History Of The Inn
The Griffin Inn in Ellison Bay can trace its beginning back to 1910 and the story of how it grew and developed is an interesting part of the always changing Door County scene. As with many of the original tourist accommodations on the peninsula, the Griffin Inn has grown in size and accommodations. At first it was called the Ellison Bay Lodge. That was changed to Griffin Inn later on. The earliest visitors, those who could be called “tourists” were escapees from the heat of Chicago on Steamers… Some came to get relief from hay fever in the days before antihistamines. In those days, hay fever made breathing difficult and even brought on life-threatening conditions for its victims. It was not unusual to see a mother with a youngster with watering eyes in tow, alight at the Ellison Bay pier with a large steamer trunk filled with enough clothes for the summer. Around the turn of the century, when the village was still walled in by tall trees, wood cutters were employed to turn them into lumber and get them on boardships. The men who did the work needed a place to live and the Ellison Bay Lodge provided them with housing and good food.
Image from the liberty grove historical society
ELLISON BAY LODGE
What had first been a house, built in 1910 by Charles and Amanda Anderson for their growing family, became the Ellison Bay Lodge in 1921. Gilbert and Olga Wickman enlarged the original home to its present size in 1921, and became the first innkeepers. They operated it for 40 years, with it later becoming The Griffin Inn. The name Griffin is recognized by Door County people. For that was the name of a ship that disappeared some 300 years ago and one which divers are constantly seeking to find.
The Griffin was the first wooden sailing ship ever built and sailed on the Great Lakes. It was launched near Niagara Falls in the early 1860’s by the young, French explorer, Robert LaSalle. This young Frenchman had built a reputation as perhaps the outstanding explorer of the Great Lakes in those times. He sent his new ship to the Door Peninsula…with a crew of 32 aboard; some “saints” and some “sinners”. None had received any pay for at least a year. Up to that time, LaSalle's fortunes had not all been favorable. He was deeply in debt to the French government as a result of his earlier adventures. He had sent a company of men to Washington Island to trade with the Indians and to gather furs.
They had been very successful and amassed a large quantity of high grade furs, enough to fill The Griffin. By delivering the ship load of furs to his French Governor in Montreal, he would not only pay off his debts but finance other explorations. He was looking for the elusive way to China. But when the Griffin sailed away from Washington Island, dark storm clouds were gathering in the west. The Griffin would never be heard from again. Whether the ship was caught in a storm and lost or whether its crew scuttled the ship and ran off with the furs will never be known. The many claims of divers that they have found the ship have gone unsubstantiated. But such reports keep the memory of the Griffin alive and a part of the lore of the Peninsula. What eventually happened to the explorer LaSalle is yet another story; one that is of interest but too lengthy to relate here.
EARLY RESORT OWNERS
During the days when it was called the Ellison Bay Lodge the resort was owned and operated by the Wickman family. Typical of the times, Mrs. Wickman did all the cooking on a wood burning stove, baking all the pies, cakes and breads. They served three meals a day, as in those times, there was no such thing as “lunch”. There were three square meals each day beginning with breakfast in the morning, dinner at noon and supper at 6 pm. All of the guests were served at the same time in family style. The dishwashing was all done by hand. The dining room was open to the public on Sunday at noon when a complete chicken dinner was served for $1.50. The rooms had single beds and the rates were $2.00 per week, and all of the laundry was done by the owner's family using a wringer-type washing machine and hung out on lines to dry. Back in the 1920’s, the tourist season began in late June and ended Labor Day.
Before the end of the decade a few people began coming back in October to see the fall colors. Most of the guests came by car or by train as far as Sturgeon Bay, Manitowoc or Marinette. Those who got off at Manitowoc or Sturgeon Bay took a bus on to Ellison Bay. Those who chose to take a train to Marinette took one of the smaller boats across the bay. At first, the usual stay was 2 weeks. Some stayed a month and some for the entire summer. One family left their twelve-year-old daughter, who suffered with hay fever, with the Wickmans for the entire summer. Every evening the guests would gather for games and socializing in front of the blazing fireplace. Many became life-long friends. Sometimes, on a Sunday evening, guests and hosts motored to the Peninsula State Park for a picnic supper. The new landscaping that was put around the lodge required many, many pails of water, carried by the family from the well to the young trees that today are magnificently mature. The lawn was mowed with a push mower. The entire family took turns supplying the power. Every winter Mr. Wickman went out on Ellison Bay and cut enough ice to fill the ice house which was located downhill from the house.
He would cover the ice with sawdust until it was needed during the summer months. He dragged it up the incline to the Inn, rinsed off the sawdust and filled the iceboxes that held the food for serving guests and the family. Some of the old iceboxes are still on the back porch of the now Griffin Inn kitchen. The girls of the family still have pleasant memories of playing in the mostly empty ice house in the late months of the summer when most of the ice had been used up.