Dirty Dancing at Grand View

As a family, we spent several weeks every summer at Grand View. First,when the "senior" Pivnicks were in charge and later when Seymour and Phyllis Picnick ran the Hotel. Then, when I was old enough, I became a counselor at the hotel. It really was like the movie "Dirty Dancing."
Some of the regular guests included Jonathan Winters wife and Johnny Carson's first wife. Al Jarvis (from Hartford) was the bandleader and in subsequent years we kept in contact with him after he moved to Palm Springs, California and worked at the Canyon Club Resort.
They were among the best years of my life. I have other postcards and lots of photos, as well as a million stories to tell. I also used to take the kids to your chicken farm on field trips. This was in the late 50's, early 60's. Finding your website brought back many, many memories. Thank you!
--Alice Elkins

Sharing cabin leads to marriage

I had been wondering if the resort still existed. I would love to share a story.

In 1958 (age 20) I was at Banner Lodge for a week around July 4th with 3 girlfriends sharing a cabin. Joel Grey was the Saturday evening performer. Torrential rains started and even came into the main rec hall. Some guys who were staying in a cabin a bit down the road complained about having to walk back in the rain. So they all shared the cabin with the 4 of us that night. It was lots of laughs and "clean fun."
One of the boys and I hit it off, started dating when we got back to NYC, ended up getting married the following April. Even though we did divorce after sixteen years, Banner Lodge still holds lots of good memories for me.

--Ellie Miller

Summer crowds in Moodus

I have just spent at least two hours going through page after page of your website, reliving old memories of Moodus.

I am now 79 years old and remember the frequent visits to my grand-parents home located across the street from the Methodist Hill Cemetery and next to the Old St. Bridgets Church. They and my great grand-parents are buried in the southwest corner of the cemetery.

I remember the 1930s and the stream of people who walked back and forth from the camps to the center of town, all summer long. How they mamaged the steep hilll is beyond me. They never walked in the dirt path but chose to walk on the pavement.

My uncle, Raymond Harris, was a good friend of Jack Banner so I remember stopping at the Lodge several times. There was a famous singer named Lanny Ross who would visit us from time to time when he was at the Lodge.

I too am deeply saddened by the destruction of Moodus as I can vividly picture the Town as it was. My great-grandfather, Asa Harris, was a Dancing Master who gave lessons at the Music Hall and the Machamoodus House in the late 1800's. There was an article about him in the Deep River paper back in the 30's, which I gave to the Amasa Day Museum.

Thank you for your fine efforts.

--Richard D. Harris, Avon, CT