This is a story worth writing for two reasons: It's a story worth your effort and attention, and secondly because I get to rhyme “Tahquamenon.” This is the story of the Phenomenon at Tahquamenon.
In 1949 John A. Barrette had the prescience, and wisdom, to buy 160 acres in what is now the heart of the park at Tahquamenon Falls. Barrette then turned around and donated all but 2 acres to the state of Michigan. On the 2 acres he kept, he built a replica of a logging camp. If it were a real logging camp, it would have been his thirty-third, so the man knew what he was doing. To this day, what has become a phenomenon is called “Camp 33.” The simplicity of Barrette's idea is beautiful. He secured a private site at one of the Midwest's best attractions, made its future secure with state ownership and public access, and was also assured that no one could compete in the same area. He had all the private land.
Barrette leased out his building to people who would run seasonal, meaning summer, tourist businesses. He sometimes helped them get going, and they in turn provided him with tourist amenities, such as food, to create a going little concern.
Barrette died in 1959, and his widow kept the franchise going for the next several decades, but in 1987 she turned the property over to her grandson and granddaughter, Barrette Ludlow, and his sister, Lark.
The Ludlows rebuilt much of the site, using post and beam, and focusing on a massive fireplace. As a summer site, everything basically stayed outdoors, with a “camp” feel, and food came over a counter for eating in the picnic area. Barrette and his wife Katie took over the day-to-day management.
In 1996, things took an even more interesting turn. Lark moved from upstate New York, and engineered the construction of an indoor restaurant. Again, showing prescience, the Ludlow Family wanted to make the site available in winter.
“The focus has always been on food. It doesn't have a bar feel to it,” Lark points out. And it doesn't. It stays true to the northern feel, and the building still has the open, comfortable feel of a camp.
It was Lark's decision to create a brew pub at the restaurant that has truly made this site a phenomenon. She learned the art on the fly, getting lessons in California, hiring a brewmaster for the first year, but then overseeing every 310 gallon batch herself. As with all micro-breweries, it takes constant attention and is, as Lark says, “a physically demanding job.”
Her blueberry beer has a lot of fans, and has a way of showing up for every Blueberry Fest in Paradise.
For the most part the state was supportive of the effort, especially the local park DNR employees. At one point, a DNR decision-maker who had wanted the Ludlows to turn their 2 acres over to the state, fought the idea, but the decision to allow the brew pub rested with the Liquor Control Commission, because this was after all, a private commercial site, as John Barrette had envisioned, and the commission liked the idea.
Today Camp 33 is open every day, with two short seasonal closures — November, and most of April. It opens again for the winter on Dec. 19. The parking lot buzzes with snowmobiles all winter, and it's not unusual to see hundreds parked there on any winter weekend. The brew pub still focuses its attention on special eating, but it also makes certain that four types of good homemade brews are on hand. To find out what's brewing, anyone can call, 906-492-3300, and ask.
I get to do it again. It's the only commercial site in a state park. It may be the only brewery of its kind. But it's not just unique. It's the phenomenon, at Tahquamenon.
Pat Egan is the former publisher of the Sault Evening News. He is a recipient of the William Allen White award for editorial writing. He and his wife Debra live at Salt Point.
