Name/Title
Rousing Romp through 85 Summers - Beechhurst TourEntry/Object ID
2024.41.186Scope and Content
INTERVIEW WITH THE EDDY SISTERS (9/16/08)
BARBARA CRANDELL
JOAN BRIGHAM
JOYCE PLUMMER
PATRICIA WOODS
This is a Synopsis of the video and audio record of the Eddy sisters’and first cousin Patricia Woods’ early recollections of summer life on the Beech Hurst farm.
Elizabeth (Betsy) Eddy Plummer was unable to attend.
The setting for this animated conversation between three Eddy sisters and their first cousin, Pat, was the dining room of the Beech Hurst house. From left to right sat Pat, Barbara, Joan, and Joyce as they appear in the videos. Two video camcorders and an audio recorder were used for this significant event to obtain a complete and reliable record.
Pat Paton Woods began the introductions by explaining that she is the only first cousin of the Eddy sisters who has spent 78 summers in Douglas, with most of her early years spent at Beech Hurst. She’s the only child of Raymond Grimes, the Eddy sister’s uncle. She’s also the youngest of the participants with memories of trailing behind her older Eddy “sisters” and called their parent’s “Mum and Dad”. When school was out for the summer, Pat would be put on a bus from Detroit to Saugatuck to join her “sisters”.
Barbara Eddy Crandell is the second oldest of the surviving Eddy sisters and counts 85 years of summering at Beech Hurst and the surrounding area. She tends to be viewed respectfully as the “fact checker” among the sisters.
Joan Eddy Brigham, the third sister, had the next highest record of 84 years spent in the area. She spoke of how her summers at Beech Hurst significantly influenced her world views and personal development because of her freedom to explore nature in a place that was the “heart of the family”. Joan was the naturalist among the sisters with an active interest in the trees on the property and birding everywhere. She was instrumental in having a large maple tree on the property become Tree #833 in the Michigan Champion Tree record.
Joyce Eddy Plummer counts summering at Beech Hurst for 83 years including the year of her mother’s pregnancy. She may be the best story teller of the sisters, with Barbara and Joan adjusting her stories for facts along the way. It seems she’s had many solo adventures in the dunes which made for great stories.
It became clear that the sisters share a friendly sibling rivalry with humor and in-family quips. It also became evident that all four women are independent and sharp-witted thinkers who had a very special attachment to each other, this place and the adults who significantly helped to shape their identities.
Joan reported her earliest recollection of Beech Hurst to be the song of the house wren outside her bedroom window which created her sense of the area. It was the natural environment, the flora and fauna of Beech Hurst that most impacted her early memories.
Barbara described hikes to Mount Baldhead with a bag of food (tomatoes, oranges, and hunks of dark chocolate) and a tin cup for water. Grandmother Lillian sent her huge Great Dane (whom Joyce recalls riding on these hikes) along for security. In general, walking everywhere consumed much of the summer in those days. Mail was picked up twice a day in downtown Douglas, shopping for food was a frequent walk, walking in to Saugatuck to the Pavilion for dancing or movies was a very frequent event in their early teens. These memories brought on many winks and chortles as family secrets neared exposure.
Pat recalled swinging on the old “Indian Rope” over a sandy blowout on the south side of Mt. Baldhead. This reminded the group of the actual Indian presence and myth in the area. The Eddy girls remembered teasing Pat about the Mt. Baldhead “Indian” which frightened her. The Indian they referred to was actually a Native American who was imported from a western state by the Saugatuck Chamber of Commerce for tourists. They recalled a story by their mother of when a local Pottawatomie Indian was seen peering into a Beech Hurst house window when the women were there alone and they threatened to let the Great Dane out. This story was followed with sheepish disclaimers of any real threat. Joyce related a story of going to the Mt Baldhead area with the family dog and meeting a group of local Indians cooking food in a hollow tree and being invited to eat. Her sisters accused her of mixing fact and fantasy, but the memory had to come from some experience.
Recalling the Bekkan family farm across the street from Beech Hurst brought back many happy memories. The Bekkan’s had a large roadside fruit and vegetable stand at Ferry and Blue Star Highway in which the girls would play with the Bekkan daughters. Exposure to horses, cows, chickens, the dairy process and the welcoming family provided a great appreciation and education. Fruit pies from that stand were a special treat, especially those made by a good friend of their mother’s who lived at Beech Hurst for ten years, providing support and wisdom to the girls.
Most interesting was the group’s discussion of life during the Great Depression of 1929 when their mother was able to support them on the five dollars a week she received from teaching Sunday school and a small pension of their father’s. Despite periods when they ate three meals of oatmeal or potatoes, life never seemed desperate.
The question was raised about the “Underground Railroad” hidden floor legend about the Beech Hurst house. There’s a trap door in the floor of the house that at one time opened to a cement cistern large enough to hold several people. The cistern had been used to capture rain water for use in the house. The problem is that Beech Hurst was built in 1868-70, after the Civil War. The Underground Railroad operated from about 1830-1861. It’s pathway was generally through East and Central Michigan.
The Pavilion was central to the Eddy’s teenage summers. They recalled the rows of pleasure boats rafted along the river side of the building and the many bands which played there.
The family’s Pierce- Arrow convertible, named the “Green Hornet”, with a straight 8 aluminum engine, and wing side windows. The girls, when reaching age 14, were able to drive this car around the area and attract the attention of local boys.
A musical aunt who was a choir director taught the girls to sing and apparently arranged and taught them to sing Sibelius’s “Finlandia”. Our session ended with the group singing a few bars of this music together. There is no question that another good and memorable time was had by the four Eddy “sisters” who really know how to enjoy themselves.
Interview on 09/16/2008 or 6/30/2011Collection
Family HistoryCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2024.41Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionCredit Line
To view this recording, scroll down to the bottom of this entry and click the blue web link.
This video was created by Saugatuck-Douglas History Center volunteers or was donated to the Center in a good faith effort to preserve local history. If you feel this content should not be available to the public — or have additional information that will add context to this interview — please contact the SDHC Archives at archives@mysdhistory.org.Oral History Details
Interviewee
Crandell, Barbara (Eddy), Brigham, Joan (Eddy) 1924-, Plummer, Joyce Paton (Eddy) 1926-2016Interviewer
Shack, JohnLength of Interview
80Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Crandell, Barbara (Eddy), Brigham, Joan (Eddy) 1924-, Plummer, Joyce Paton (Eddy) 1926-2016, Eddy, Lillian (Grimes) 1863-1955, Beech-HurstCreate Date
November 9, 2024Update Date
April 5, 2025
