SMALL TOWNS PREVIEW: Northwoods fairy tale

MOUNTAIN, Wis. (WBAY) - Tucked away in Wisconsin’s Northwoods is a property with the feel of a 15th century fairy tale.

It’s a vision that began 100 years ago.

In Thursday’s Small Towns, Jeff Alexander travels to Mountain in Oconto County to visit Camp Lake Resort.

In 1920, Wilmot Swanson purchased an abandoned logging camp with a vision. His first order of business was to build two log cabins on the shore of Camp Lake. The cabins are known as the Blue Cabin and the Green Cabin.

In 1927, Wilmot got married. He started a family. But he kept building. He gathered stones as he worked the fields with his team of horses.

Over the next 20 years, Wilmot constructed three stone cabins, including the Gingerbread House.

“I never met Wilmot Swanson, he passed away when I graduated from high school. The Gingerbread House was completed about the time I was born, but literally hundreds of hours of time there you get to know Wilmot and you get to appreciate the depth of what was being achieved there,” says Denis Gullickson, Camp Lake Resort Guest and Historian.

Today, Camp Lake Resort is run by Wilmot’s daughter and grandson. They take in about 200 bookings each year.

See the full Small Towns report Thursday on Action 2 News at 6.

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