Without a doubt, one of the greatest rewards of living at Rosslyn is the parade of people I’ve met (and the stories they tell) simply because this house and boathouse have touched so many over the years.
[pullquote]”Everyone’s so busy nowadays,” Lila said.[/pullquote]A couple days ago I answered the front door midday. A smiling, well dressed lady introduced yourself. Lila and I had met a couple of winters ago at the Essex Inn, and she reminded me that she had spent many enjoyable afternoons and evenings at the Sherwood Inn a half century or so ago.
She presented me with a color copy of a Sherwood Inn postcard she had received from a friend long ago. The rear side of the postcard said, “My summer home for June – September 1953. Old looking, eh?” Lila explained that she had been meaning to bring this postcard to me ever since we first met.
Lila’s Sherwood Inn Memories
Lila told me stories about the glory days of the Sherwood Inn, a once popular place for a drink and lakeside lodging in the property where I now live. She named several of the friends with whom she’d wiled away pleasant afternoons in the tavern and on the porch, and several were names that were familiar to me.
Lila also told me about playing tennis at the Crater Club where she still spends the warm part of the year. She lamented the fact that younger generations in her family (and all families perhaps?) seem to spend less and less time relaxing on Lake Champlain during summer vacation. “Everyone’s so busy nowadays,” she explained.
When she shook my hand to greet me and then again when she left I was amazed with her firm grip.
“Tennis,” Lila reminded me. “I played lots of tennis for many years.”
I hope I’ll have another chance to catch up with Lila this fall, another chance to hear about slower times in Essex when friends stopped for drinks at the Sherwood Inn and played endless tennis and vacationed all summer long on Lake Champlain…
That was fun to read about Sherwood Inn………..she spent all summer of 1953 and that was the same year I worked there as a salad girl and helped with some housekeeping…..I was too good at cleaning as I threw away a girls bridge and we had to fish it out!!! But I remember the day of the Regatta there on the waterfront serving people……..what wonderful, beautiful memories.
Thanks, Barbara, for sharing your memories of the Sherwood Inn. I would love to sit down with you at your convenience to hear some of your stories.