Melbourne Williams It is the end of August once again and the summer is practically over. Afew trees along the highways are already beginning to show a bit of color and the maple forests will soon be ablaze with all shades of red, orange, and yellow mixed with the dark evergreens. It's always a lovely time of the year.

There are many activities planned for this last weekend of the summer. The Artisans Cooperative is sponsoring "Art in the Park" at the Cedarville waterfront park, when many local artists will be displaying and selling their summer work. There will be several artists, and music to fill the air.

The lucky winner of the Lions Club raffle August 22 was Nina McDonald, who won $100.

Following the two-year leadership of Douglas Heuck of Big LaSalle Island and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the incoming commodore of the Les Cheneaux Yacht Club for the year 2007 will be Dick Tobin of Florida and Hessel.

Bruce Patrick's story this week is about the first hotel that was built in the Les Cheneaux Islands. Here is his story:

"I want everyone to know about the first hotel built in Les Cheneaux. There were 27 American Indian graves on the hotel grounds. The Indians built small open gable houses over each grave and painted each one every year.

A caretaker at the hotel in winter took care of their cows during the winter months. The hotel needed milk from these cows during the summer.

During the winter, the caretaker and his wife milked the cows and delivered milk to our place. My grandfather thought the graves were an asset to his hotel business, so he liked to cater to this Indian cemetery. The owner, Sam Meik, from Pennsylvania is the one who changed the name of the hotel from Patrick's Landing to Pennsylvania.

My grandfather made money with the hotel business, but then he sold it to Meik. As I mentioned before, he got the idea to go to Oklahoma and drill oil wells. This did not work out and he lost everything, came back, and built the Muskalonge Hotel. He never got out of this venture. The Muskalonge was where the Spring Lodge is now. So, Sam Meik changed Patrick's Landing to Pennsylvania Hotel."

Melbourne Williams will celebrate his 89th birthday with an open house at his home Monday, September 4, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.