Belvedere Book – McClelland #119

Every summer as August 1^st came upon us, there was a countdown to the annual family trek to Charlevoix. We were an “August family” back when that was still a thing, and for a good part of the month we would descend upon this special place. Our days were filled with playing in gang, trying to convince our parents to let us eat lunch at the teen room, and running around with our friends until we heard the inevitable 9:30 curfew siren causing us to sprint home.

Our grandparents, Molly and Mac Goodson bought #119 in 1959 on a tip from dear friend and soon to be Belvedere neighbor, Myron Hickey. Family lore says our grandfather bought it sight unseen without telling our grandmother as she insisted over the years her preference for renting to the hassle of owning. In a sly and strategic move, he told her about the purchase as they were walking into a school event where he figured she couldn’t publicly protest. While she probably (and let’s admit, validly) had some choice words in the privacy of their own home, their descendants are eternally grateful at Mac’s stealth ways.

This place is not just a beautiful cottage to us, it’s the reason we literally exist. On a fateful Labor Day weekend in 1971, a young Molly Goodson was visiting her parents from San Francisco and attended a party next door at the Hickey cottage where a young Geoff McClelland was a house guest of Judy and Dick Engelsmann. They hit it off and Geoff asked Molly to be his date for a Jordan River outing the next day. With the over-confidence of a rusty canoer, and perhaps wanting to show off for his date, Geoff insisted he paddle stern much to Molly’s chagrin knowing the Jordan’s twists and turns can be tricky…they flipped the first three turns and were married the following Memorial Day.

Growing up here meant playing at the beach, epic games of baseball in the park, dive bombing our bikes down tennis court hill, and laughing until your sides hurt. As a child, the beauty of the Belvedere is the freedom and carefree days that didn’t always exist in the real world. Mary continued that fun as a gang leader during the summers of 1997 and 1998 and still proclaims to this day it was the best job in the world. What’s better than working 10-12 and 2-5, playing capture the flag and watermelon football at the beach? Not much.

Our family welcomed Mac’s wife Susan into the fold when they married in 2004 and we were doubly blessed when their wonderful daughter Eliza arrived in 2006 (along with a subsequent addition to the cottage in 2007 to accommodate our growing family). Eliza carried on the tradition of attending gang and would proclaim as a young girl “this is so fun!” We hear you, kid.

As adults, our appreciation of the Belvedere continues to grow. We are one of the rare families not related to anyone, but the extended Belvedere family is real. They make you laugh, can sometimes make you cry, and most importantly, they show up. Couple that with annual traditions each summer like Wednesday night beach picnics, closing down the GG, and wondering where our golf games went as we tee off #1 all keep us coming back.

As is often proclaimed by many of us every summer, we are so lucky.

~Mary & Mac McClelland