Remembering the Polish Riviera

Memories shared by Pauline Tracy, October 2022

My grandmother and her sister, Ella Tracy and Annie Spencer, purchased the old resort around 1950. It was a place for the family to gather and enjoy summers at the lake. Looking back I would say it was also a way to keep the family close. Between the two of them they had 9 children and eventually 26 grandchildren. My grandmother died in winter of 1971 or 1972.  Annie died a few years earlier. The family kept the resort until 2015.

Everyone who spent time there would have different memories, as there was a range of ages and things evolved over the years. Some spent more time there than others. In 65 years there were 3+ generations of the family visited there. There were also summers when I didn’t spend any Ossie time. Ive put together what I can remember when I was a kid in the 50’s-60’s. Mostly a description of the place and some of the activity.

There were 3 cabins and possibly a 4^th at one time, my memory isn’t real clear on that one. There was a house, a garage and a tavern. It’s hard to say how old it was when they bought it. There were no bathrooms in the cabins or the house. Just 2 restrooms in the tavern, one womens, one mens. A towel, a bar of soap and the lake was a bath. You could pump water outside the house. Eventually as the years went by a cabin had to come down and the others gained bathrooms, mobile homes came in and no more baths in the lake unless you wanted to.

There were a lot of good times in the tavern.  The previous owners left it as it was. There was a full vintage bar with a mirror in the  back with bar stools and an old vintage cash register. It had old wooden floors.  and were still 2 or 3 dining booths and a menu on the wall a pin ball machine and I think there was even a juke box.

In the back side of the tavern facing the lake there was the kitchen it was a long narrow room with a table and chairs at one end (a place for the grown-ups to hang out) and a large grille, counter space and shelving along both sides for food prep. There was a walk-in cooler/freezer on one end behind the kitchen where eventually one could find a life jacket and an old fishing pole. The tavern was always a favorite place to hang out and have fun or share a meal. When most of us were there and there wasn’t enough room in the cabins or house us kids would be camped out in the tavern on the floor or a roll away bed.

For an outdoor “buffet” meal there was a homemade purple people eater grill behind the tavern for grilling out, someone made it, inspired by the purple People Eater song that was popular at the time (1958).

There was approximately a 20-25 span in ages between all us cousins. So there were always kids around and lots of things going on…”snipe hunting, campfires by the lake, soft ball or just a game of catch, horse shoes, volley ball fishing off the dock. 

Floating on the lake in inner tubes and playing on the floating dock was always fun and learning to water ski when we were big enough. As we got a little older there was the occasional “dance party” in the tavern.

Eventually the tavern had aged to the point where it was just used for storage those last years. If I recall the “Polish Riviera” came about  in the 70’s. I'm not sure what the name of the resort was before the Spencer/Tracy family was there, it may possibly have been called Hilltop. 

My daughter, Tracy Hollenback and her husband, Joe currently reside at 33551 Winnamakee Shores Road. They bought their place the same year my family sold the “Riviera”.

I remember that rides in the plane cost $25.  At that time, a fudgesicle cost 5 cents.  I never saw anyone spring for a plane ride.  (Photo from Pauline, commentary from Becky Boyd)