Historic boat tour part of Lake Carey Day

BY MICHAEL J. RUDOLF

Wyoming County Press Examiner

LAKE CAREY - It's been nearly 40 years since Mimi Selingo Saltzman visited her grandmother's cottage at Lake Carey.

On Saturday, she relived some of her childhood memories as she toured the lake by boat during Lake Carey Day.

"I have very fond memories of Lake Carey," said Saltzman, who lives just outside Chicago. "My brothers and sisters and I spent all of our summers here at Grandma's on the lake."

The tours were part of a day of festivities at the lake.

Actually, the annual festivities got started the night before, with a "Meet Your Neighbor" party for residents only at the Lake Carey Inn.

Saturday's events started early, with the inaugural running of the Frank J. Valvano 5K walk and 10K run, named in honor of the late Tunkhannock Area School District administrator. That was followed by canoe and kayak races on the lake. Then paddleboat races were held for the kids.

Later in the day, there was a fund-raising poker run around the lake, accessible by land or water. The day wrapped up with a chicken barbecue, a water parade and a dance at the firehouse.

Saltzman explained that she wanted to make a trip to Pennsylvania for a number of reasons, and when she learned of Lake Carey Day it seemed to be the perfect occasion.

She added that the scheduling of Lake Carey Day for Saturday was a pleasant coincidence.

"Today would have been my dad's 88th birthday, so I thought it fitting that I come back to his lake," she said.

Saltzman was just one of dozens of people who took tours of the historic homes on the lake from a boat. Local historian Walter Broughton and lake resident Paul Brown described many of the cottages and told about some of the earliest residents of the lake.

"This is a classic resort lake. It was built up as a result of the railroad," Broughton said at the start of the tour.

He explained that development started when the Lehigh Valley Railroad opened its branch from Tunkhannock to Montrose in 1874, with a station not far from the lake. Before then, it was just farmland owned primarily by Earl Carey and Asa Stevens.

Soon there were businesses and hotels and cottages all around the lake, providing a picturesque view to the many people who visited.

Saltzman said she remembered many of the stories about the homes, and enjoyed seeing them again.

She especially liked seeing the cottage that people referred to as "the dollhouse," a relatively large home with ornate architecture. Broughton said that was one of the oldest homes at Lake Carey, built by Dr. Thomas Jefferson Wheaton, who first came to the lake in 1879.

Just past "the dollhouse" was a cottage Wheaton had built for his daughter. That cottage later became the summer home of Admiral Harold Stark, the chief of U.S. Naval Operations from 1938 to 1942.

Broughton noted that Stark's arrival each summer attracted a lot of attention, because he would come in a seaplane that landed on the lake.

"The cottagers would come out in rowboats to greet Admiral Stark," he noted.

For Saltzman, as impressive as these cottages were, she waited eagerly for the tour boat to round the next bend. That's when she spotted the slightly smaller cottage that had once been owned by Gladys Selingo, her grandmother.

She described some of the fun she and her siblings had there when they were children, playing games and enjoying the nature at the lake.

"My brother and I used to pick lily pads for her dinner table," she recalled.

Saltzman thanked Broughton for allowing her to relive those experiences. She pointed out that her father, Bob Selingo, is one of those pictured on the cover of Broughton's book about the lake, in a photo of the Lake Carey Regatta.

"We still have that trophy at home," Saltzman said.