Fourteen miles up the Caribou Trail is
Tait Lake. The roads around the lake,
Cap’s Trail and Billie’s Trail, were named
for my aunt and uncle Mathilde “Billie”
Petersen and Martin “Cap” Petersen.
They once owned the land upon which
today’s Tait Lake residents have built
their homes. The original Tait Lake
Lodge, which Cap and Billie built, was
their passion — this is their story.
The family of Billie and Cap Peterson continue to enjoy their family land on Tait Lake. The historic Tait Lake Lodge is their legacy
Cap was a chain smoker…he’d practically have one lit before the last one was out. In 1957 it finally caught up with him, and he, who was never sick, became very ill. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer and so began two years of surgeries, small recoveries, and setbacks.
In the spring of 1959 he had his lung removed. My brother remembers sitting in the lodge’s Liar’s Den with Cap when he had returned home to convalesce. He told Ron that there were two things he regretted: letting them take his lung and quitting smoking. Ron recalled that during their conversation Cap caught a chill. That chill turned into pneumonia from which he did not recover. He died in the fall of 1959. My only memory of Cap was his funeral. I remember sitting on Billie’s lap and the flag-draped coffin.
After Cap’s death Billie continued to run the resort but in a somewhat different manner. She had all the Tait Lake signs on the county road removed and pounded in “No Trespassing Signs” along our trail in.
Tourists continued to come, but only those who had been coming for years. Billie no longer felt comfortable with strangers there. However, her ties to the local community, particularly reflected through her love of children, remained strong. Boy Scouts continued to spend their overnight camping trips on the island in a campsite that was cleared for them. Local kids came for something Billie called “Saturday School,” where apparently she taught them Spanish of all things, and Billie started, and advised aspiring nurses in “The Future Nurse’s Club” at the local high school and Candy Stripers at the Grand Marais hospital. The Lutheran Church in Lutsen continued to anchor her life.
In 1961, Billie sold most of her property around the lake to Irv Hansen. She felt selling the property was a betrayal to Cap and what he’d believed in, to his refusal to sell any land or timber rights to any land no matter how tough their circumstances, so the lake and its beautiful shoreline would be preserved. However, the resort continued to run and we continued to spend our summers there.
Billie, as usual, spent the winter of 1973-74 on the shore. This particular winter she was living with her sister Louise. After supper one evening, complaining of indigestion, she thought she’d lie down for a while. She never awoke, and died of a heart attack at 72.
Billie left a hand-written will. She wrote of her sorrow over the land sale. She left her property by the gravel pit to the Lutheran churches in Lutsen and Tofte. She hoped it would become a place where children would learn about the forest because she knew you could live in its midst and yet not be part of it. The remaining property was left to various family members.
The property has now been in the family for 72 years and we are working on our fourth generation of Tait Lake goers.
We come from California, Washington, Maine, Minnesota, Iowa, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Ontario to spend time at this beautiful place. Because of this legacy left by Cap and Billie, our family’s arms encircle second and third cousins. We are in the process of restoring the lodge and the remaining cabins. Our vision is to create a place from where the spirit of Tait Lake can continue to seep into our families’ bones for the next 70 years.
Jocelyn Thornton has been recalling
“the life and legacy” of her aunt and
uncle, Billie and Cap Peterson, original
proprietors of the Tait Lake Lodge in
Lutsen. This is the last in an eight-part
series..
Do you have an old picture or a story from years gone by that you would like to share with Cook County News-Herald readers? Give us a call,
or stop by our Grand Marais office. We’d love to hear your Historical Reflections. Call (218) 387-9100; e-mail starnews@boreal.org; or stop by
our officeat 15 First Avenue West.
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