Cottage History
Susan Glinski purchased Cottage 49 in 1939. Here is the story of the purchase, as told by her daughter, Agnes Shankin:
Susan Glinski, my mother, had a very good friend whose name was Victoria Vogt. Mrs. Vogt had friends that lived in Port Austin.
One weekend, my mother decided to take a trip to Port Austin. Taking Bill and Don, my two oldest sons, they went to visit with the friend of the Vogts. My mother was familiar with the area having been involved with a police case involving a runaway girl that lived in Kinde.
While visiting in Port Austin, in a conversation with the banker that lived across the street, my mother mentioned, “I just love this town, it is so quiet”.
At that time the only real activity was a skating rink on the corner of the main street plus a bar and a hotel.
She said, “This is the kind of town I would like to live in when I retire.”
He said, “I have just the house for you.”
My mother said, “Where is it? Let’s go see it.”
The banker was not really sure that my other was that serious, but they got into the car and went to Pointe Aux Barques.
The cottage he showed my mother was owned by two sisters, maiden ladies, that owned a dress shop in Saginaw. A third sister was married to a doctor living in Chicago. They owned a cottage in Dowagiac. They did not use the cottage and tried to rent it. The doctor did not have the time to keep up the cottage with new furnishing and appliances, like the stove, so they decided to sell. The price: $1,900.
My mother got so excited that she called Bill and I in Detroit. We left the rest of the children with a woman that kept house for my mother and picked up my father and went to Port Austin.
Leonard, my brother, and his wife, Katherine, were in Port Austin visiting Katherine’s sister who was a nun teaching in the Catholic school in Port Austin. My mother had to return to Detroit, but Papa, Leonard, Katherine, the banker and I went to look at the cottage. Papa stated that this was the kind of place he had always dreamed about.
The salesman and Papa and Leonard examined the outside while Katherine and I went inside. Checking all the rooms, we discovered that the place was full of antiques including the beds. An old kerosene stove was in the small kitchen. Papa and Leonard also checked the inside.
When we got back to Detroit, my mother advised the family that she had put a $400 deposit on the cottage. She had to be approved by the association before being allowed to purchase the cottage. If, however, she was not approved, they still had an opportunity to stay for a month for the $400.
I started to pack our family for the stay. My mother and Katherine went ahead and cleaned the cottage.
We were all novices at cottage living. No one even knew how to start a fire in the fireplace and were very unfamiliar with the workings of a kerosene stove. No car, no telephone, we did not know anyone, just the supervisor of the Pointe. He kept an eye on our family and if we needed anything, he would get it for us from town.
A while later, I received a letter from my mother stating that she was approved and that everyone was to stay at the cottage. The timing was good because shortly after receiving the letter, a stranger in a big black car pulled into the driveway. A man inquired about the purchase of the cottage. I had to convince the man that we had bought it by showing him the letter. The man stood and looked at the place, climbed back into his car and with a heavy heart and a sad look on his face, left.