Black Point - A Step Back in Time is Only a Boat Ride Away -- Plus a Book Giveaway!

I recently toured Black Point, an authentic late 19^th Century Victorian home that sits on the shores of Geneva Lake near the town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin where I grew up. Since the early 1870s when the Great Chicago Fire caused many of Chicago’s wealthy to build homes on the lake to get their families out of the scorched city, the shoreline has boasted of many magnificent mansions. This was the first time I was able to actually step inside one, and it was like time traveling back to the 1890s.   

The Geneva-From Lake Geneva Cruise Co. Website

The tour began by boarding the small excursion boat, pictured here, at the Lake Geneva docks and traveling over water much the same way the home’s family had to do because until the 1920s, roads to the lake's south shore did not exist. 

We disembarked at Black Point’s pier and then climbed 110 steps that zigzagged their way up the bluff, though a forest. When we stepped out into the bright sunlight, we entered a world that has long been passed by. 

Black Point Estate - Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

Conrad Seipp, who made his fortune in breweries, built his 20-room Queen Anne home in 1887, and when the home was completed, he’d spent $20,000. It’s mind boggling to think that all the building materials had to be ferried from town to the home by boat, and in the winter by sleigh. The same was true for their furniture. A team of horses would haul wagonloads up the steep incline.

Four generations of Seipps used the home every summer until it was donated to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The home has about six bedrooms on the second floor and more on the third floor to accommodate the large family and generations to come.

All Bedrooms were authentic (except for necessary fans)

Pillows had covers to prevent insects from touching the pillow cases. 

 The main floor consisted of a music room, living room, billiard room and a dining room.

The only pieces not original to the family was the silverware

The living room with original furniture

During the four generations, the only major remodeling was to add a kitchen wing on the back after the home acquired gas lines and electricity. Before that, the kitchen was in a separate building to prevent fire in the all-wood structure. Most all of the furniture is original to the home and in excellent condition.

My only disappointment was not being able to climb to the turret to the overlook. The view has to be magnificent.

We ended the tour on the magnificent wraparound porch that invited me to ask for a glass of sweet tea and sit a while and imagine what it would have been like to live back in the day when ladies had to wear layers of clothing no matter how hot it was, and there was no air conditioning either. 

Many of the 19th Century and early 20th Century homes built on the lakeshore have been demolished, and I'm very grateful that one family chose to not sell to developers, but to donate this beautiful 19th Century home to the Wisconsin Historical Society. There is so much to be gained through remembering how things were before all the modern conveniences of life we have today  

You can read more about Black Point at their website.  If you are in the Lake Geneva area, I highly recommend the tour. Information can be found at the Lake Geneva Cruise Line.

Book Give Away!

In keeping with the theme of this post, fellow CFHS blogger Susan Page Davis is offering one of her wonderful mysteries called Pieces of the Past as a giveaway!!!

When Sarah Makes a quilt out of her father's old flannel shirts, she brings it to the nursing home for him and meets his new friend, Vern, a fellow veteran. Vern tells Sarah about Alice, the woman he planned to marry before WWII. Vern always wondered what happened to Alice, and Sarah offers to help him track down his long lost love. - But as Sarah digs into Vern's past, she soon discovers that his story doesn't add up.

To win this mystery, leave your name and contact information in a comment below and I'll get your name in the "randomizer." Please leave your comments by FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2014, and then watch to see if you are the winner!

When the Lucias Newberry Sunk

 by Pamela S. Meyers

This past week, after a very long and cold winter, the excursion boats on Geneva Lake in Wisconsin returned to their docks in the village of Lake Geneva. Seeing pictures of the Lady of the Lake, a replica of the original Lady of the Lake paddle-wheel steamboat that once plied the same waters back in the 19^th century, got me to thinking again about another paddle-wheel boat called the Lucius Newberry.

It may not look elegant in this old drawing, but it was!

Back in the late 1800s the Newberry was the pride of the lake as it toured the waters, carrying both residents and tourists to various points along the 22 miles of shoreline. It was built in 1875 for a man named Lucius Newberry at the cost of $16,000. In 1887, he sold the steamer to another man named John Burton to be added to a fleet of excursion boats that included the original Lady of the Lake and another called the Commodore.

This side-wheeler boat was the showcase of the fleet, decorated to the hilt with Brussels carpeting and exquisite upholstered furniture, plate glass mirrors and an upright piano. It could carry as many as 500 passengers at a time, and during the height of the summer season, it made three daily trips from one end of the lake to the other.

All that changed on a chilly December night when it was tied to its dock home in Lake Geneva. It’s speculated that hobos had sought shelter from the cold by climbing aboard and decided to light

In this old postcard, that's the Newberr docked at the end of the pier.

up some smokes. That night the boat caught fire and, being constructed out of nothing but wood, it didn’t take long for it to be totally consumed. Volunteer firemen tried to save the vessel, but in the end they cut the ropes and the Newberry drifted out over the lake, flames shooting up across the water. Eventually it sank.

For years divers searched in vain for the wreckage and finally, a few years back, they found it. Since the vessel had burned down to the waterline, they were able to collect only a few artifacts such as a fancy ice bucket. But they did bring up the anchor which now sits in the Geneva Lake Museum.

The Lucias Newberry

I’ve always been fascinated about the fire and sinking of the Newberry and hope to include it in a future novel.

The replica paddleboats in the excursion fleet today are not operated by steam, but they do give us a taste of a different way of life back in the 19^th century when the boats were used for both pleasure and were the most efficient mode of travel to points on the lakeshore. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to time travel back to that time and live life as it was lived. I doubt I’d want to stay there more than a few days though.

What about you? Would you like to time travel back to another period in history? Where would you go?

 Win a Free Book!

To celebrate the return of spring to the Lake Geneva area, I’m giving away a copy of my book Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The story is set in 1933, when the Riviera building was built at the Lake Geneva lake shore. It's become a historical landmark and has been restored to its original design. Leave a comment and your name in the comment by Friday, May 9, 2014. I’ll draw a name on Saturday.

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago, an hour's drive away from her hometown which she visits often to dig into its historical legacy. Her novels include Thyme for Love, and Love Will Find a Way,  contemporary romantic mysteries and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva,Wisconsin, released in April, 2013. She can often be found speaking at events around Lake Geneva or nosing in microfilms and historical records about Wisconsin and  other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.