Last Stop: Paradise

By Fran Somers

Just like the less-welcome mergansers, every summer hundreds of us are drawn back to the cool, clear waters of Crystal Lake. And every year, some of us start thinking about making this bit of paradise a forever home. A little 8’ x 4’ place maybe, with quiet neighbors and the occasional visitor who brings fresh flowers.

“My parents are in the North (cemetery) and I will be. And all of my friends will be around me,” said CSA archivist Jane Cooper, who often takes peaceful walks through her future home.

A deer visits the North Cemetery in Frankfort. Photo courtesy of Crystal Lake Township.There are two cemeteries in Crystal Lake Township: North is a 2-minute drive from the CSA office at 1511 Pilgrim Highway. East, also known as the Lutheran or Norwegian Cemetery, is at 1658 Frankfort Highway, near the Frankfort gateway.

To be clear, you won’t own the plot of land, according to Amy Ferris, Crystal Lake Township supervisor, who oversees the cemeteries. “If it was your land, you’d be paying taxes on it. You’re buying a burial right.”

Ferris said some families pour ashes straight into the burial plot without a container, and some get more creative. A golfer was buried in his golf bag. A CSA ceramicist made a beautiful urn for a family member’s ashes. 

Alan Marble’s father, a lieutenant on a Navy destroyer in WWII, was buried in his tackle box. “Dad and I spent hundreds of hours in the ‘50s and ‘60s trying to catch every rock bass that inhabited the lower Platte River system,” said Alan, a member of the CSA Tennis and Communications Committees. “It was only fitting that his ancient metal cantilever tackle box held his ashes when he was interred.”

Alan’s stepmother went a more fashionable route. Lois “Tussey” Marble “was always dressed to the nines,” Alan said. “She spent a long and rewarding career in Connecticut real estate, and loved her shoes.” Her ashes were put in a Ferragamo box.

“We have lots of requests for green burials,” Amy said, which can involve a biodegradable casket or just a shroud. To date, there have not been any green burials at either cemetery.

“A lot of people get cremated these days,” Amy said. “It’s so much more expensive to go the other way.” Also, the state has no authority over ashes, other than a prohibition against polluting a body of water, she added. The practice was especially frowned on after a CSA swimmer found what appeared to be bone chips from cremains in Crystal Lake years ago.

Burial in either cemetery is cheaper if you’re a property owner in the township. And being a property owner could become a requirement if a few members of the township board have their way. The concern is the likely need to dip into the general fund to cover the rising cost of mowing and sexton fees. The issue has been raised periodically, most recently at a June township meeting, but no motion has been put forward.

If you decide to look for a spot in one of the township cemeteries, you’ll be in good company. Among those in the North Cemetery are:

• Dr. Alonzo Slyfield (1825-1896), the lighthouse keeper for 21 years at Point Betsie. He was also the local doctor and coroner.
• Charles B. Slyfield (1854-1924), one of Dr. Slyfield’s sons, who in 1912 wrote a fascinating account of the family’s hardscrabble life, which is at the Benzie Area Historical Society.
• Ellen Neptuna Fletcher who died of consumption in 1870 at the age of 24. Her father, the Rev. A. H. Fletcher, was the first pastor of the First Congregational church of Frankfort.
• Gordon T. Johnson (1821-1892), a flat-earther who traveled the world to see if this round-earth business had any truth to it. He helped build the Panama Canal, and settled in Joyfield Township before answering President Lincoln’s call for fresh recruits. He served with the Army of the Potomac, surviving some of the deadliest battles of the Civil War.
• John Beverly Collins (1834-1901), a druggist on Frankfort’s Main St. and local postmaster.
• Charles A. Voorheis (1846-1920) who was wounded at Gettysburg and became superintendent of the mill in Frankfort.
• Horace Clifford Frost (1855-1867), who drowned and is reportedly the first person buried at the North Cemetery.

It was the young Frost’s death that prompted his father, Frankfort deacon E. B. Frost, and nine other men to buy 44 acres for the cemetery in 1871, according to “The Story of Frankfort,” by John H. Howard.

The East Cemetery was purchased around 1890. Lots were first sold only to Lutherans for $8 — the families of the Norwegian immigrants who came to Frankfort and Elberta for jobs on the car ferries, the iron works, and as fishermen, according to Andrew Bolander, lead researcher for the Benzie Area Historical Society. “Before that, people were buried on their land.”  The cemetery was taken over by the township in 1942 and today visitors can find many of the original family names, including Mathison, Didrikson, Oleson, Carlson, Larson, Holden, Peterson, Johnson, Thompson, Gunderson, Leland, and Sampson.

Nobody relishes planning their final exit, but there is one comfort: You’ll never have to worry about swimmer’s itch again!

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More information

• Crystal Lake Township cemeteries: burial fees, cemetery ordinance, maps, and more: https://www.crystallaketwp.org/cemeteries.html
• Benzie Area Historical Society: https://benziemuseum.org 
• Locate a burial plot: findagrave.com

Tragedy or Comedy?

By Peter Sznewajs

Have you ever wondered why Crystal Lake’s west shore has long, sandy beaches compared to the rest of the lake or other inland lakes in Northwest Michigan? Or why when entering Beulah, there is a large hill to get downtown? Thank Archibald Jones for the odd commodities that Crystal Lake has to offer.

Dr. Stacy Leroy Daniels portrayed Archibald Jones at the CSA Arts & Crafts Fair July 26, 2023.Crystal Lake’s story is one of lore. Much of its history, especially predating World War II, is undocumented, creating a circus of rumors, skeptics, and conspiracy theories. However, chemical-environmental engineer and former University of Michigan professor Dr. Stacy Leroy Daniels devotes his life to sharing a particular facet of the region's history: the lowering of Crystal Lake.

Spending time around Frankfort and Crystal Lake, Daniel’s presence stands out in the town. He sports a long, white beard, attributed to Archibald Jones, holds booths at local art fairs, including our CSA Art Fair, and was this year’s Frankfort parade’s Grand Marshal. He is the author of The Comedy of Crystal Lake, a two-part novel covering the lake’s lowering and the biography of Archibald Jones.

On July 13, Daniels held a town-hall event at Benzie Historical Society, telling the story of Archibald Jones, the man responsible for lowering Crystal Lake in 1873. Daniels debates whether the lake’s lowering was a “tragedy” or a “comedy,” telling listeners at his lecture “it’s up for you to decide.” However, the consequences were unintentional. Jones planned to build a canal through a temporary dam, which is now the Crystal Lake outlet near Mollineaux Road. Its goal was to connect Crystal Lake to Lake Michigan in hopes of creating a pathway for imports to reach further into Benzie County, increase tourism, and build a more vibrant economy.

Ultimately, Jones’ plan failed. Whitecaps washed out the temporary dam, lowering the lake by 17 to 20 feet and creating the largest inundation from an inland lake in the country, until the Edenville Dam disaster in Midland, Michigan in 2020. Crystal Lake lost 56 billion gallons of water, approximately 2.5 percent of its area and volume.

Scholars debate whether the lowering was a “tragedy” or “comedy” for the lake. The “tragedy” argues that the destruction of the passageway hurt the region's economy, but this is unclear and dubious. The “comedy” is what did occur, and in part, helped the Assembly and local communities come to fruition.

The lowering of Crystal Lake allowed for 1,000 new cottages to be built around the east and west shore of the lake and another 21 miles of sandy front land. Today, the east shore of Crystal Lake includes Beulah, a small but vibrant community filled with summer houses and great local businesses. For the CSA and west shore, the lowering of Crystal Lake allowed for long beaches filled with beautiful cottages that define many of our summer experiences.

CSA MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

By Ginanne Brownell - August 10, 2023

For many CSA members—old and new—the CSA’s Membership Committee has always been something of a mystery. But according to Ann Murphy Burroughs, who co-chairs the committee with Megan Royle Carrella, it isn’t purposely that way.  They have made concerted efforts to explain exactly how CSA membership has worked in the past and how it works now in the annual Assembly News and on the CSA website. Ann, who has been on the committee for almost 30 years, says it’s believed the committee was formed when the CSA, “stopped offering anyone who came to the desk the opportunity to purchase a ticket, and the category of Associate Members was created.” For a number of decades, the committee met routinely once a week during the season, but with leadership change and the pandemic, they have adopted both virtual and in-person meeting formats and meet a few times during the season.

From its inception and continuing today, the committee established policies and procedures for membership and ticket purchase eligibility as approved by the Board of Trustees and lot owners. Over the years, as family stays reduced from 8-10 weeks to 1-2 weeks a summer, and families sometimes missed CSA seasons entirely due to various societal factors, membership definitions and ticket purchase eligibility policies evolved. 

At various times the CSA Board has discussed ways to generate more income, especially early in the season. Consequently, the Membership Committee has discussed how policies might accommodate ticket sales in the “shoulder” seasons – early June and late August – and what programming or services might be offered at those times. 

In terms of what the committee does beyond policies and procedures, part of their work is reviewing incoming Associate Member applications, keeping track of lot owners and Associate Members, and determining who is eligible to purchase a ticket and vote at annual meetings. An applicant for membership or associate membership needs to provide evidence of a lengthy past association. “We also work to make membership policies broadly communicated and understood [and] consider larger issues such as making new members feel welcome, how membership policies impact crowding and car traffic at the CSA, and how membership policies might be adjusted in the future,” Ann says.

She points out that like all CSA committees, the committee’s job is to stay on top of all current issues at the CSA as well as to think about how things might evolve going forward, and draft recommendations to the Board as needed. “At times we have consulted with Waterfront regarding capacities for boats and people on the Crystal Lake beach, with CSA Staff regarding which programs and activities can welcome the general public, with new office staff on the intricacies of membership policies related to ticket purchase, with the Women’s Association on welcoming new members, and with Bylaws related to membership,” Ann adds.

The Committee has also taken on new roles when needed, for example when it was decided that all Associate Members would be invoiced in the spring for the equivalent of a two-week ticket. At that time the Membership Committee took on the work of preparing those invoices and mailing them out for over a decade. Nowadays, this is done by paid CSA staff. Also, in the past, when membership policies had outlived their relevancy and were failing to address “certain situations based on general demographic and constituent lifestyle shifts” Ann says the membership committee has reviewed these policies and suggested amendments to the Board.

In terms of challenges, Ann says one of the biggest ones they face is that “our membership policies have grown to be incredibly detailed and complex, and it is very hard for the general CSA member to get a handle on how membership operates.” However, she says that this is nothing new: similar situations have occurred in the late 1990s/early 2000s.  That led to a lengthy study by the Membership Committee that included open forum discussions, a board recommendation, a CSA lot-owner vote, and new policies adopted in 2007. She added that since that’s now been almost two decades, “we again welcome ideas and discussion on membership policies from CSA participants, especially regarding potential ways to simplify membership policies.”  Open forums and community discussions have always played a critical role for many perspectives to be heard as the Membership Committee considers future options.

While at present the Membership Committee is fully staffed, they welcome anyone interested in attending their meetings.  Ann says what is so enjoyable about the Membership Committee is the chance to work, “with a dedicated, multi-generational group to consider how past and present CSA community constituents were/are defined, and how our community would like to welcome constituents in the future.”  She encourages anyone to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.her with your thoughts and/or questions.