Watervale Historic District on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Watervale Historic District is a resort, originally constructed as a
Leo F. Hale began a logging and shipping operation in this area in the early 1890s. In 1893, Hale, along with William and Mary Vincent, platted out the village of Watervale on the south shore of Lower Herring Lake. They built about 20 houses, many of which were shacks. There were, however, at least eight painted frame houses. The village also contained a meat market, general store, and post office.
As the logging boom waned, Hale went bankrupt, and by 1900 had lost most of Watervale; it was eventually nearly abandoned. In 1917, Dr. Oscar H. Kraft of
Watervale Inn
{{Benzie County, Michigan Victorian architecture in Michigan Buildings and structures completed in 1892 Buildings and structures in Benzie County, Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Benzie County, Michigan
lumber camp
A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...
, located at 975-1422 Watervale Road on the shore of Lower Herring Lake in Blaine Township, Michigan
Blaine Township is a civil township of Benzie County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 484. It is located in the southwest portion of the county. There are no significant population centers in the t ...
. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1991 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2003.
History
Leo F. Hale began a logging and shipping operation in this area in the early 1890s. In 1893, Hale, along with William and Mary Vincent, platted out the village of Watervale on the south shore of Lower Herring Lake. They built about 20 houses, many of which were shacks. There were, however, at least eight painted frame houses. The village also contained a meat market, general store, and post office.
As the logging boom waned, Hale went bankrupt, and by 1900 had lost most of Watervale; it was eventually nearly abandoned. In 1917, Dr. Oscar H. Kraft of Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
purchased the town and adjacent land to use as a resort for his family. He restored several buildings, and opened it that summer as a public resort. Kraft's niece, Vera Noble, and her husband Vernon purchased the resort in 1960; Vera ran Watervale until her death in 2005, when it was passed on to her children.
Description
The Watervale Historic District contains 16 buildings constructed between 1892 and 1927 sited along Watervale Road. The buildings include the former general store, a former boarding house now used as an inn, an assortment one- and two-storyclapboard
Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping.
''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...
-covered houses and several early 20th century cottages.
References
External links
Watervale Inn
{{Benzie County, Michigan Victorian architecture in Michigan Buildings and structures completed in 1892 Buildings and structures in Benzie County, Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Benzie County, Michigan