Fond memories of the joint

I stumbled upon your site of Orchard Mansion. I was a kid when my parents went there as guests. And from there I went on to work a few summers. To this day I have very fond memories of that joint.

--Rick Millman

Beautiful country

What a great site! I will be visiting and doing family research in mid October in the Moodus/East Haddam/Haddam/Middletown area and appreciate all your information.

I'm descended from the original Daniel Cone and will be researching he and his family and my "line" etc. I am looking forward to seeing your beautiful country.

--Joanne, Ohio

Kids off by themselves

I was searching for Banner Lodge. When I was between two and 14 from 1965-1977, my family would all go to the Lodge.

This would be the only time I and my three cousins could be by ourselves. We would have lunch in the coffee shop and then to the pool for a day of fun. The big deal was to jump off of the high diving board. I did it twice. The fathers would all play golf and bocce.

Than we would all get changed for dinner. But first we would take dancing lessons at the bandstand at the end of the pool.

After dinner the kids would go to the pool room, with the pool table, pinball machines and TV. The adults would go downstairs to the show.

How I wanted to take my children there. What a shame it is all gone.

--Robin Smith, Derby, CT

Visiting downtown Moodus

As an 80 year old who used to spend summers visiting my grandparents who lived at the top of Methodist Hill and visiting the "downtown" area of Moodus I enjoyed reading your web site.

The entrance to my grandparents house was between the old St. Bridgets and the Jewish Community center opposite the Methodist cemetery.

Jack Banner and Lanny Ross used to stop by and visit with my Uncle Raymond Harris.

I played on the dam behind the house with the Smith boys. Barney, Tom and Henry. The Turczeks lived between the Smiths and the Harries and there was an old man, retarded I think, who sat on their porch all day long.

The mills were standing in those days and the mill next to the Smiths was still operating as the Cone Mill.

My grandparents and great grandparents are buried in the Methodist cemetery at the top of the hill along with a lot of familiar names. We used to collect walnuts from the trees that grew on the south side and dry them over the winter.

I have fond memories of it all.

--Richard Harris, Avon, CT

The amazing Izzy and Dizzy

I was the only kid guest at Banner Lodge in 1945-49. My parents were regulars.

The wait staff had twin brothers, Izzy and Dizzy, who befuddled guests at the weekly lakefront competition in retrieving dessert plates from underwater. The best a guest might do was 15-20 plates. Izzy would dive in and stay under for the longest time, absolutely amazing guests on shore. When he finally came up, with 50 plates in hand, everyone was astounded. What they didn't know was that when he ran out of air he would surface UNDER the raft, where Dizzy would take over, and they'd work as a relay team and win every time.

My parents were Morris (Skee) Batalsky and Evelyn. Their best friends at Banner were George and Eva Mandell, from Hartford. Skee and George are pictured on the web site with a 1947 beauty queen on stage, Skee on the far right, George on the far left.

Those were as happy days as I have ever experienced.

Gary Gilson, Minneapolis

Riding through Moodus hills

As a post war baby boomer I enjoy fond memories of summers in Moodus, CT with our extended family. Grand Lake Lodge, Banner Lodge and Shadybrook will forever have a special place in my heart.

At 55 years old and my kids off to college, I enjoy riding my motorcycle through the scenic hills of Moodus and I find myself a little confused as to which present resorts sit now of the site of the ones I remember.

Alan P. Friedler, DMD

Fishcake leftovers

My college roommate from the 70's sent me the URL for your web site where I read about Orchard Mansion. It transported me back to the days when I was a busboy, waiter and eventually head waiter at the resort. I even started to write a book about my experiences there and hope someday to finish it.

I started working there when I had turned 14 and lied about my age. I told Herbie I had just turned 16, but I don't think he really believed me. Back then you didn't have to show proof of age or ID. I also worked in the soda shop which was run by Herb's sister the ever-nervous Lena. Max the baker made all of those great rolls and pastries that we all ate (or stole).

I also used to do an entertainment gig for a couple of years at night with another waiter and busboy. We were the Others Brothers and Mike.

Orchard Mansion and the people who stayed there were exactly as you describe it on your web site. Most of the guests were so nice and they took very good care of the dining room staff, by sneaking us extra food.

Herb and Rosie operated on a very low profit margin (which I didn't realize back then), and they didn't want any of the food wasted. That's an entirely different story, but I will say this: there was very little fish in the fishcakes served on Friday, but lots of other stuff, some of which were leftovers from earlier in the week.

I could go on and on, but hopefully I'll do that someday when I finish the book. Thanks for bringing a bit of my past back to me through your web site.

--Paul Shatsoff, Slingerlands, NY

Fresh cream and more in the country

When I was born, in 1921, Moodus was already operating as a sort of resort. I don't know how she ever made contact with them, but my grandmother was already 'vacationing' there, in what everybody called 'the country.' We have a few pictures of her and her daughters taken in Moodus about that time.

As I was growing up, not yet in my teens, I knew that Grandma 'went to the country' every spring, for the month of June. She always went to Harry Greenberg's place. When it became Grand View, I don't recall. I do recall that the 3-story hotel which you see in the brochures was built later, probably about 1930 to 1935. And the swimming pool was built about the same time.

The place was owned by Harry Greenberg, its phone number was "Moodus 1," and it was run by Harry and his wife and their numerous children. I knew them all -- Gertie and George and Maish, the oldest three, and then Rozzie, and Florrie, and the youngest, who was about 8 years younger than I was, "Ginnie." Harry's brother Aaron had a place in Moodus, also, but it was competitive, and I don't think they got along.

Grandma must have been one of their earliest guests, and they treated her like a member of the family, or even better, like a queen. All of our family were treated like family. I remember that every afternoon around 4, Mama Greenberg would "invite" me into the kitchen to sit at the table while she poured milk from a pitcher taken from the refrigerator, and gave me milk and a plate of cookies. Homemade, of course.

Grandma stayed the whole month of June, every year, and we would drive up from New York around July First to get her. She always left before the "tourists" arrived. We were never there 'in season.' Grandma wasn't that kind of a person. When the tourists arrived on July 3rd or 4th, she was gone.

Harry was basically a dairy farmer. All the milk, cream, butter, eggs, and vegetables came from right on the grounds. Out back, behind the 'big house' was a mighty large meadow, and a barn at one end.

The ritual was always the same. Every morning they (Harry and the kids) milked the cows, and then led them out to the field. Late in the day, they went out and brought in the cows, led them into the barn, and milked them again. The milk went into huge cans, I'd estimate maybe 15 gallons or so, and they went into the 'ice box' (a big room next to the kitchen).

Eventually, when it settled and cooled, I imagine that they must have skimmed off the cream, but the milk I got with the cookies was as thick as the 'half and half' that is now served (sometimes) with coffee in better restaurants. There certainly was no pasteurization, but I figure that there was some sort of inspection and certification.

The swimming pool in the brochures was interesting. I was there before it existed, and was a client-gathering addition, "Up the hill, near Banner Lodge," a more swinging and less "haimish" place.

They changed the water in the pool at regular intervals, but I don't know what intervals. I suppose that the water was filtered, but I can tell you that it was heated only by the Sun and the Earth's atmosphere. When they drained the pool and refilled it with fresh mountain spring water, you waited a few days before you dipped even your toe in it.

The 3-story hotel in the pictures had another innovation: indoor plumbing with bathrooms on every floor. I can't recall whether each room had running water at all.

Well, with that amount of recollections, I will close this rambling series of observations.

--William B. Lurie