LWC Tour of Cottages

The Lakeside Women’s Club (LWC) will host its 66th Annual Tour of Cottages on Thursday, July 25 from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

This year’s tour features eight residences, from a Victorian-era guest house just steps from the lakefront to a luxurious three-story home complete with its own elevator to a recently renovated log cabin nestled in the woods.

LWC Tour of Cottages Tickets & Admission to Lakeside
Tickets for the tour are $15 and will be available to purchase outside the Fifth Street and South Gates entrances of Lakeside on the day of the tour. Tickets will also be sold starting July 18 at Green Gables, home of the LWC, located at 161 Walnut Ave.

Please note that admission and parking to Lakeside are not included in the ticket price. If a Daily, Weekly, or Season Chautauqua Pass has not already been purchased, a special Tour of Cottages Gate Pass is available for an additional $15 at the Fifth Street Gate or South Gate upon entry to Lakeside. Therefore, the total cost to attend the tour is $30. This special Tour of Cottages Gate Pass includes parking; however, it does not include admission to the show in Hoover Auditorium that evening or the Grindley Aquatic & Wellness Campus Pool.

Enjoying the Tour & Lakeside
Ticketholders will receive a map of the cottages. Please visit the homes in random order. Children, pets, photos, videos, food and beverages are not permitted in the homes.

LWC volunteers provide a free golf cart shuttle service to the cottages, marked with ‘Cottage Tour’ signs. You may also ride the historic tram on its planned route to all locations. The free Lakeside golf cart shuttles, marked by orange flags, also have predetermined stops. You may use these shuttles but not to go to specific cottages.

Be sure to allow time during the day to tour Lakeside and its beautiful gardens, visit local shops and restaurants, and browse the Lakeside Craft & Art Show taking place on the Hotel Lakeside lawn on the day of the tour from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Cottage #1 – 324 W. Sixth Street
Irish Cottage
Mary Jo & Mike Morse
Built in 1930
“Céad míle fáilte!” “One Hundred Thousand Welcomes” to The Irish Cottage. Mary Jo and Mike Morse purchased the cottage at the corner of West Sixth Street and Sycamore Avenue in 2005. Since the siding was green and in honor of Mary Jo’s Irish heritage and her dedication to the Notre Dame “Fighting Irish,” the cottage was aptly named.

The Morse family had rented another cottage in Lakeside for their children and their many friends for over 10years before finding this special property. They rented the cottage for several years to loyal renters and their dogs who still stop by and share fond memories of their times here.

Upon their purchase in 2005, they added the side porch and reconstructed the wood burning fireplace back to its original glory. In 2019, The Irish Cottage underwent extensive renovation with the addition of the foundation, central heat and air conditioning and the expansion of the upstairs bathroom and bedroom. Although Mary Jo and Mike planned to keep the cottage true to its original character, the only remaining original items are the front and back doors, the staircase and the enamel bathtub.

To reflect the Irish heritage, many items throughout the home have historical significance. The framed print in the dining room is of the “Lavelle Cottage by the Bridge,” located on Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland. This was a gift from the great uncle of Mary Jo as both of her maternal grandparents were born on Achill Island, Ireland. The various items of Belleek China, and Irish coffee table books and cookbooks had belonged to her family.

This cottage has deep and varied connections to the Lakeside community. In researching the ownership of the cottage, historical records show that in 1921, Myrtle Allbrittain bought the bare lot from W. J. Burkow. Allbrittain was a prominent Lakeside resident as she owned the property at 512 Maple Ave., which she operated as a boarding house and flower shop. The best estimate from the tax records show that Allbrittain had the cottage built for her personal residence in 1930.

Allbrittain was a member of the Lakeside United Methodist Church, Daughters of the American Revolution, Order of the Eastern Star and the Lakeside Garden Club. She died on March 24, 1952. Her estate sold the cottage to R. Glenn Redmond, the music teacher at Lakeside and Port Clinton High School. Redmond sold the cottage in 1956 to Donald E. Mumma. Mumma’s mother-in-law, Granny Blough, lived in the cottage until her death.

In 1982, Hannah Winnichuke purchased the cottage from Mumma. Winnichuke was the mother of Margaret “Peggy” Starcher who lived across the street with her husband, Foster E. “Toby” Starcher. The cottage was bought by Diamond D Investments/North Coast Investments owned by the Drackett family from whom Mary Jo and Mike purchased the property.

Cottage #2 – 337 Maple Ave.
Susan & George Chioran
Built in 1912
The Chioran family began coming to Lakeside in 1994 and rented for one or two weeks each summer until purchasing 337 Maple Avenue in the fall of 2007. They were familiar with the Chautauqua experience as Susan’s mother had worked at the Chautauqua Institution in New York while a student at Muskingum and her grandmother had visited Lakeside in the 1960s with friends. Susan and George vacationed at Chautauqua New York on several occasions as well.

The cottage was built in 1912 and had a wrap-around rental added in 1924. Ownership changed nearly every two years until the Muntz family bought the cottage in the 1970s. Upon purchasing the cottage, George and Susan had the rental opened into the main part of the cottage and removed the second kitchen.

Further renovations were completed in 2021. New siding, flooring, AC/heating splits and more kitchen cabinets were added. New windows were also purchased to replace the original “windows” which were wooden panels that lowered to expose glass or screens. When raised, the panels were kept in place by wedging half of a wooden clothes pin between the panel and trim. Instructions were taped to each window reminding users to keep their feet back so their toes would not be crushed by falling panels.

Adding insulation for the heating units in the two back bedrooms required walls to replace the previous “walls,” which were the interior side of the siding. Beadboard was added to existing beadboard in one bedroom and shiplap to the other. The original part of the cottage has board and batten walls, which were not changed.

The cottage retains the two staircases required by the rental unit. This feature is fun for visiting young cousins who run through the house. Family treasures decorate the cottage.

George and son, Michael, purchased a three-dimensional Lakeside map at a Fourth of July sale. The map was made into a coffee table. Minigolf score cards from past years were used as a mat for a family photo on the stairwell. Susan’s grandmother’s 1912 Roscoe Village math class photograph hangs at the top of the stairwell.

Susan arranged for castings of relief carvings on either side of the door of Emerson Elementary School in Westerville to be made for a school fundraiser. One of the castings is in the cottage garden.

George and the Chioran children, Katie and Michael, have a fishing contest every year at Lakeside. The winner’s name is inscribed on the Golden Gobie plaque revealed each Christmas. Amanda and Mike, Michael and Katie’s significant others, now have their own Wooden Gobie plaque.

The cottage has been the scene of many get-togethers with family and friends. George’s mother celebrated her 90th birthday there with visitors from the Netherlands, California, New Jersey, Colorado, and Cleveland.

Katie and Michael visit as often as possible from Cleveland and New York City. Susan’s mother had also enjoyed many visits to Lakeside. George, a retired ophthalmologist, and Susan, a retired school psychologist, enjoyed their first full summer at Lakeside last year when George retired at the end of June. George can be found gardening and trimming the red maple tree in front of the cottage.

Cottage #3 – 153 Laurel Ave.
Prime Time
Connie & Gary McNair
Built circa 1920
The early year history of this cottage at 153 Laurel Avenue is vague. This lot was purchased by Lakeside in 1888 from the Boalt family. This was the only remaining land not already owned by Lakeside within the east/west borders.

In 1890, Lakeside sold the lot to the Griswold brothers and sister (Edwin, Bill and Fanny Day). They never built a permanent structure on the lot.

In 1919, they sold the property to Archie Shields and his mother, Mattie. Shields also purchased the lot on the south side of the cottage from Christina Carroll that same year. The cottage was built around 1920 and would remain in the Shields family until 1984. The cottage has had approximately eight owners.

The original cottage was a single-story structure built with 8” clay tiles over an earthen basement with an outside entry. A partial second story was added in 1933. Around 1950, the second floor was extended and duplexed into up and down units with stairs installed on the outside. In1999, a garage was relocated from the southeast corner of Cedar Avenue and Second Street to the rear of the property.

A complete renovation of the cottage took place in the winter of 2004/2005. The entire structure was lifted, and a “real” basement was built to replace the former earthen basement. The entire cottage was gutted and renovated to a more open floorplan on the lower level. It became even more open when the front-facing clay tiles collapsed during the renovation and the owners decided to include what had been the front porch into the living area of the cottage.

Connie and Gary McNair purchased the cottage in late summer 2018. At that time, it had been used strictly as a rental property for the past10 years. Gary had retired in February. Connie and Gary tried to reside in a small cottage they had purchased in 2004 on Peach Avenue, but quickly decided they needed something larger and more conducive to year-round living. Finding a place close to the lake was a bonus they had not expected. The cottage name was chosen by Gary as a connection to his career in the television business.

It will not take long to notice a quilter lives here. The Martha Washington star barn quilt on the front of the cottage was a Christmas gift for Connie in 2019. Other items of interest are a set of photographs upstairs of three generations (Connie, their daughter and their granddaughters) in the Lakeside playground swings when they were very young. There is also a framed page from the1900 Goodman Ottawa County Atlas in the living room. When it was published, the lots were not yet showing as platted for this property.

Connie and Gary have been coming to Lakeside since 1978. They look forward to the summer season and visits from friends and family, pleased that they can provide appropriate accommodations aimed at making their stays at Prime Time enjoyable.

Cottage #4 – 622 E. Second St.
Little Grey Lady
Jenny & Jim Curtis
Built circa 1891
According to records found at the Lakeside Heritage Society Archives, this cottage was built around 1891. Jenny Curtis’ family has owned the cottage since 1981. Their home church minister who had stayed in the cottage several times during conference week recommended that the family purchase it. So, Jenny and her six-week-old son, Matt, accompanied her parents on a trip to Lakeside to look at the cottage and made the purchase. Jenny and her husband, Jim, are now the ninth owners of this cottage. They are both retired educators and have owned the Little Grey Lady since 2020.

Little Grey Lady is the nickname for Nantucket Island, where Jenny’s family vacationed several times during her youth. Jenny and Jim also shared a vacation to Nantucket shortly after they married in 1972. It made sense to her family then, to name the family-owned Lakeside cottage after another favorite vacation spot. Shortly after the purchase, a clambake was held in honor of the family’s ritual in Nantucket. The clambake was Jenny’s dad’s favorite meal on the beach at Nantucket.

The cottage features Nantucket decor as well as many watercolors that were painted by Jenny’s aunt, Catherine Leist. There is also a stained-glass effect backlit light in the dining room, which is an unusual architecture feature. This feature is lit up at night and is observable if you take a walk past the cottage. The anchor and lobster pots out in front of the cottage were purchased in New England.

The cottage most recently was updated in 2022 when an addition was completed. The addition enlarged the existing kitchen and two bathrooms, created a laundry room upstairs and a pantry downstairs, and also included a crawl space for a heating/cooling furnace. The cottage was used as a rental cottage while Jenny’s parents owned it, always rented during the East Ohio and West Ohio Conference weeks.

Jenny’s grandparents, Fred and Fern Leist, met at Lakeside when Fred sold tickets for the Neuman Boat Line. Once they married, they honeymooned in Lakeside. Jenny first came to Lakeside in 1963 as a teenager, when her parents were delegates to the East Ohio Conference week. Jim first came to Lakeside also as a teenager with several of his high school buddies. He recalls having fun with them, swimming in the quarry.

Now, their two children and their families, as well as their extended family, enjoy the cottage with them. It is especially packed over the Fourth of July holiday where they have prime seating for the beloved parade and then enjoy a family picnic in the backyard.

Cottage #5 – 235 Plum Ave.
Soul Rest
Susan & Dale Bissonette
Built in 2016
Lakeside living is all about family for Susan and Dale Bissonette. They purchased their first cottage in Lakeside on Fifth Street when their children were living at home. As their children grew up, married and added grandchildren, the Bissonettes realized they had outgrown that cottage.

While looking for a property in Lakeside that would meet present and future needs, they settled on “The Tiny” cottage next door, 229 Plum Avenue, and the corner property with space to build. They lived at 229 Plum Avenue in the summer of 2015. They had a proper foundation built for it, placing it correctly on its property boundaries so construction could begin that fall on the vacant corner lot for 235 Plum Avenue.

Prete Builders from Vermillion, Ohio, constructed this more spacious cottage that became the new summer home for the 2016 season. The Bissonettes, owners of Lakeside Coffee & Cream, kept the 229 Plum Avenue cottage for their employees to use in the summers.

There are some unique features in this cottage. There is a basement with egress, a three-stop residential elevator (basement, first and second floor) and a third-floor playroom. There’s also a unique collection of toys for the grandchildren. Many are from Bissonettes’ own children, ages26-39. There are a few vintage toys purchased from the Lakeside Heritage Society’s annual Recycle Sales.

The cottage has a high volume of hardwood features from crown molding to full hallways of 4’ high beadboard. The cottage passed the DOE/EPA ENERGYSTAR Program for energy efficiency.

Unfortunately, their cottage was flooded in August 2023. They had just finished the “boymatory” with two sets of triple bunks and one twin over full bunk. All was lost except the three highest mattresses. Although the elevator was docked on the first floor, the hydraulic fluid from the mechanics contaminated everything the water touched. Basement repairs were completed this spring.

The layout and furnishings of the cottage emphasize the importance of family. Holmes County Amish hand-built the cabinetry in the kitchen, family room, pantry, garage entry, office and four bathrooms. The first-floor tables, chairs and barstools are custom-built for the cottage. The bench seating in the kitchen hides table leaves that stretch the table over 100 inches.

The shared patio was added after the cottage was built. The exterior shower is a necessary feature with 12 grandchildren that have access to a sandy beach. The Bissonettes’ favorite flower is the State Fair Zinnia, which they plant every summer on the south side of the cottage. Fall is the season when they mature, and the abundant blooms are beautiful.

The Bissonettes first came to Lakeside in 1999. They were returning to their Northeast Ohio home from a vacation in Michigan and checked it out. Within five years after that drive through, they were chatting with folks who owned a cottage and asked them if they rented. They were told no, and then offered a week’s stay for free! During the first week in August 2004, they had the first enchanting week in Lakeside. On the last night of the stay at the Hoover Auditorium show, a conversation began that led to their investigation of properties for sale. Before winter began, they had a contract for their first Lakeside cottage. They named it Soul Rest after the Bible verse Matthew 11:29.

Their oldest daughter, Taylor, was college age when they spent their first summer in Lakeside. She and her husband, Fritz, now have five children and enjoy visits every summer. Their second daughter, Hayley, and her husband, Rob, also have five children and they too enjoy visits to experience the best summer day a grandkid could have in Lakeside. Their third daughter, Sydney, and her son and husband, Joe, visit when they can. Their son, Brady, and his wife, Hannah, spend a good deal of their summer in Lakeside helping to run Coffee & Cream.

All their children spent their high school and college summers working at Coffee & Cream. For those Lakesiders who go way back, Brady used to wheel his lemonade stand downtown when he was elementary school age. Brady‘s business know-how has “stepped-up” since those days as he helps Hannah manage Coffee & Cream.

Summers are filled with work for the Bissonettes and finding the proper work life balance is sometimes difficult. They purchased Coffee & Cream from the Grindley family who started the business. The Bissonettes’ goal has always been to maintain what they started and only grow it in a way that honors what they originally built and entrusted to them. It’s a special business that adds so much pleasure to Lakeside guests’ stay.

A Lakeside highlight for the family is the Sunset Praise Service on Sunday evenings offered by John and Bonnie Wilkie. Dale often returns Monday morning to his Monday-Friday job in Stow, Ohio. When not lending a helping hand at the family business, their focus shifts to friends, their children and grandchildren. Coming to Lakeside to hang out with “Papa and Granny” is a highlight for the 12 grandchildren. The design of the cottage welcomes them.

Cottage #6 – 600 Cherry Ave.
Lorna Thomas
Built in 2023
2023 Historic Preservation & Design Review Board Winner
This charming cottage was recently honored with a Historic Preservation & Design Review Board’s Award for New Construction, so the history of this cottage begins with the Thomas family. The way the home is constructed reflects the charm of so many Lakeside cottages with the large windows and a great front porch with a swing.

Owner Lorna Thomas has tried to create a space of tranquilly and comfort as many of the family come to Lakeside to escape the demands of their lives and the challenges of living in the modern world. The interior space reflects an open floorplan and this, combined with the high ceilings, helps to create a sense of spaciousness. The use of soft neutral colors on the walls creates a sense of calm.

Lorna was first introduced to Lakeside by neighbors and friends who shared stories of their time at Lakeside. In 1992, an invitation from a neighbor prompted her to visit, and soon, the Thomas family was making Lakeside their annual summer vacation spot. In addition, some summers the family’s respective “weeks” in Lakeside would overlap with the neighbors, which allowed the children to participate in programs together.

One of the many appealing qualities of the community is the presence of multigenerational families enjoying Lakeside and the many opportunities it provides for families to connect and make lifelong memories.

Upon the marriage of Lorna’s eldest child in 2013, the family rented several cottages to accommodate family and friends so that they could enjoy their time together the following week. It was during this stay that the opportunity for the Thomas family to purchase an empty lot became available.

With the completion of this cottage, the family intends to make it a year-round destination to connect with both family and friends. Since 2013, the family has grown to include both a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law and two granddaughters!

Lorna was a stay-at-home mom until her children were all in school. She then had a teaching position until 2011 when she moved back to Pennsylvania to help with both her aging parents and the family business. Sadly, her father passed away in 2014. Her mother just turned 94 and has happy memories of visiting Lakeside with the entire family

The family business, Pronio’s Market, is currently celebrating its 105th Anniversary! Lorna’s grandparents immigrated to the United States and eventually moved to Hershey to set up a “parlor” store in 1919. The family business has evolved over the past 105 years and is currently run by Lorna’s brother.

Lorna intends to make 600 Cherry Avenue her permanent residence, but in the meantime, she visits Lakeside as much as time allows. Lorna enjoys gardening, reading, sculpting and any activity that takes her outside or allows her to spend time with her grandchildren.

Cottage #7 – Cabin #3
Sweet Suite
Corner of W. Seventh St. & Cedar Ave.
Built in 1947
Lakeside Chautauqua’s Cabin #3 was recently remodeled and redecorated by a group of dedicated volunteers. This was the second wave of cabin restoration conducted by wife and husband Char Wilkerson and Len Forinash.

Their crew included Molly and Steve Adams, Vern Hartenburg, Barb Hoffman, Sherry Kapes and Ginger and Jerry Leonard who painted, sewed curtains, added amenities and cleaned the facilities. The results of their labor have provided another affordable, charming and comfortable rental space for families to stay when visiting Lakeside.

Cabins #5 and #6 remain bunk houses. Cabin #4 was destroyed when a tree fell on the cabin. The cabins, located on the corner of Cedar Avenue and Seventh Street, were constructed in the summers of 1947 and 1948 as the Lakeside Youth Center. The cost of a completely furnished cabin was $2,500 or $5,000 for a unit with two connected cabins. Contributions from church groups and private individuals to the Diamond Jubilee Fund financed the construction of the first eight cabins.

The cabins were furnished with five double-deck bunks, mattresses, pillows, tables, chairs and clothes closet and had electric power. Each cabin had a washroom and two lavatories, two toilets and one shower with hot and cold running water. Each cabin could accommodate 10 youth and a counselor for $30. Rental revenue was used for management and maintenance of the facilities.

Cottage #8 – 161 Walnut Ave.
Green Gables
Lakeside Women’s Club
Built in 1883
In 1883, the Hubbard Family built a Gothic cottage with steep gables in the shape of a Greek cross. Located south of the Dock facing the park, this was one of the community’s prime lots. Having purchased the cottage in 1884, Mary Cook signed the lease over to her sister, Alice, in 1893.

The cottage was used as a boarding house for many years and then stood empty for several years. A newspaper article indicates the cottage was used as a gathering center for Ohio Wesleyan faculty and alumni during the summer of 1923.

In 1928, Arthur Hoover, Lakeside’s General Manager, persuaded Alice to sell the cottage to the Lakeside Association. Hoover negotiated with Lakeside Trustees that the cottage would be used as the clubhouse for a newly formed Woman’s Club with his wife, Bessie Hoover, serving as founding president, a position she held for four years. The Lakeside Association painted the cottage and Bessie donated furniture from the Hoover home across the street at 205 Park Row, the most notable being the parlor wicker set still in use today.

Changes to the cottage include enlarging the front porch in 1947 to create a meeting room with funds raised by members. The main floor powder room was added in 1968. New flooring was laid in 1990, followed by a new roof and exterior painting in 1991. The east garden was planted in 2005. In autumn of 2012, excavation below the front meeting room enabled six concrete pillars to be poured with a new foundation. In spring 2014, new carpet was laid throughout the house and extensive new landscaping was completed.

Through all the decades of building renovations, the original pointed Gothic windows, the ornate bargeboard roof trim and the gingerbread gable pendants have been kept intact.

Visit the lending library inside the entrance, the parlor with its painted stone fireplace, the four guest bedrooms (named for characters in Anne of Green Gables) that are available for rent by women over the age 18 and the Durr clubroom where you can shop for gently used treasures in the Corner Cupboard.