Ge
ardink's Resort is a family
orientated resort with a wonderful beach, and you can be
yourself at her resort. Ella and her husband started the resort
in 1937, and now some of her customers go back 5 generations.
*Note They
have had a state health license for 64 years. She has sold all
but 5 cabins now and hopes to continue with the resort for
another 3 or 4 years. Ella called her guests her family, and it
is a mutual feeling. One lady came for 63 years.
The resort
had the American plan with a set menu, there was no choice, and
on Sundays they served a fried chicken dinner with all the
trimmings.
In the early days people came by Leiderbach bus or train and
stayed for awhile. Maid service and meals were provided.
They had only out houses and no electricity when they
started. They always had a thunder jug that she had to
empty as the maids wouldn't do it. They ironed everything for
the resort: sheets, towels, dishtowels, etc. At one time
there were 11 resorts on Cedar Lake.
Many guests fished. Cane poles were popular and cigar
boxes were used in place of tackle boxes. A dare devil and a
bassereno were the only artificial lures. Frogs, worms and
minnows were the main bait. They had an ice house for
their use which also used to bury fish in so that the
guests could take fish home if they wished. They put up
their own ice and they did fall in the icy water a few times
while doing it. There was no extra entertainment until a
golf course was started on Clearwater lake. In the early
days the ladies always wore skirts and dresses at the resort --
no slacks or shorts for the women back then.
Rates in 1937 were $2.50 per person per day.
According to an article in the Annandale
Advocate,
"Geardink's Resort on Cedar Lake near Annandale,
Minnesota, at one time rented 32 cabins to summer
visitors."
Many pictures and postcards were brought for all to enjoy.
Ella brought with her a sign stating 50 resorts and 30 lakes in
the Annandale area, and also a hand made potato masher that they
used at the resort.
Barbara Ostlund
Annandale History Club Secretary
*NOTE: Annandale
Advocate, July 1, 1987
"They're
calling it a resort reunion. But
it will actually be more of a family reunion when 600 or so
resorters gather at the Geardink Resort on the north shore of
Cedar Lake this Saturday. "This
is the way we've always
operated it," Ella
Geardink said one morning last week while sitting on a bench
under shade trees overlooking Cedar Lake. "They're
our friends, our family." Geardink's
Resort family will return from all across the United States this
week to celebrate Ella Geardink's 50
years at the resort."
