How it all began!

When the first member of the Chesbrough family stepped off the train, he was in the middle of a densely wooded area northwest of Trout Lake Michigan. The only shelter was a rundown shack left behind long ago. The Chesboroughs had bought this property sight unseen while still in New York. They knew it contained a great deal of timber as well as an abundance of limestone. Both of these things were in high demand with the nation headed for war.

Compared to many logging operations, this would be a challenge to be sure. Mills next to rivers or the Great Lakes or population centers had already been grabbed up and were exhausting their supplies of timber. This place had none of those advantages.

The mill machinery was purchased elsewhere and shipped to the coast near Paradise, then trekked overland and by rail. The existing railroad ended 2 miles short of the site, so a spur had to be laid down and a locomotive brought in. A village had to be built to house all the workers, and the mill structure itself had to be put together. All of this construction had to be done on ground that was mostly solid limestone, requiring dynamite just to dig something as small as a well.

Once the mill was in operation, buyers would come in to survey the logs and make a deal. At first they stayed in Trout Lake, but the accomodations there were less than satisfactory, not to mention a long ride by train or horse each day. To put them in a buying mood, a "bungalow" was built to house them. After nearly a year of construction this luxurious lodge was ready for guests. It contains 6 bedrooms upstairs and a great room below with a large stone fireplace at each end.

For a wonderful narrative written by William Chesbrough himself, check out this link.

The Wilwin Lodge is a 501c(3) organization, so all donations are fully tax deductible.

After the Mill

The Chesbrough family held onto the property well into the 1960's, raising children and grandchildren, who ran all over the place and occasionally got in trouble by playing in the old mill buildings. That's when it was decided to destroy the buildings so nobody would get hurt. The solution again was to bring in the dynamite. The mill was reduced to a pile of twisted steel and concrete which remains to this day. Many of the homes from the village were moved into Trout Lake, and the school was moved to the corner of Wilwin Rd and H-40 where it sits today.

When the property was sold by the Chesbroughs, it became a private hunting lodge. Deer and bear are plentiful in this part of the Upper Peninsula and the younger trees coming back up on the land became a reliable winter food source. Even today the deer stay on the site all winter in great numbers, not wandering off until late spring.

Bob bought the property in the 1980's and brought his family there in the summers. He and his wife recognized the need to preserve the land and the lodge. One of the first things they did was to pave the parking area and drive leading to the lodge to keep the mud and sand out of the building. They kept most of the original furnishings and appointments, giving us some wonderful antiques as well as historical documents and artifacts from the early 1900's.