Louis E. Beach

Very few remember the role Louis Beach played in the early history of Beaver River Station. Perhaps his most lasting contribution was the construction of the second Norridgewock Hotel. That building, a classic piece of vernacular architecture, still stands 106 years later and is still accommodating guests. Louis Beach also deserves to be remembered for his interesting photographs that document important events at Beaver River Station. 

Louis Everett Beach was born in the Town of Watson, Lewis County, NY on October 17, 1878. His parents were George N. Beach and Esther E. Hall. His oldest sister Luella was born in 1859. Louis would have had little memory of her because she drowned when she was twenty and he was still an infant. His brother Henry was sixteen years his senior having been born in 1863. His sister Cora was born in 1866. She married a neighbor, Samuel Moshier, around 1893 and moved to near-by Chase’s Lake. As a teenager Louis often hunted in their sugar bush.

 

The Beach family home was located on Chase’s Lake Rd. in the small settlement of Bush’s Landing. This group of houses and farms was on the north bank of the Black River between where the #4 and the Chase’s Lake roads turn inland. His father was a lumberman and farmer as were many of his other close relatives. Louis grew up on the family farm and attended the local elementary school.

 

Like other farm boys of his time, Louis would have learned the basics of farming at home. His father also worked as a logger in the winter, so it’s likely Louis spent time in logging camps as a teenager. He had close relatives who built canal boats, so he probably picked up a certain amount of carpentry from them. When it came time for him to start earning his own living, he started out working at all three jobs, i.e., farming, logging and carpentry. In his spare time, he enjoyed hunting and fishing.

 

About the time Louis was twenty years old his brother Henry opened a photography studio in the near-by village of Lowville. Henry had learned that trade by working for a few years with Fred K. Hart who had photo studios in Carthage and Watertown. A newspaper advertisement in the Lowville Journal and Republican in 1897 noted the Beach studio was on Shady Ave., a major side street. Henry Beach’s photography business was apparently a success, but nonetheless he closed his Lowville studio in October 1903 and moved his family and business to Carthage.

 

There is good evidence that Louis worked at least part time for his older brother during these years. According to Robert Bogdan in Exposing the Wilderness, a few surviving photographs from this period have L. E. Beach, Lowville, NY printed on them. A Lowville newspaper article dated 8/13/03 noted Louis was taking photographs at a church social in Watson. The photo that follows shows the small building that served as the Beach photo studio, likely when it was on Shady Ave. Bogdan believes the young man standing in front of the studio is probably Louis.

It’s unlikely that Louis ever saw photography as his profession. The 1900 US Census gives his profession as a farmer. Nonetheless, Louis appears to have continued to do some photography work with his brother even after Henry moved his photography studio to Remsen in 1906. In fact, newspaper reports show that between 2/21/07 and 4/4/07 Louis traveled the Fulton Chain taking photographs of logging camps. It’s quite possible that this was a joint project with Henry who was in the process of compiling a large collection of logging photos.

 

Logging seems to have offered Louis a more certain income than photography. From January until March of 1905, Louis lived at Beaver River Station most likely to work in a lumber camp. He returned to Beaver River in late June and stayed for the summer. He followed the same routine in 1906 except he did not return to Bush’s Landing in the fall. It was during this time that Louis must have met Bert Bullock, owner of the Norridgewock Hotel, and started to work for him. [see my post on Bert Bullock and the Norridgewock of 6/8/21]

 

From 1906 until about 1923 Louis lived full-time at Beaver River Station, returning to Bush’s Landing periodically to visit his mother. Beaver River folks generally referred to him as Lou. Initially he worked in the woods in winter then did various jobs at the hotel in the summer. In the summer of 1907, for example, Lou gave hotel guests and other visitors rides on the Beaver River Flow in his passenger boat equipped with a gasoline motor. This must have been quite a novelty as gas powered boat motors were rare at this time. 

 

By 1909 the hotel was doing well enough that Bullock decided to build a large concrete block stable across the Grassy Point Road from the hotel. Lou undoubtedly played a major role in building the stable. Gradually he began to share in the managerial work at the hotel. His brother Henry visited in 1910 and took a number of photos of the hotel. In the photo below we see Henry at work in front of the Norridgewock. I believe Lou probably took this photo as he had a camera and the necessary skill to produce such a fine image.

During the winter Lou continued his logging activities at least until 1911. In February of that year, he returned to Bush’s Landing to sell a horse and hire teams to come to Stillwater to haul softwood logs. Henry must have visited him sometime during that winter to take the photo below showing the Beach lumber camp buried in snow.

By this time Lou had lived year-round in Beaver River Station for five years and become a respected citizen. He purchased a cottage lot on the shore of Norridgewock Lake and built himself a cabin. In October 1911 the Herkimer Co. Democratic party nominated him to run for constable. There seems to be no record of whether he was elected.

 

Business at the hotel continued to be strong for the next few years. Then on May 8, 1914, a fierce fire of unknown origin burned the original Norridgewock Hotel to the ground. A photograph taken the day after the fire, probably by Lou, shows the destruction.

Bert Bullock and his family had apparently had enough of backwoods living and decided not to rebuild the hotel. This left Lou temporarily out of a job. There is no record of him returning to Bush’s Landing, so it’s likely that he worked at Beaver River Station for the rest of that year guiding tourists, and possibly working at a lumber camp in the winter.

 

In March of 1915 Bert Bullock sold most of the land he owned at Beaver River to two investors who planned to subdivide it into cottage lots for sale. It was probably at this time that Lou Beach got the idea of converting the 1909 concrete block stable into a hotel. With the approval and possibly with financing from the new owner, he redesigned and renovated the ground floor, added six bedrooms on the second floor, then attached a new two-story building to the rear with a dining room and parlor on the first floor and five bedrooms on the second. As a good businessman, he decided to stick with the hotel’s original name. 

 

It’s unclear exactly when the new hotel first opened for business. It had to have been in operation by the fall of 1917 because the photograph below showing a group of hunters in front of the completed second Norridgewock is labeled with that date. Lou Beach’s brother Henry is first from the left. Henry’s son Harry stands at the far right. This photo was also probably taken by Lou.

Lou Beach served as manager of the second Norridgewock until it was purchased by Clinton and Walter Thompson in 1920. He continued to live at Beaver River until about 1923, probably still working at the hotel for its new owners. About 1923 he married Myra Smith, a woman from Auburn, NY, and moved to a house on Sheard Street in Old Forge. I have no clue how they met. Census reports show them living in Old Forge for the next forty years with Louis working as a carpenter. Louis E. Beach died Aug. 29, 1963 in Old Forge at the age of 84. He was buried in the Soule Cemetery, Sennett, Cayuga County, Myra’s home town. Myra died in 1975 and was buried beside her modest, hard-working husband.

 

There are several remaining puzzles about Lou Beach I’d still like to solve. I’d like to know why he decided to get married at the age of 45 and move to town. I’d like to know what he did in the roughly 40 years he lived in Old Forge, especially what building projects he worked on. Most of all, I’d like to know what happened to all the photos he must have taken. If anyone reading this has any clues to offer, please let me know in the comments.