Builder: Dolliver, 1923

 

The History of Lower Far View, by Jo Wheeler, Summer 2008:

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Little did I realize when I was a child swimming at Sunset Lake that I would someday own a camp, as we called them then, but today they are referred to as cottages.
 
The summer of 1950 we decided to vacation on this lake.  We rented Buxton’s green cottage for a week with our friends, Charlotte and Russell Geer, who later also owned their own cottage on this lake.  John and I came in July with Tim, who was then only three months old.  We had a great vacation.

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The next year we came back to Buxton’s with Tim, a one year older, and Nancy, who was six weeks old.  From then on we rented for ten years, excluding 1953, the summer Jeff was born.

 

The spring of 1961 we became owners of the camp known as Lake View, from Mrs. Walter Sumner.  We moved in on the Fourth of July Eve with our three children, Tim, Nancy, and Jeff.  The whole weekend was spent cleaning out, with many trips to the dump.  We continued to stay here until Labor Day.  From that year on we spent every summer here until school started.  

 

The first summer here had its ups and downs.  One thing I remember was Mrs. Sumner’s several visits.  She would come and sit at the kitchen door and wouldn’t leave.  I think she may have regretted selling.  When she owned it she would always be sitting by the kitchen door.

 

Our first summer was a great one for the children.  They met several other children while here during the summers.  They would play together, swim together, and early evenings after dinner they always played a game of sardines.

 

One evening around supper time, Tim was out front fishing with a homemade fishpole.  He pulled in a 6.25 pound bass with the help of our neighbor, Ken Warren, who was then the game warden.  Tim has it to this day, stuffed and mounted.

 

We had two weddings on the lake.  Tim and Nancy both were married on our dock.  All my grandchildren and great grandchildren have enjoyed being here, and they still do.

My granddaughter, Lisanne Wheeler, now has her own cottage with her husband and daughter — the Buxton’s, where we originally rented.

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John passed away in May, 1985.  I never thought I could come back to the lake without him.  He loved it here so much.  However, my good neighbors, the Putnams and the Ercolines, helped me to be here that summer, and I have managed to come back the last twenty-three years by myself.  

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I enjoy the family visits from my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  I still look forward to it every spring.  There is nothing like summer on Sunset Lake with good friends, good neighbors.  The best of all are the wonderful sunsets from which, I expect, the name Sunset Lake originated.