Name/Title
Wau-Ke-NaEntry/Object ID
2023.50.115Scope and Content
Text from SDHS newsletter insert of speech by Jerry Hill titled "In a Forest by the Water" about Waukena development founder William "Bill" Erby Smith.Context
The late William Erby Smith, an early member of the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society, developed a lakeshore subdivision which he named Waukena. The following is from a speech delivered by present Society member Jerry Hill at a 2005 Waukena picnic. Mark Smith is Dill's brother.
The 130-acre William Erby Smith Preserve is located in Ganges TownshipCollection
SDHS NL InsertsCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2023.50Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionNotes
SDHS Newsletter insert pages 463-464Location
* Untyped Location
Digital data in CatalogItRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Smith, William "Bill" Erby 1914-2004, Hill, JerryGeneral Notes
Note
This information was OCR text scanned from SDHS newsletter supplements. Binders of original paper copies are in the SDHC reference library.Note
https://sdhistoricalsociety.org/publications/NLHist/P463-464.php
"IN A FOREST BY THE WATER'
BY JERRY HILL
(The late William "Bill" Erby Smith, an early member of the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society, developed a lakeshore subdivision which he named Waukena. The following is from a speech delivered by present Society member Jerry Hill at a 2005 Waukena picnic. Mark Smith is Bill's brother.)
"Waukena"is Potawatomi for "forest by the water."
With Mark Smith's help we're going back to 1910 to help us understand the background of Waukena. By the way, Mark wasn't born yet.
Mark's dad who was a real estate agent in Chicago had been diagnosed with a nervous breakdown. His doctor said go up north - go to the woods - and the Smiths came here, bought 24 acres and built a house.
Their friends thought, "They're crazy. They've moved to the end of the world."
To get to the end of the world they would drive all day using the section lines east and then north until they arrive. they always took two spare tires as the dirt roads were rough.
The original house was across from Van Til's and next door was a rectory which still stands. Occasionally the Catholic priest rode with the Smiths from Chicago. On one such trip during prohibition they brought a barrel of booze. The priest sat with robes covering it hoping no one would challenge a priest.
The Smiths would come early summer and stay until school started. Mark's dad would sometimes arrive in South Haven on the Goodrich Steamship Line.
The family pumped their own water and used kerosene lamps for light. The Smiths were popular with their farmer neighbors:
Mr. Mosher filled their milk pail.
Mr. Strulee stuffed tires with hay to save buying inner tubes,
Dr. Brunson performed an emergency appendectomy on Bill on the kitchen table.
Bill spent one fall at age eight or nine attending the Darling School on 118th Street. Mr. Smith would take the entire class to Saugatuck for ice cream in his large touring car, a highlight of the school year. As they entered Saugatuck they passed the Potawatomi settlement where the Indians sold arts and crafts.
In the early1900's the Pier cove piers were busy with mail boats and provision boats coming and going to Chicago carrying fruit and lumber. At this time Fennville was a tough town catering to men with money.
Mark's first personal memory was a long trip stopping in St. Joseph where they stayed in a relative's funeral home.
After World War II brother Bill started buying land. He'd approach a farmer and say: "I'd lake to buy some land." "We won't need a realtor." "I'll write a check, NOW."
Bill was popular with the farmers.
The present Smith home on Lake Michigan was built in 1948 and Bill and Mark helped George Harrington build it.
This is a story of Bill and Mark's love of this land. In addition to Waukena Bill had a love affair with the town of Glenn. If Bill heard of a building about to be torn down, he'd buy it instead. Mark told me Bill had more plans for Glenn -- but he ran out of time.Create Date
January 9, 2024Update Date
April 2, 2024
