By CYMBRE FOSTER
Special to Record-Eagle
June 23, 2008 12:00 am TRAVERSE CITY -- There's something about the family cottage. Sights, sounds, smells that linger through the years. Memories of special times and special places. That's the way it is for Patti DeAgostino, who retains fond memories of childhood summers spent at an Upper Peninsula getaway. She's especially pleased with the latest exhibit at The Grand Traverse Heritage Center that features the summer cottage, a place steeped in special memories, family traditions and fun-filled days and evenings. "You just smile when you think of the summer cottage and I'm happy we can bring this to people," said DeAgostino, the Heritage Center's executive director. "Memories of the Summer Cottage" runs now through Sept. 21 and is a three-part exhibit that includes excerpts from the book "Historic Cottages on Glen Lake" by Barbara Siepker, as well as displays that convey how early visitors came to the area and where they stayed. "What we wanted to do with this exhibit was tie in summer with something people can relate to. And in this area, what is more appropriate than the summer cottage?" said Richard Teubert, the exhibit's curator. Displays from Siepker's book include photographs by architectural photographer Dietrich Floeter, accompanied by anecdotal cottage histories. Siepker said the book's impetus was her love of the cottages built during the "heyday of summer resort life on Glen Lake that were disappearing from the landscape," and the importance of sharing them with others. "With all of them there is a nostalgia and a connection of family and a time that was more idyllic, where they made their own fun," said Siepker. The summer cottage also was important to families because it often served as the staging place for family summer vacations, she said. For families scattered across the country and the world, the lake cottage was the one consistent home. Decades ago as many families looked for places to escape from the summer heat of large cities, the scenic Grand Traverse area became a popular destination. Photographs depict various modes of transportation of the time, including a train entering the station at Suttons Bay and various inland lake steamer ships. Once they arrived, the first turn-of-the-century vacationers primarily stayed at hotels, said Teubert. "Then as more people arrived, resorts started developing and eventually people started to build their own places," he said. "At one point there were actual tent sites where people lived for several weeks at a time." The exhibit's focal point is a summer cottage Teubert recreated, complete with a front porch that typically was at the center of cottage life. "It looks exactly like the summer cottage I experienced as a child in Escanaba," said DeAgostino. Teubert's cottage includes a living area model that displays treasures typical to many cottages such as books and jigsaw puzzles. He also includes rustic wood and wicker furniture that can still be found in many family summer homes. "Often they would bring up furniture from their year-round homes," Teubert said. "These are things that were accumulated at the summer cottage through the generations." In the 1890s, Midwestern businessmen took up fishing and traveled north to camp and fish, said Siepker. Soon they began returning with their families. Teubert replicated this pastime with plenty of early fishing paraphernalia such as tackle boxes, fishing creels, an old outboard motor, a box of antique lures and a bobber with a built-in light bulb. Memories of the Summer Cottage exhibit is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call the Heritage Center at (231) 995-0313
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