Powlochwehill History

I am Ross Hays, Jr., son of Sophia Hill and Ross Hays Sr.

 

My grandmother, Mary Powers Hill, known to most of the family as Molly, but to her grandchildren as Maimie, shared her recollections of "The Cottage", "Powlochwehill", to me over many years as I grew up. She told me that Rudolph Powers (Unte), who was Eugene Powers'  (Poppa) brother, purchased the property in 1923, after learning of it's availability from his nephew in law, Uncle Mack McColloch. Uncle Mack was the Athletic Director at Michigan Normal, which is today Eastern Michigan University. A professor of his, named Jefferson, owned the property and was interested in selling it. Maimie told me that Unte, Uncle Mack, and possibly Rudolph McColloch came up to see it, and Unte decided to purchase it, originally as a hunting camp. There was a lodge here, built in approximately 1885 and it had been used as an office for a logging company, when the property was owned by White Logging Company, before Jefferson owned it. The imagined hunting camp soon became a family retreat once the female members of the family got a look at it.

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Prior to owning the property in Northern Michigan, Unte used to take much of the family to the Jersey Shore for the summer and the new Michigan property would soon become the new summer destination.

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The first year, the ladies stayed in the lodge, and a large tent was erected next door just across the road for the boys to stay in. Baths in the lake, water from the brook, and of course, outhouses. Kerosene lamps provided light, blocks of ice for the ice box kept food cool, cold drinks and beer went in the cold brook water.  Electricity and indoor plumbing would come much later.

 

The families were Eugenia Powers Weber, her husband Dr. J.A. Weber, Katherine Powers McColloch, her husband Mack McCulloch, Mary Powers Hill, her husband Max Hill, their parents Eugene and Kate Powers and Rudolph Powers and all their children.

 

Swimming, fishing, campfires, walks in the woods, trips to town, card games and cocktail hours became traditions that continue today.

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Two more cabins were added through the early years. The McCulloch cottage next to the lodge, and the Weber cottage, a couple hundred feet north. I am not sure which, but Maimie said one of those cottages was dragged across the ice to its current location.

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As our family grew, and space became more limited, it was hard for families to be here at the same time. I remember as a little boy staying at the Lodge with parts of the Jim Redman, Jack Burnett, and Rudolph McColloch families as well as my own. We lined up outside the kitchen door for flapjacks in the morning until the batter ran out! It was cramped, to say the least, but the most fun and precious memories.

 

Mary Powers Hill and her daughter, Sophia Hill Hays, who had inherited much of the property, asked each child in Sophia's generation if they might like a piece of property on which to build additional cottages at Powlochwehill. There are currently 9, beloved family cottages at Powlochwehill.

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Hundreds of family members scattered throughout the United States find their way back to Powlochwehill each summer. to reacquaint and repeat the love and experiences prior generations have so enjoyed for these past 100 years.

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We are working on our 7th generation of Powlochwehillians, and we gather this year 2023, in July, to celebrate our Centennial year. May it last another 100 years and provide the many lessons for our future generations that have guided us all.

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