Lake View Cottage, Miller Boarding House

   

  Lake View Cottage was just one of several boarding houses in the Kenoza Lake area including Apple Grove Cottage, owned by the Lindts; Waterfalls House; Maple Grove House owned by the Klaus family; Armbrust’s; Montana Cottage on the Gempler property, The Gedney House, and Elmhurst House.

     Lake View Cottage was located on Swiss Hill Road in Kenoza Lake, New York.  Lake View Cottage was operated by the Miller family as a boarding house from the late 1890’s to 1923.  A business card advertised it as “pleasantly situated on a hill overlooking the lake.  Five minutes’ walk to lake and post office.  .  . Daily mail.  No pulmonary patients taken.”

     Lake View Cottage was owned by Elmer Elsworth Miller, the son of George T. Miller and Catherine Scutt.  Elmer was born March 4, 1861. His father died in 1873 by falling through the Stone Arch Bridge with a wagon load of bark.  Elmer was only 12 years old.  His mother Catharine died in 1885.  In 1896, Elmer’s sisters Ruth, Hannah, and Alice deeded to him the land they all had inherited from their parents.  It consisted of four parcels, one containing 50 acres “more or less,” along with several other small plots, including one between Edwin R. Lawrence’s lot and G. Moulthrop’s land.  

     In 1886, Elmer had married Lillian Elina Moulthrop, daughter of Gideon Moulthrop and Isabella A. Newby.  Lillian was also from Kenoza Lake, born on January 17, 1861.  Elmer and Lillian were leading citizens of the community.  When she died on Jan. 29, 1928 at age 67, The Sullivan County Record noted that “early in life, Mrs. Miller became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Kenoza Lake, and next to her family the church stood first in her life and thought and she was an ever tireless worker for that cause.  She was a member of the Ladies Aid Society and her efforts combined with others made this society a strong factor in the community.”  She and “Mr. Miller, one of Kenoza Lake’s most progressive citizens, . . for years . . . conducted one of the leading summer boarding houses at that popular resort.”

     Elmer and Lillian Miller had four children: Kathryn Isabelle who was born June 23, 1887, Mabel Laura who was born November 9, 1888, Hazel Lillian who was born December 3, 1893, and George Jesse who was born August 23, 1902.  Mabel and Kathryn worked in the boarding house, but Hazel was too young, so she got babysitting duty with George.  George went on to become a pharmacist and run the drugstore in Kenoza Lake.

     Initially, the family ran Lake View Cottage as a small boarding house along with a farm.  Lillian tended the boarders while Elmer worked the farm.  Family lore says the couple had to borrow the money to start the operation.  The boarding house was successful, and the building kept expanding, from two stories to three to four.  

 

Lake View Cottage, early

   

2-story cottage

4-story cottage

  Boarders would arrive at Callicoon by train; Elmer Miller would take the horse and wagon to pick them up.  The wives and children would stay for the summer.  The husbands would come for a few weeks when they had vacation.  

     Each floor of Lake View Cottage had large porches where boarders could sit and rock.  Another pastime was to walk up Swiss Hill Road to three big maple trees called the “Three Graces.”   Located there on what was later Minoff’s property were benches with a view of the lake.  Although the land later grew up with trees, the name Lake View Cottage was appropriate in its day.

postcard advertising "Lakeview House"

     Elmer Miller died June 7, 1917 at age 56.  A front page headline in the Sullivan County Record announced “Death of E.E. Miller, Prominent Resident of Kenoza Lake.”  Elmer Miller is called “one of Kenoza Lake’s leading citizens.”  The newspaper goes on the editorialize that

In the death of Mr. Miller Kenoza Lake has lost one of its best and most progressive citizens.  He was industrious and prosperous, both as a farmer and in the summer boarding business, and took a prominent part in all things for the welfare of the community.  He did much for the M. E. church, in which he was an earnest and faithful leader, and his help and fellowship will be greatly miss [sic].  He served the town as justice for a time, and no man was better fitted to deal justly with his fellow-men than was Mr. Miller.

     Lillian and her daughter Mabel struggled to keep the boarding house running.  After six years, in 1923, they sold the buildings and contents along with twenty acres of land to Isaac Berkman of Glen Wild, N.Y.  The selling price was twelve thousand dollars.  

     The Bill of Sale indicates that the boarding house by this time had twenty bedrooms.  They were typically furnished with one or two beds, a dresser and wash stand, a bowl and pitcher, a slop pail, a chair, and a rocking chair.  The “1^st porch” could seat eighteen people on its rockers, porch bench, couch, and a couple of chairs.  The sitting room had a piano and parlor stove as well as seating, a table and a desk.  

 

     There was a summer dining room as well as a kitchen with two dozen table leaves and silverware for forty.  For transportation, the wagon house contained a “3 seated buggy.”  The barn housed a “lumber wagon,” a “drag,” some hay, and some farm equipment.  Also included in the sale were an ice house and “45 old hens.”

     Lillian Miller moved to Jeffersonville where she was taken care of by her daughters Hazel Myers and Mabel.  She died Jan. 29, 1928 at age 67.  The Sullivan County Record noted that “she had been confined to bed mostly during the past four years.”  Her granddaughter Lillian Myers Loeffel believed that her grandmother’s heart trouble was brought on by the years of hard work at boarding house.

     The Lake View Cottage property, now called “Lake View Country Club,” was eventually sold to Joseph Kantrowitz of 528 Bradford St., Brooklyn.  At some point, the Lake View Cottage building burned down.  

     In the 1930’s, a new building on the site was operating as a Jewish boarding house called the “Kenoza Lake Country Club.”  Myron J. Bromberg submitted his memories of the place to The Catskills Institute website: 

From age two to seven I spent much of the summers with my parents at Lake View Country Club (1936 to 1941). The owner was a Mr. Kantrowitz and his partner, my mother's cousin, "Mushke" (last name unknown to me). Many of my mom's relatives were there as well. Many guests came from Belarus. I remember nightly entertainment at the "casino" on the property. There was a paid MC/comedian, but many guests performed as well. There was a band, which also played at dinner. We always entered the dining room to "The Washington Post March". The hotel built an in ground swimming pool when I was about six--a rarity in those days. It also had a one-armed bandit. The chef, "Moishe" was a character. He would pass out boiled eggs from a large pot, asking "how many minutes"? Of course he had no way of differentiating. He also was known to chase kitchen help with a meat cleaver. 

     By the 1970’s, or perhaps as early as the 1960’s, the Kenoza Lake Country Club had become “The Annex” to the Valley View House resort.  Valley View House was owned first by the Bekarciaks, then by the Winski family.  It became a Polish resort, with a polka band which played on weekends at the main property.  The main part of the resort was located further up Swiss Hill Road toward Jeffersonville, and guests would walk between there and “The Annex.”  Often, they fanned out completely across the road, endangering themselves and any passing traffic.  The in-ground swimming pool which had amazed Mr. Bromberg in the 1930’s at the Kenoza Lake Country Club was now an abandoned pond in the woods which hosted frogs and lily pads.

     Eventually, “The Annex,” the Lake View Cottage property, was sold again and became a home for the elderly.  

     Lake View Cottage’s story is perhaps typical of the rise and fall of the boarding house business in Sullivan County.  Lake View Cottage grew from a small family farm operation into a large boarding house before changing hands to begin serving a Jewish population.  The cottage burned, like many wooden structures of the time.  The property then became part of a series of resorts typical of their eras, only to decline along with the tourism business in general, finally serving another purpose entirely.   

     Lake View Cottage is memorable as part of Kenoza Lake’s heyday at the turn of the 20^th century.  It’s hard to believe the extent to which the town was bustling with activity.  Today, the cottage is gone, along with its view of the lake, which has grown up with trees.   Kenoza Lake is a much quieter place than it was 100 years ago.

Much of the information here is based on documents collected by Hazel Miller Myers and interviews with Lillian Myers Loeffel.

Lake View House Boarders

Woman in black skirt may be Lillian Miller