Leiber's Mansion a wonderous adventure

Your site on the resorts is fascinating. One minor point. Leiber's (Leiber's Mansion) was actually on Town Street about half a mile toward Hadlyme from where it crosses Valley Brook, or about a mile and a half from Wolf's Den.

My parents bought the house, outbuilldings and 11 acres from Joseph Leiber, the family patriarch and former owner operator of Leiber's Mansion in 1969. We lived there for about 6 years. The rest of the land, approximately 100 acres, was sold years later by Misha, Mr. Leiber's eldest son and has since been subdivided and homes built upon.

The original house and barn had been a farm before the Leibers acquired it. The barn had a stage and jukebox which we found fascinating as children. We had fun with plays and concerts there. The outbuildings were fascinating also. We found many minor treasures left by former guests which had been left there for many years between its days as a resort and our tenure.

The subsequent owners of the property have made it into what appears to be a lovely home. While we lived there we used a wood stove in the kitchen to attempt to heat the 19 rooms of the house. After the first winter we would close up all but about 8 for the winter. We often went to bed in snowmobile suits and I was usually the one who managed to get the dog for warmth.

Despite the minor hardship, it was a wonderful, adventurous place to grow up in.

--Ray Durant, Gloucester, VA

Roy Coo Coo Duka Dies

For years Roy Duka was the all around entertainer for the Frank Davis Resort. From handing out instruments to the guests, with his "wake up" band, to war canoe races, putting on audience participation plays (written by his wife Franny), the man kept going from sunrise to way after the sunset.

CooCoo brought years of joy and laughter to so many guests. To me, he was one of the main reasons many people kept returning to Frank Davis (I know it was the reason for our family returning every year.

I received a call from Roy's wife Franny a few hours ago, and was told Roy had passed away. My family started going to Frank Davis when I was only 12, I am now 42. My father Jack "Jocko" Castronovo was a New York fireman and fell in love with CT and this area so much that when he retired we moved up here. He even got a job at the resort. . He and Roy were close for 30 years.

Thank you,
--Annmarie Anderson

Visits to grandma were a treat

At age 77, I look back with fondness at Moodus. My grandparents lived on the hill behind the Synagogue (Axelrods?). It was accessed by a narrow driveway between the buildings. The Synagogue was formerly a Congregational Church, built on land donated by my Great-grandfather, Asa Hyde Harris who was a Dancemaster in Moodus.

A visit to Grandma's (Mrs. Edwin Hazen Harris) was always a treat and to stay a week was even better. My uncle Raymond Harris was friendly with a lot of the camp owners so I got to see some of them at the height of summer.

Three generations of Harrises are buried at the Southwest corner of The Methodist Hill Cemetery across the street.

I remember the Cone Mill at the bottom of the hill and all the houses near it. The Smiths and the Turczyks.

Redevelopment wiped out most of what I remember, but I suppose it was inevitable.

Thanks for the memories.

--Richard D. Harris, Avon, CT

Former Banner band leader remembers good times

Let me compliment you on a job well done on the sad story about the hardworking Banner family and Banner Lodge. I drove around there a while back and was sick at seeing a wasteland.

I remember the good old days waiting for the busloads of New Yorkers coming for good times. Foozy, who has passed on , was the waker-upper at the Lodge. Oh, just great memories. Thank you again for your report.

--Irv Jeffries

Fond memories of Moodus summers

I came across your website while doing an internet search. My father was Harry Molbert, the "corny dance instructor" from Banner Lodge in the old days. He died 12 years ago. I spent every summer of my childhood in Moodus, and have many, many fond memories. Our family rented the bottom half of the big white colonial style house on the grounds of Orchard Mansion, directly across the road from the Kabatznik's.

It was fun to get a glimpse of the old photos on your pages.

--Robin Lori Molbert

Family bonding at Riveredge

Oh, how I do remember this lovely little home away from home. My family & I came from Milford, CT, just an hour or so from where we lived. Most people thought we were nuts to take a vacation so nearby. Little did they know how delightful it was to arrive not exhausted or fighting with the kids &/or spouse after miles & miles on the road, to be greeted by the friendly faces of Art & Olga Donnellan.

I first found the resort in an ad in the NY Times (when it was obviously much cheaper to advertise) and thought why not? We'd been to Mystic. How about a leisurely jaunt up I-95, skip over to Rte 9 & wend our way up to Moodus??

I sent a check to the resort well in advance of our arrival & on a lovely Saturday afternoon slowly drove our car (a 1969 Oldsmobile) along the gravely dirt road to the resort. We parked near the "office" (just a small room off the kitchen area, where we learned later that Olga would work her culinary magic) and proceeded to check in.

Olga looked & looked and could not find any evidence of our prepayment. But being the jolly, wonderful woman that she was, she said, "Don't worry. We have a nice little cabin available for you and your daughters!"

A young fellow named Mike led us to our accommodations and we were thrilled. A room for my husband & me, and another for our two girls, plus a sparkling clean bathroom, all just feet away from the Salmon River!

The next week consisted of three meals a day, pool games, river boat rides, tennis, archery, evening bonfires (with Art telling stories & serving up way too salty ears of corn), no TV, no radio. Our family actually bonded rather well.

Our first morning's breakfast was one of pancakes, French toast, bacon, sausage & toast, plus eggs over easy for my husband. He said that the eggs were too hard to cut. I looked at him with eyes somewhat squinty and said "What do you mean, you can't cut your eggs??? " I took a knife & tried sawing at the yolks myself. Nothing. We then saw several young folks in the kitchen laughing -- my husband had been given rubber eggs!! We knew then that Donnellans was our kind of place.

We went back for another year, this time booking a cabin right on the river. Our youngest daughter often went off by herself to a little area loaded with wildflowers and called it the "Lands of Love."

We truly miss the camaraderie, kindness and just good old fashioned family togetherness that we found at Donnellans.

--Holly Shore

Happiest childhood times at Banner Lodge

The happiest times of my childhood were spent at Banner Lodge. Remember "Dancing Harry"? I'm sure he's probably not with us anymore but I’ll always remember him along with the coffee shop, the old but yet very fun gameroom, the leaky rowboats and the time we helped Buddy Epsen push his golf cart that had died. Everytime I see him on TV it brings me back to the memories.

I look forward to seeing your photos posted on your great website. I really hope one is an old brochure. If only there was real interest in restoring that place to what it was. You couldn't find a better vacation, it was like home away from home. Thanks for letting me relive a very missed part of my childhood, it really means a lot to me. Thank you.

--Joe Arbini