Lake Buel History

The dad was Irving or Irve Tunick and unfortunately I forget his wife’s name. Carol was the eldest ( a few years older than I) of three with a son, I think Jonathan, and a daughter, whose name escapes me. Irve was a movie writer and producer; he wrote Murder, Inc. which came out in 1960. He has an IMDB page.

Carol was here a few (? 5 years ago). She was walking in the vicinity of her old house and we spoke briefly; she seemed healthy. Many boys had a crush on her. She used to drive the family runabout while standing up in the front which was interpreted, apparently by many, as arrogance or showing off. My late mother, Sherry, was not shy and many years later she asked Carol why she drove that way. Carol’s direct, and accurate, answer was that it was the only way she could see where she was going as she was not tall and the prow rose up! See-you never know until you ask.

Irve’s wife’s name was Adele. They were good friends of my grandparents who lived next door. Carol is alive and well (I believe) in Florida.

They bought their cottage in 1956 for about $7,000 dollars. They had a TV set in their house which was very unique circa 1960 for a Lake Buel cottage. (under best of circumstances you could get 2 channels, possibly 3 with a lot of fuzz). I distinctly remember that they had a double pole switch on the wall near the TV set. This was normally in the closed position but was toggled open whenever a storm was pending to ‘separate’ the 300ohm antenna wire coming down from the roof antenna to the TV set, should lighting strike. A number of years ago it burned down and Carol rebuilt it. Perhaps the first house fire on Downs Road?

I was mesmerized by him as he had written an episode for the Virginian and Combat!. He never talked about his screenwriting even when asked about it. (IMDb)

He, like several others of his peers that lived on Downs Road, loved to fish and play the card game Gin Rummy for money.

Later on they moved to Beverly Hills and lived there for the remainder of their lives. In 1972 while on a driving tour of Nevada and California from school in Arizona, I stopped by to visit them. Their house was on a windy road up a hillside, just the kind of house you would expect someone in the movie business would live in.

My father first came to the lake when he married into the Aibel family who had houses on the Monterey side of the lake. After his divorce, and he was dating my mother, he took her to Tanglewood, where they bumped into another couple, (my mother had gone to college with the wife) who invited them back to the ToHoNe Guest Camp, where they were staying. They said that it was very freilich (Yiddish for festive and gay) and that the owner, Enge Menaker, called a square dance on Saturday nights.

When they got there, my mother saw two more college friends, Dad met all the other people staying there, and said, “we’re home”. I have been coming to the lake since 1957. My brother went to ToHoNe boys camp (owned by Pete Menaker).

When the Guest Camp closed, most everyone bought (or built) houses at the lake, or nearby, or stayed with friends here, or rented. The boy’s camp continued for a few more years. Later, ToHoNe Shores was created on the camp site. The guest camp site was bought by Mark Mishkin.

This lake is beloved by many!

What a history we all have!

Is the farm stand you remember, the one on Adsit Crosby? If that’s the one, when my kids were little, (in the 90’s) it was owned by the MacKenzies, who owned that farm. We used to walk there with our kids. It was still on the honor system. We would buy vegetables and corn, and the next day, we would bring our cobs back, and feed them to the chickens. It closed after they ran it for 17 years, after they divorced. Scott MacKenzie is leaving the land to the town of New Marlborough, to remain undeveloped, I believe.

The road that your old house was on was known to many as the boy’s camp road. If we walked down that road, past the football field, and then went to the left, we would come to your house. (The new house is fantastic BTW). Downs Road, was where it is still. I think the old boys camp road is that swampy area between the gravel pit and where Wheatleigh and Pine intersect? It’s hard to tell — so much has overgrown.

Do you remember, you also used to be able to walk from your house, past where Litvack and Campbell are, all the way to the boy’s camp, to the guest camp, and then to Adsit Crosby? Indeed I did many times. By the late 80’s the road to the guest camp site was very overgrown, but still passable. There wasn’t a ToHoNe Shores development yet. Pete’s widow, Sarah (who lived in the chicken coop at the intersection of Adsit Crosby and Great Barrington-Mill River Road [she was kinda nuts]) wouldn’t sell. After she died, it was developed.

All the roads besides the camp road and southeast from there, were called Downs Road. In 1996 or so, 911 had all the roads renamed, I suppose so they could find us more easily. They went back to the 1830 maps. So now we have Wheatleigh (sp?) Pine, Lake, Lawrence, and Downs. I think these names may have mostly been the names of the landowners. I know Lawrence was, anyway. At one point the land from Lake Buel Road down to the lake, and from ToHoNe boys camp all the way to Jim Caron’s property, and up from about 1/4 mile towards Mill River, and north parallel to Lake Buel Rd, about a mile, was all the Downs family farm. I guess they renamed all the roads Downs. In the 1920’s the land was bought by the Menakers. I guess some of the land was parceled out, or some of it went to others beside the Menakers, like the area around the lake, or maybe it was truncated. However, when I was little, the Menaker land was owned by Enge and Pete Menaker. Pete had the camp, up to the chicken coop, and Enge owned the rest. Katherine Boughton (Dan Menaker’s widow) still owns Downs Road from LB Rd to the base of Lake and Pine, and quite a bit above LB road.

I remember we used to play in the barn (the big red barn on Lake Buel Road) on rainy days. There is a model T Ford on the top floor of that barn! When we were kids, there was a carriage house, with horse-drawn sleighs and a landau. There was a horse-drawn school bus and a fire engine too on the ground floor of the barn.

I didn’t know that there was a day camp you guys went to. Where exactly was it? I only knew about Deerwood, ToHoNe, and Half Moon. Peri was there? I know Budd went to Eisner and then, I think Kutz (Warwick, NY)

At ToHoNe Guest Camp, we went to Gibson’s Grove for ice cream. There was ice cream, a juke box, and outside, a little playground. It was the first time I heard Peter, Paul and Mary. Lemon Tree was on the jukebox. Was it still there when you were little? (I’ve got about 12 years on you — I’m about the same age as Ronnie Wolf — I remember playing with her when we were 12 or so)

Sometimes we were taken across the lake for ice cream at Hebert’s.

This is so neat! So many memories!

Peter, thanks so much for posting Kathy’s email. She has a long and reliable memory.

The Menakers bought the land around what is sometimes referred to as Menakers Corners in 1926, I think. They originally had a house opposite the chicken coop, which Ed and Sacha Klausmeyer have renovated and planted beautifully. That house burned down and Enge bought the house my family now lives in — 1555 Mill River Great Barrington Road, with the big red barn. My husband was Dan (Danny) Menaker, Enge and Pete’s nephew. Enge and Pete, with Enge’s friend Glen Memmon and Dan’s father Bobby, and their brother Leonard, owned a lot of land. Enge had a huge vegetable garden that supplied produce to the camp. Our house was known as the farmhouse, and we still call it that. They originally owned land up to the Sussman house, down to the lake and including the property just north of our house, Hank and Jackie Leonard’s house. Good Communists that they were, originally from Odessa, they knew the value of land. Enge sold land to friends, most of whom have now moved on but Kathy will remember Victor and Ellen Perlo, and Jackie and Hank Leonard, the Levinsons and Pankens. Barbara Mishkin’s house occupied the site of the former Guest Camp.

My son Will’s first job was picking corn for Scott MacKenzie’s farm stand. Scott and Scottie did break up but have been together again for many years. A few years ago the New Marlborough Land Trust designated his land as permanently agricultural.

Among former campers and Menaker relatives are the Bieners, Schnattachers (sorry, spell check insists on incorrect spelling), the Levinsons, the Pankens (sp?) — most still on the lake.

Kathy, no Model T on the top floor but a huge hay-wagon with iron wheels. The doors used to open onto a plank bridge that connected to the meadow.

The barn is in precarious shape. Don’t be tempted to explore. It’s not safe.

There are so many great memories shared here. My family (Harriet Sossner and The Haver’s) have been on the lake since 1959. The Havers purchased Littlecrest Inn, and my parents (Sandy and Joanne) along with my uncle/aunt (Tom and Barbara) rebranded the property into the 7 Arts Guest Lodge (with cabins and camp sites) to celebrate the arts in the Berkshires. See the original brochure from 1960 below. 7 Arts was also the inspiration for my grandmother’s antique shop in Stockbridge. I, like so many of you, share many of the same history and HERstory of the lake….

My parents bought our cabin in 1961 I want to say. They used to drive from nyc to tanglewood Saturdays and decided it was too long a trip back and forth. They bought it while Karen and I were spending the summer in California with our sister Pat and her new husband.

They were clear, this was their present to themselves. We had to be invited and often were but not always. The weekends at home were party time at the Berlants with all of our friends from the minute school ended Friday afternoon. We had a ball. Everyone slept over and we played folk music, rock and roll and danced and chipped in for food. On hot nights about 8-10 of us would sleep in my parents bedroom because it had the only air conditioner. Boys and girls. But we were oh so innocent in those days. Sunday night about 5 everyone cleaned up and went home. And we did our homework for Monday. 😀😀😀 before our folks came home. Years later they stayed thru Monday morning and mom dropped dad at his office and went to Forest Hills JHS where she taught.

But when Karen and I were invited to the cabin (my older siblings were usually gone) in the fall, we'd pick dad up at work, drive up the Henry Hudson parkway in our maroon impala convertible, get off the Taconic and stop at the Elm Tree Restaurant for great Italian food. Get to the cabin late and get a fire going in the pot belly stove. I remember the smell and the feeling as if it were yesterday.

Over the next many years, we all brought our husbands and kids for visits, always asking for permission but my folks loved having us all there.

Put the cabin on the market, because with 10 grandchildren set to inherit the cabin, my 3 siblings and I decided that it would become untenable to maintain. 7 live in California, 1 in NC and only my two girls close enough to use it, maintain it and support it. Easier to sell when the four of us are still alive.

But the memories live on in all of us. Such fun times. My parents entertained every other weekend. After they retired And moved to California they'd spend May to October at the cabin and come to my house in Poughkeepsie to do their laundry. At first driving cross country then flying and leaving a car at my house for the winter. To the last, they'd still go to the pre concert on Friday then the concert on Fridays, go on Saturday. Sundays, they'd listen to Tanglewood on the radio turned to face outside. No one was allowed to talk, lol. So we'd usually go down to the lake at 2 with our kids.

The neighborhood was so wonderful then. Neighbors helping neighbors. Dad stopping by at the Stumphs for a beer and helping Jack with a chore. Just the fondest and loveliest memories for all the Berlants.

We, at 124 Downs Rd., have been at the lake since 1969. Richard and Betty Reba and Paul and Turbi Smilow rented the original old cabin from Harvey Herman for six weeks that summer. Thanks to a "heads up" from our neighbor, Leora Login, the two families bought it the following year.

The old lake house had been built around the turn of the century and, when we rented it, we thought it was "a little primitive". However, when we had the opportunity to own it, "a little primitive" became "rather charming".

The Smilow/Richter children attended Butternut Day Camp and were picked up in an open pickup truck by the camp (don't tell DYFUS).

There were three camps operating on the lake (without any discord), Tahone, Halfmoon and Deerwood.

After 10 years, the Smilow's chose to sell their half to the Richter's, who, although divorced, continued joint ownership.

Both remarried (Richard to Diana and Betty to Jay Reba) and, as ex's, continued to share ownership and use of the house, now the Richter/Reba Cabin.

The original cabin (a three-season structure) burned to the ground as a result of an accident in 2020 and a new year-round structure was built. (BY THE WAY, even now, people in this community are extraordinarily friendly and helpful. After the fire took our house, I was standing on the property when the garbage truck came through. The driver, whom I had never met before, stopped to say, "I'm so sorry about the fire. If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know"!!!!)

The house was recently turned over in a trust to five of the Richter/Reba' seven children. (Two live on the West Coast and do not have the opportunity to use it often.) So far the five beneficiary families have not killed each other, so we think we're going to be OK.

One of our children, Matt Richter, and his wife bought, additionally, 106 Downs Rd.

Richard is now 92. I am 87 and this home and lake are part of the DNA of the whole family. We hope future generations will continue to appreciate this little piece of heaven.

I am the son of Betty Reba and Richard Richter. I've been coming here for 56 years since I was 4 years old. Silly me thinking that I must be one of the old timers.

Some memories from spending most of my life here.

Summers used to be cooler. I remember waking up in the morning and me and my siblings sitting in front of a space heater with blankets wrapped around us because it was so cold.

There was obviously no Internet and we had no TV. We used to just play games and read.

Before Ta-ho-ni Shores was developed, we were the first house you would come to on downs road which was then a winding, narrow dirt road. Visitors used to come down the long dirt road and think they were lost because they hadn't seen any houses yet.

The owner of the farm on Lake Buel road at one time got very sick and couldn't man his farmstand all day. So he had someone put out all the vegetables and fruit in the morning and used the honor system where people would just weigh their own produce and leave money in a box. We used to walk there to get our produce. What an impressionable lesson that was.

Friendly's was the big attraction in town for us on Route 7. Both for ice cream trips and meals.

The Ukenas across the lake used to babysit for us. They used to ride their boat over. I always thought that was so cool.

The Berkshires have definitely changed a lot in the last 50+ years. But Lake Buel always stays the same. How lucky we are to have this place that we all feel is so special and that most people have never even heard of.

As a sign said that we used to have, "If you're lucky enough to have a place on a lake, you're lucky enough". Especially Lake Buel.

Just to be clear, Peter- it wasn’t just any Ukena- it was I, Liza Ukena, now Catino, who drove my Dad’s aluminum red boat across the lake to babysit the 6 of you!

My parents Meta and Paul Ukena bought our house in the fall of 1965 from 80 year old Gertrude Sackman whose father built it as a fishing cabin in 1917. Her Mom put her foot down in 1947 and said she was not coming up here from NYC until he put in a kitchen and indoor plumbing. Dad along with David Logan and the Rossiers and others helped get lake owners into the District and buy the weed harvester and hire the first Dave to drive it.

We spent every summer here since I was 12 and my siblings and I got summer jobs- I worked as a cashier at Finast and biked to work- climbing up the Butternut Basin hill was not easy!

This is fun to walk down memory lane.

I remember all the motor boats on the lake because of the 3 camps. My babysitter used to flirt with the counselors. And does anybody know who used to put out the slalom course? I always wondered, and I missed it when it ceased to exist a few years ago. I remember touching the wall with my waterski, hearing reveille every morning from Camp Half Moon, and Half Moon’s horse stables. I remember always being concerned that the buildings at Camp Tohone would fall down, and my parents telling me that they were built to look that way. I remember walking up route 57 with my grandma to go to the General Store, one of my favorite things to do. I also remember that before the lake got the weed harvester, the lake was so thick with weeds that we could practically walk across it. It was horrible! Sailboats got stuck and the motors on motor boats would be so covered that they couldn’t run. Thanks to all those who pushed to get the weed harvester through!

I also remember all the years that the lake was frozen so deeply that trucks used to run on it. That was always a sign that it was safe to walk or skate on the lake.