Family
Cottages at The Belvedere Club
By
Linda Mueller 2020
Oscar
Allen, my husband’s great grandfather, was one of the early members of the
Charlevoix Summer Resort, now known as The Belvedere Club. Summer
Resorts of the Mackinaw Region and Adjacent Localities was published
in 1882 by J.A. Van Fleet. In the Charlevoix section, the Charlevoix
Summer Resort grounds and buildings are described along with a list of
Board and Committee Members, By Laws and the high moral character of the
members. Oscar Allen was listed on three committees: Sanitary Precaution,
Finance and Lots, and Grounds and Buildings.
# 506 Belvedere “The Blue
Bell” built
before 1892
Within the first few years of the founding of the Charlevoix Summer Home
Association, Oscar M. Allen built The Blue Bell, #506. Oscar was a member of the
Masons. The Blue Bell floor plan is based on an octagon which has symbolic
meaning to Masonic Lodge Members. According to Rosemary Mueller, the house had
a bell. Whether or not it was blue, she didn’t recall. The house itself was
painted blue and it has remained blue to this day. Oscar apparently also
built #51 about the same time, probably with the intention of
selling it to another member. His wife Hannah is listed as the owner of
#51 until 1892 when it was transferred to Sarah P. Tyler. Members could
only own one house even then.
Oscar
and Hannah Allen had eight children, seven surviving to adulthood:
Lila B. was born in 1854, Oscar Monroe Jr.
was born in 1856. The next baby, named Belva Dear Allen, was born in 1858, died
in 1859 age 6 months, and is buried in the Allen section of the Mountain Home
Cemetery in Kalamazoo, MI. Richard’s brother, Glenn wonders if the name change
to Belvedere Club had anything to do with baby Belva Dear. News Allen was born
in 1860, Fannie was born in 1863, Jollie was born in 1864, another son, Dee was
born in 1865, and Glenn Seven, because he was the seventh child, was born in
1868.
Fannie, who married Emmet Hollingsworth, seems to have been the first owner
of #204. Possibly Fannie and Emmet had it built for their family,
or to sell to another member of the club. Fannie transferred #204 to Reba W.
Caruthers in 1902. In 1905 Oscar transferred #506 to Fannie.
Fannie and
Emmet had four children:
Cecelia, was born in 1888, Dorothy, was
born in 1892, Gerald, was born in 1895, and Emmet Jr. was born in
1897. Fannie Hollingsworth owned #506 from 1905 to 1928.
Rosemary Mueller remembered Aunt Fannie lived next door when Rosemary was young
and staying at #504. According to the family, Fannie used to bring a full
size harp to Charlevoix. In 1928 she transferred #506 to her
son Gerald Hollingsworth before she died in 1932.
In
1922 Gerald Hollingsworth married Charlotte Durst. Gerald was the owner
of #506 from 1928 until 1942 when it transferred to his wife,
Charlotte. I am not sure why. Charlotte
died in 1973 and Gerald died the next year in 1974.
Gerald and Charlotte Hollingsworth had two children:
Helen, daughter from his first marriage,
was born in 1917. Shirley was born in 1924. Shirley Hollingsworth
married Frank H. Simpson in 1942. Shirley and Frank probably met at the
Belvedere Club. Frank’s mother, Marita Gale Simpson bought neighboring cottage
#509 in 1941. Cottage #509 was passed down through the Simpson, Bemis,
and Parish lines.
A
family legend told by Jollie Allen and separately by a Hollingsworth
descendant, involved a skeleton that hung in a closet at The Blue Bell. The
story went that a friend of Charlotte Hollingsworth donated her body to the University
of Michigan.
The skeleton was later returned and it ended up in the possession of
Charlotte Hollingsworth. Wired together, the skeleton was hung in the Blue Bell
for a number of years until it was properly buried. Jollie and his wife,
Sue made and decorated a large doll house with bedrooms devoted to each of the
Allen siblings. A miniature skeleton was hung in one of the closets. The doll
house is currently at #129, complete with skeleton.
Shirley and Frank Simpson had four children:
Harold T., Michael, Aaron and daughter
Hollingsworth Simpson. In 1966 cottage #506, was transferred from
Charlotte Hollingsworth to Frank and Shirley Simpson. They owned it until
1971 when The Blue Bell, #506, was sold out of the family to William and Ann
Leakas, now Ann and Don Denison.
#504 Belvedere “The Merrill” built
before 1892
In
1905 when Oscar Allen gave The Blue Bell to his daughter Fannie, he acquired
#504 next door to the Blue Bell from the Merrill family. The next owner of #504
was Oscar’s youngest son, Glenn Seven. Oscar died in 1910. Hannah died in 1920.
For some unknown reason the formal transfer of #504 to Glenn S. Allen Sr.
didn’t happen until 1957. I guess they just didn’t bother with the paperwork
until Glenn Sr. was age 90 and the records needed to be tidied up while he was
alive.
In
1912 Glenn Allen Sr. married Annette Brenner and they lived in Kalamazoo in the 32 room mansion built by
Oscar Allen. They spent summers at #504 with their four children:
Glenn Seven Jr. was born in 1914, Barbara
was born in 1915, Jollie News (named for two uncles) was born in 1916 and
Rosemary was born in 1922.
In
1944 Glenn Allen Jr. married Virginia Verdier, daughter of Leonard and Ann
Carpenter Verdier, who also had ties with the Belvedere Club.
Judge
Glenn Allen bought a cottage on Mackinac Island
while working with Governor Romney who lived in the Governor’s mansion on
Mackinac in the summer. Later Glenn purchased a converted schoolhouse on Susan Lake in Charlevoix. After
Virginia’s
death Glenn Jr. married two more times, Marion Smith in 1979 and Marjorie
Tracy in 1985. All three wives died of cancer. Glenn Allen Jr. died in
2001. Virginia and Marjorie are buried in the Protestant
Cemetery on Mackinac
Island with him. There is a large stone on the family plot with
the name “Allen” that can be seen from the carriage tour when it turns on the
road by the cemetery.
Glenn
and Virginia had two daughters:
Holly and Susan. Holly Mull and Susan
Hinman inherited the Mackinac cottage. Holly died a few years after her father.
She is also buried in the Allen plot on Mackinac Island.
In 1945 Rosemary married Dr. Richard Mueller Sr. in Kalamazoo. Dr. Mueller and Rosemary had six
children:
Carol Ann, Shirley Annette, Richard Palmer
Mueller Jr., Phyllis Louise, Glenn Allen Mueller, named for his grandfather and
uncle, and Rudolph James “Rudy”.
All
the children had fond memories of staying with Grandma and Grandpa Allen at
#504 and the Belvedere Club. Richard Jr. remembers Grandpa would pay a
dime to him to walk to the Belvedere Hotel to buy him a paper. Grandpa only
paid after the paper was brought back. Then Richard Jr. could run back to the
hotel to buy candy. Playing Cribbage was also a favorite activity with Grandpa
Allen. Glenn Sr. died in 1962 age 93. In 1963 the cottage was transferred
to his wife, Annette Allen who spent her summers in Charlevoix until about age
90. In the 1970’s Richard Jr’s children often visited Great Grandma Allen at
#504. Always polite, Annette was getting forgetful and would keep asking
“Who are you, my dear, and how long are you staying?” Annette died in 1985 age
95.
Cottage
#504 transferred to her son Jollie in 1986. Jollie married Carol Walker
in 1946 and had four children:
Barbara, Jollie W. known as Jay, Glenn
Scott and Malinda. He adopted Lori, the daughter of his second wife, Sue Hicks.
Lori has one daughter, Stephanie Bills, with her first husband. She married Ken
Wiseman in 1987 and they have two children: John and Catherine.
In
1995 #504 was transferred to daughter Lori Wiseman. Lori owned #504
until 2016 when she sold it and bought #39 from the Ransom family.
Cottage #39 began undergoing extensive updating and remodeling in 2019.
# 129 Browning built before 1892
Rosemary’s family stayed at #504 in the summer until 1959 when she bought #129
from the Douglas family. She had a choice
between the Earl Young house on Lake
Michigan next to the hospital, or the
Belvedere cottage. Both were selling for about $14,000. Of course, she chose
the Belvedere Club. Later, Rosemary laughed “the Earl Young house is probably
worth twice what #129 is now.” Rosemary, her children and often friends
of the children, filled up the five bedroom cottage for a month or more each
summer. Shirley and Carol were gang leaders when they became teenagers.
In 1994 Rosemary winterized the cottage and added a laundry room, a garage, and
an office downstairs. Above those rooms she added a new master suite, a new
bunk bed room and a furnace room. She lived at #129 year-round for a number of
years. Three of her friends also stayed year-round until their passing. When
Rosemary turned 80 she decided to move off the Belvedere Club. Her friends were
no longer there, and she wanted to be able to keep her dog, Casey, with her
during the summer. Dogs were not allowed from Memorial Day to Labor Day and she
didn’t want to send him to a kennel or a dog sitter. With eyesight failing,
steps had become a problem and the new house on Maple Way was all on one
floor.
In 1969 Richard Jr. married Linda Holliday. After a week long trip through Canada,
they honeymooned at #129. Over the years they stayed a week or two with Grandma
Rosemary Mueller at # 129 with their growing family. Richard and Linda Mueller
have four children:
Richard Mueller III, Kathleen,
Christopher, and Michael Mueller.
Carol
has three children with her husband, Les Whitworth, now deceased: Kim, Adam and
Joni. She has four grandchildren: Oakley and Portia Binford children of Kim and
her first husband, and Caliope and London Whitworth, children of Adam and
Alyssa Whitworth.
Shirley has three children with her husband Walter Baas, who died in 1998:
David, who died the year before in 1997, Aaron, and Laura. Shirley has six
grandchildren: Jocelyn, Ryan, Jason, Benjamin, and Jesse, children of Aaron and
Jessica Baas, and Paxton Otto, son of Laura and Tyler Otto.
Phyllis married Glenn Warren and they have three golden retrievers: Mayor Max,
the official Mayor of Idyllwild, CA, Deputy Mayor Mitzie and Deputy Mayor
Mikey.
Glenn
Married Valerie Galloway. Glenn’s family owns #508.
Rudy
and his wife, Diane Mueller have five children: Daniel, Nicholas, Theodore,
Peter, and Heidi. They have one granddaughter, Emersyn, daughter of Ted and
Meredith Mueller.
Heidi is unmarried and planning on
attending medical school.
Rosemary owned #129 from 1959 to 2003 when she sold the cottage to her son,
Richard Mueller Jr.
#215
Dana built
before 1892
Rosemary’s cottage could become crowded when her children came to visit with
spouses and then grandchildren. Having another family cottage around the corner
would be very handy. In 1991 Richard Jr. bought #215 from the McKay
family. He added a laundry room, a master suite, and two upstairs
bathrooms a few years later. Over the years the Mueller children married
and started families of their own. In 2001 Richard transferred #215 to his
wife, Linda Mueller. Still only one cottage per member. Then he was free to
purchase another cottage, first #508 for a short time, and then #129. Richard
and Linda have seven grandchildren:
Richard III and Stephenie Mueller have two
children: Alex and Emma Mueller.
Kathleen and Thom Barclay have two
children: Marc and Chris Barclay.
Chris and Karrie Mueller have three
children: Lilly, Luke and Alice Mueller.
Mike is unmarried and usually comes with a
friend, John Palumbo.
#508
Belvedere “Recreation” built before 1892
In 2001 #508 came up for sale from the Schleman family. Richard
Mueller Jr. purchased it initially, but soon transferred ownership to his
brother Glenn’s family. Cottage #508 had the kitchen,
electrical, plumbing, and heating systems totally updated At the
same time it was extensively remodeled to recapture the charm of earlier
cottage design. It also had additional space added to make room for the growing
Mueller family of children, spouses and grandchildren
Glenn
married Valerie Galloway. Glenn and Val have five children:
Stephanie, Glenn Jr. Alison, Merrin, and
Rogers, and three grandsons: Jared Alexander, son of Stephanie, and Rogers and
Reynolds Mueller, sons of Rogers and Bryn Mueller.
In 2019
#508 was transferred to Val Mueller.