A White Christmas at Birch Lodge

While visting Birch Lodge at Christmas, we took a few shots of the lodge in the snow. How Pretty! Wishing You Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!

Old Postcards of Birch Lodge, Trout Lake, MI

Over the years Bill has collected old postcards of Trout Lake, MI, and it's surrounding area. Birch Lodge, of course, was always his favorite. Having the lodge now, these are a great source to see how it was originally, and observe the changes through the years. The oldest one (top) dates from about 1912, shows Birch Lodge newly completed.

The porch was originally two full stories tall. You can see by the snow up on top, that it was not a good idea, and it wasn't too long before the porch was one story tall. If you look closely at the card with the man on the porch, you can see the towering pine trees out in front of Birch Lodge as very small trees.

We enjoy old photos of people enjoying the area. My personal favorites are these two: the early Model A? touring car coming out the gate and a fun shot of folks hitting the beach!

Tour of Birch Lodge Before Restoration

Many of the people who stopped by last summer wanted to go through the lodge. We couldn't always accommodate this while the work was going on, so I decided to post a slideshow for those who didn't get a tour. Things are just about the same as they were when it closed in 1981.

Just for note, the ceilings downstairs are 12' tall and upstairs they are 10' tall. The lodge is 10.000 square feet, and has a full attic. It has a front stairway for visitors and a service stair in the back wing to the kitchen from the second floor. One of the interesting features of the kitchen is a walk-in icebox complete with a pulley and overhead trap door for the ice--sorry no photo of this!.

The lobby still retains its antique chairs, the wood phone booth (Bill used this phone in 1980!) and the piano.
The dining area would easily seat fifty. In the morning it fills with light from the windows.

The upstairs lobby has a door out onto the upper deck; check out the view!
There are 34 guest rooms, and all are still made up. I've included a sampling of the bedrooms; some of you may recognize a room you stayed in!

The Birch Bar remains much the same, but does need upgrading to be put back in use. Birch bark wainscoting lines the base of the walls, and the jukebox plays when it feels like it....still all the old tunes in stock, three plays for a quarter.