The Kinnaird family on Belvedere actually started as the Roemler Family.  My great grandfather Charles Oscar Roemler and his wife Adelaide Goetz leased cottage 233 back in 1910 (now owned by Ruth Moore). My father Charles Roemler “Skip” Kinnaird was born in July 1932 and spent most of his summers with his grandparents.  Adelaide passed away in 1947 and Charles sold the cottage in 1949 thus beginning my father’s long stretch without the Belvedere.

Both my Father and my Mother, Susan Wiltshire Stempfel, were born in Indianapolis.  They were born 3 weeks apart in the same hospital.  My parents went to kindergarten together, then Mom and her family moved to Nashville.  Grandpa Stempfel spoke fluent German (being in the first generation born in the US).   Being in the Army and speaking German, he was the commander in charge of German prisoners during WWII.

My parents met again while attending a mutual friend’s wedding and the rest is history as they say.  They married in May 1955 and eventually Dad brought Mom to Belvedere, renting for several years before purchasing 211 in 1966.

In 1961 my brother Jim was born, followed by me in late 1963.  Then Rob (the current cottage owner) in 1969 and the twins Ed and Keith in 1971.  There are 9 grandchildren now; Jim has 2 boys and a girl, Rob has 2 girls, Ed has 2 boys and Keith has a boy and a girl.

One of the greatest things about being young at Belvedere was the freedom we had as kids.  Our parents knew we wouldn’t leave the “reservation” as my Dad calls it.  At our home in Detroit, it was “Mom, can I go to Carolyn’s house.  But on Belvedere as I was flying out the door it was “Mom, I’m going to Amy’s”

Some of my fondest memories of Belvedere are:

Every one of us kids learned to swim in Lake Charlevoix, on the kiddie side.  Yes, it used to be segregated between kids and adults. If you found a piece of glass on the beach and turned it in, you got a piece of candy
Putting pennies on the Railroad track and then trying to find them after the train went by, hoping the train would not derail as our parents warned.
The Leakas boys would take my bike after gang to ride from the Casino to the Blue Bell
My bike was named “the green machine” and lasted all through my young years but finally fell apart one year by the tennis court hill.  Unfortunately, my brother Keith was riding it at the time.
David Alexander and I would drink coke from the little coke machine they had on their back porch.

Gang: I only remember my leaders from Big Gang, Chris and Ginger Payne and Doug Kuhn (see more about this later). 
We had tennis, sailing and golf lessons. One year the lake was high, and you could go down the slide into the lake, and the sailing office was flooded. I hated golf lessons because we would hit balls from the top of a huge hill and then have to go pick them up and bring them back to the top of the hill.
I learned to ride horses at Driggits and even worked there 2 summers taking out people who wanted to go for a ride.  I even went every week after I aged out of gang.  Mr. Driggit would see me get out of the car and say, “Go get (insert horses name)”.  He would tell me to be back in an hour and I was.
Capture the flag by the Casino. One day a bunch of us were playing outside the Reese cottage and as I dove for the flag my head connected with someone’s knee (I think Leland Inghams).  I ended up with a concussion.  I still have no idea if my side won.
Petoskey Stone hunting was a favorite.  Mom and I would wander down one of the beaches: Belvedere, Lake Michigan or Belles Bay.  Mom would be in front with me trailing behind saying “you missed one, you missed one.”  Eventually she made me walk in front.  I would spend hours polishing the stones until they shone.  One day we decided to set them on the windowsill in the laundry room and spray them with shellack.  Not a great idea, as we had to pry the stones off the windowsill.  I think the shellack rings were there for about 20 years.
 
My father, George Schwab and Bob Million decided one year to buy a boat.  It was a 36-foot wooden hulled boat they named the Shkillion.  Then came the Happiness II.  On the Shkillion I would have to lay on the floor of the boat, right next to the speakers to hear my favorite 8 track from Peter, Paul and Mary.

Venetian was a special time.  We decided to take popcorn down to the boat to watch the fireworks one year.  I made batches and batches on the stove, yes with the big pan, oil and kernels, shaking back and forth.  I put the finished batch into the bag and move onto the next.  When the bag was about half full, we grabbed it to head out the door only to find the popcorn all over the kitchen floor.  Yes, in our infinite wisdom, we had used a plastic trash bag.  The following years were better.
I caught my first fish while fishing with Dad in Oyster Bay.  That was a favorite picnic spot every summer.  We could swim off the boat and while the swans were around, we would feed them bread.  The wrecks in Oyster Bay still creep me out to this day every time we go over them.

As I got older, I got interested in Family History and Genealogy.  Mom had always said we were related to the Kuhns through her side of the family.  So, Doug Kuhn, my gang leader, became Cousin Kuggie Dune.  I have no idea why, but it was cute when I was little.  Through research I can see that we must be related, we share the same family names, but I’m still searching for the “missing link”

Dad asked me to search to see if we were related to the Whitehead/Millions as he had an aunt Whitehead from the same town as the Whiteheads at Belvedere (who sold their cottage some years ago).  It turns out that yes, we are related through that Aunt.  And since Dr Whiteheads sister married Bob Million (mentioned above), we were related to Millions as well.  So, my childhood friends Diane and Lucia became distant cousins and some of my favorite non-related aunts and uncles became distantly related.

I still try to get back to Belvedere as often as possible. But it doesn’t always work out.  My job interferes with my freedom now a days.  A lot of changes have been made to the cottage by my brother Rob, all changes for the better.  I’m so glad I got to spend my childhood years on the “reservation” and wouldn’t trade them for anything.