Well, the annual trip to Party Island on Gun Lake with TEAM GUERRERO was a success once again.....A good time was had by all!
Here are some photo's of what occurred:
(not pictured-me utilizing my binoculars to check for "Terrorists"....)
The kids ventured off and discovered a real grave/head-stone on the island! This was a huge surprise to me and I will be updating with some research soon!
I did find an old foundation of a some type of house on the island last year and am searching for it's history....More to follow on this huge find!
Gun Lake Olympics Swim Training!
A Terrorist scouting flyby of Party Island??????
3 comments:
so you are not going to read the rest of the note!!!!!!!!!!! dont leave us hanging..
oh yes, I thought you were Michael Phelps too...
Leave my dead relatives alone. -Speedo
So far as the history of the Island is concerned, the place is officially called "Orangeville Island" but the term "Party Island has come into common use during the past 30 years.
The foundation that you have seen is what remains of a two story building that was built on the Island somewhere around 1912. If you look more closely, there was another smaller place that stood beside that larger foundation, and that one was constructed in 1855.
The original owner of the Island waa William England, one of the pioneers in settlement of Gun Lake, and the property has been passed down through the family ever since that time. It remains in private ownership.
The two buildings that once stood on the Island were destroyed by fire approximately 30 years ago. The fires were the work of an arsonist, and the family has not yet moved to commence any new construction since that date.
The "grave" that you have mentioned is not real. The spot where the stone stands was where a boathouse stood in 1904, the date when the deceased was originally laid to rest. What has occured is that someone has brought the stone to the Island and left it there for some unknown reason.
The deceased, Mary Elizebeth Haycraft actually died in Kentucky, and her real grave is in the Baptist Cemetary in Millerstown, Grayson County, Kentucky. Her maiden name was Hornbeck. How and why the stone reached Orangeville Island is a mystery, but steps are being taken to return it to its rightful location.
Regarding "Party Island", I regret to add that the family has decided that recent years have seen a growing amount of problems there, thus they have engaged the Barry County Sheriff's Department to help enforce no trespassing rules beginning with the opening of the boating season, 2010.
The Island has become a dumping place for trash, a toilet, and a spot where entirely too many problems have arisen. The ecology of the Island has suffered damage, and the value of the property has declined as a result. There is a family hetitage which has suffered as the Island has become the center of certain activities which have even gone so far as to result in violence and arrests being made. Things, in other words, have gone too far, and the family cannot continue to condone the uses of the property that have developed during the past couple of decades.
There is some regret in finding the necessity of this decision being made. The family understands that many of those who have spent time at the Island have been responsible persons who were not abusers of any sort. Unfortunately, however, it is a case of some persons, perhaps even only a minority of those who have come there, ruining the arrangement for everyone. We hope that responsible persons will understand and honor the new setup at the Island, and that the family can count on voluntary compliance with the authorities as we move to a next phase for the property.
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