Canoeing, Campfires & Camaraderie
Castle History at Waupaca, Wisconsin and The Chain ‘O Lakes
This is one of the non-fiction short stories written in Encouraging the Soul
By Charles H. Castle
I remember my father, Howard P. Castle, telling me about Castle Point and the history of the Castle family going to Waupaca. Dad said his father, Howard P. Castle, Sr. and another man were deeded many acres of Chain ‘O Lakes property to satisfy a debt in 1919. My grandfather was a partner in a law firm in the Chamber of Commerce Building in downtown Chicago and took the train to and from their home in Barrington, a suburb northwest of Chicago.
The cabin property on Beasley Lake now accessed by Whispering Pines Road first had a barn and an icehouse on it. In 1924 my grandfather tore down the barn and moved the icehouse up the hill; it was next to the lake. The kitchen with the well and pump and attached bedroom were the original cabin. He made the cabin into a summer cottage suitable for his wife, Sarah Edwards Castle, and then five children. My grandfather enlisted his father, Alfred L. Castle, to help build the additions; those summers from 1924-1927 he lived in the cabin. The dining and sleeping porches provided space for extended stays…steps with rails to the lake were built…the fireplace was added circa 1929…later the back bedrooms were added.
The children’s names/ date born are: Grace/ 1909; Caroline/ 1912; Howard (my father)/1916; Alfred/1918; Arthur/1920. Connie was later born in 1926 and lives in Baltimore, Maryland today.
Since there were many tamarack trees on Beasley Lake my grandfather had ideas of renaming Beasley Lake to Tamarack Lake. The cabin is much the same as it was in 1924. Their property wound around Beasley Lake along Beasley Creek and over to Emmons Creek. Dad told me before they had an icebox his mother kept the butter and milk cold in the springs of Beasley Creek where he learned to swim in the deeper part of Beasley Creek at age 7. Many years later his mother, Sarah Edwards Castle, deeded over acres of wildlife refuge on Emmons Creek to the State of Wisconsin. She also sold many parcels of property including the land bordering Beasley Creek, across from the putt-putt golf course. Dad told me the Castles would spend all summer at Waupaca while “Father” would visit for a few days at a time. In his college days Dad drove a Model T Ford – he told me the ride from Barrington, Illinois to Waupaca was usually very long since his maximum speed was 40 m.p.h. going downhill.
I remember Dad and Arthur giving my grandmother rides in the canoe each year. When Dad died we returned his ashes to Beasley Lake and Emmons Creek. Uncle Franz, my grandfather’s brother, built his cabin and boat house next door – you can see it out the front door. Their boat house was torn down – the cabin has always been a bit more modern than our rustic Castle Point cabin.
Electricity enhanced the cabin in 1957 replacing the kerosene lamps. There were men’s and women’s outhouses. We added the square dock in 1967 and Dad paid me $5 to tear down the women’s outhouse that year. We continued to use the men’s outhouse until the mid-70s; it is still used as a shed. In 1972 an electric refrigerator replaced the icebox with the “block of ice.” About 1979 we modernized with a shower, toilet and tap water – we no longer bathed in the lake!
Canoeing is an art at Waupaca. My father taught me to navigate and bob a canoe. His tradition has been passed down to the younger generations – many cousins usually bob canoes besides taking the canoeing trips together on the upper and lower chain lakes.
The Crystal River trips are a tradition, too, but paddled in fiberglass boats. Hartman’s Creek has been a favorite canoe ride off the Upper Chain, if you can get through the muck and tall reeds. Seeing the clay bottom of Marl Lake is fun along with swimming off the Whispering Pines pier. We still guess where the steamboat sank in the Upper Chain and I remember hearing reveille, taps and the dinner bells from Camp Cleghorn.
Swimming, getting a tan, watching my parents swim the Beasley Lake triangle, laying in the hammock, putt-putt golf, drinking the local beer, eating Wisconsin cheese, corn and brats, bicycle rides, canoeing, fishing, skinny-dipping at night, reading, sitting around the campfire, taking float boat rides, catching up with family…all are things we enjoy at Waupaca. I get a glimpse of the past and travel back in time when I visit Castle Point every few years.
Since I was born Waupaca has been a part of me. After vacationing at each family reunion I have returned home to feel relaxed and rejuvenated…as if I had stepped back in time.
