A History of Four Cottages
Rochester School Systems Comes to Bass Lake
BY TOM HUGHES
As far as I
can tell Mr. Carpenter, a science teacher in the Rochester School System came
to Bass Lake around 1919. He was so
impressed by the beauty of the lake that he went back to Rochester and got
several more teachers interested in coming to the lake. Each assisted the other
in constructing their cottage. Mr.
Carpenters cottage is #50
The other
teachers that came up were Mr. Rottman
(#131), Mr. Johncox (#29). These two
were industrial art teachers and accounted for much of the planning. The forth was Mr. Kellogg (#30) a school
principal. Mr. Johncox’s and Mr..
Kellogg’s cottage are still owned by the family of the original builder.
Carpenter,
Johncox and Rottaman had a long and happy time at the lake. Not so for Mr. Kellogg. He passed away the year that the cottage was
completed. The Hughes family purchased
the cottage from Marion Christie
(daughter of Mr. Kellogg) in 1977.
Judie Hughes has been in residence every year since 1929.
Mr Rottman
and Mr. Johncox decided that they would each build a sailing dinghy. These sailboats were things of beauty and
every piece of rigging and hardware was constructed by them. For years they raced each other on the
channel. Of the two only Mr Johncox’s
survives in their boat house. The
maintenance and repair of the dingy was undertaken by Mr. Burton and Bob
Johncox. The elder Johncox was ready
take the dingy out to the middle of the lake and sink it as it had fallen into
such dis-repair. Mr. Burton pleaded
with him to allow him to undertake the needed repairs. Those were accomplished and the dingy
survived. Bob Johncox put in a new
transom and Betty Burton made a new set of sails and about 10 years ago it made
its first sail in over 30 years. It has
not been in the lake since.