invasive Phragmites. Lake Charlevoix Association members generously provided boat transportation, and CAKE CISMA thanks them for their help. After the surveys, Sarah and Alexander created a map of the full shoreline and marked priority invasive species locations. The map will help guide future monitoring and treatment efforts. CAKE has applied for Sustain Our Great Lakes funding to support Phragmites treatment on Lake Charlevoix through 2030. If awarded, the funding would help continue this work in the years ahead.
Membership Renewal Update: The Lake Charlevoix Association is shifting to
anniversary date renewals, giving every member a full 12 months and streamlining administrative work so more time can go toward lake stewardship. Renewal dates will automatically match the date you joined or last renewed, and email reminders will arrive about a month before expiration. If you’re unsure whether we have your email, please reach out to info@lakecharlevoix.org.
Annual Meeting Highlights: Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Historic Charlevoix Train Depot for this year’s Annual Meeting. We appreciate Kris Dey of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and Dave Clapp of The Nature Conservancy for presenting their work on the Jordan River whitefish restoration effort, and the Charlevoix Historical Society for sharing The City on Three Lakes, which added a meaningful historical dimension to the event.
Greenbelt Garden Appreciation: We thank the Northern Michigan Master
Gardener Association volunteers for their work at our Greenbelt Gardens in Sunset Park, where native plantings show how deep-rooted species protect shorelines and support watershed wildlife. Special thanks to Mike Costa, Gow Litzenberger, Nancy Cunningham, Tom Darnton and Joel Van Roekel for the care they’ve given these gardens throughout the seasons, and to all volunteers who help this educational space thrive for the community and the lake.
Native Plant Sale Success: The Charlevoix Conservation District’s annual native
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WATERLEVELS FORECAST
plant sale drew a strong turnout at the District Barn, where gardeners and shoreline homeowners picked up native species grown by Birdsfoot Native Nursery. Held with the Lake Charlevoix Association and the Walloon Lake Association & Conservancy, the sale highlighted plants suited to northern Michigan’s soils and climate and supported ongoing watershed conservation. Proceeds will help fund future District projects.