Woodland Estate History

Our History
Woodland Estate

For many years, summer visitors to the Trent River area had been well provided for at the resort started by Christopher Keller. After serving in the Civil War and living in Canton Missouri, Christopher Keller and his wife Betsy came to Healey Falls. They hitch-hiked here - no mean feat with 9 small children and set up a homestead on the land currently occupied by Woodland Estate. By government grant, they were given all the land currently occupied by Woodland, Keller's Kamp and Fishermen's Paradise.

Christopher, and his wife Betsy, built a large frame house and soon were receiving summer visitors. The first recorded visitor at "A Summer Resort" was in 1880. Mr. Robinson, a clock and watch repairman, owned a shop on Queen Street in Toronto. He was known for constructing a motor the size of a housefly!

At the time of the first visitors, fishermen sporting "mud-shoes" were a common sight in the wild rice growing along the shores. "Mud-shoes" looked like a pair of small boats and the fisherman knelt with one knee in each shoe, shuffling along through the rice. Even then the fishing was fantastic.

Christopher and Betsy Keller had 4 sons and 5 daughters. One son, Rod Keller was given the current Woodland property. James, another son, eventually moved to the Mud Lake area. The third son, Charles was originally given the Keller's Kamp and Fishermen's Paradise land, though later gave the Fishermen's property to his brother Chris.

Roderick Keller (born 1852) married Elizabeth Hubel in 1887. With the exception of the 8 years he lived in Canton Missouri while his father served in the Civil War, Rod lived his entire life at Healey Falls. He continued the inn-keeper tradition of his parents by entertaining summer visitors at an ever expanding boarding house.

Rod and Elizabeth had 6 children - George, Fred, Edith, Ethel, Hugh and Helen. Helen, the youngest daughter celebrated her 96th birthday in 1998, residing in Campbellford.

Helen told of her mother sitting on the back steps of the boarding house peeling potatoes for dinner. There could be as many as 40 people to feed at a meal (including the family). Fresh fish caught by the visitors to the Trent River area was a mainstay at meals. Fresh vegetables from the Keller garden and fresh milk from their cows were also served at all meals. Helen also remembered coming in reluctantly from play with her brothers to set the tables for dinner.

In Rod's time at the resort, known simply as "A Summer Resort", life was not so easy. In winter, ice was chopped from the river in large blocks and stored under sawdust in the ice house. This ice lasted all summer and provided all the refrigeration there was at the time. A trip to town was no small undertaking either. At first a ferry, then a swing bridge was needed to cross the river about where the current bridge is. Visitors to "A Summer Resort" were picked up at the train station in either Campbellford or Havelock using a horse and 'democrat'.

Rod was a very popular host, friend and guide to his summer guests. In his obituary, he was described as a "general favourite with all his acquaintances, being a man of generous impulses, excellent habits and fine moral character." Lest he be seen as so good he was boring, he was also a great practical joker. When he learned of a trick planned by his guests to hide on their guide, Rod hid from them, in the bushes, and as they approached fired shots over their heads, thoroughly terrifying them. As true good sports, his victims commemorated Rod's tricks in a poem.

An interesting event that happened during this time, occurred one winter when Rod, Elizabeth and the family went to visit family. Rod's brother Chris and his wife Mary came to stay at the Resort in their absence. During this stay, Mary 'took' the resort guest list, writing to each guest to tell them that "A Summer Resort" was no longer taking guests, but that she would be delighted to entertain them that summer at her place - now known as Fishermen's Paradise! Needless to say Chris and Mary were never asked to take care of Rod and Elizabeth's resort again.

Fishing has always been exceptional along the Trent River. In Rod's time, the daily catch was 12 bass and 4 lunge per rod per day. Fishermen were allowed to keep 2 day's catch - but there was no fishing allowed on Sundays! An article written by an American for the Field and Stream magazine, recommends taking time to enjoy the beautiful scenery when fishing begins to drag. He says "and surely it will drag - it is too easy".

After Rod's death in 1918, Helen (the only child remaining at home) and her mother Elizabeth moved to Campbellford. Fred Keller (Rod's second son) became the proprietor of the resort. He renamed the resort "Rest-A-While" and maintained the tradition of entertaining summer visitors and fishermen.

Fred expanded the resort and by 1931 had built l0 cottages and a store. Our best guess is that Fred built the 2 Ivy cottages, Hemlock, Juniper, the 3 Elms, Greenwood and Firtree cottages. The store he built was later converted to a home. Visitors still took their meals at the lodge, which continued to feature the day's catch as a main course. Cottages were available for as little as $12 per week and lodge rooms were available for $2.50 per day. Doesn't sound like a lot now, but in the middle of the depression it was probably a great deal of money.

One of Fred's special touches for Rest-A-While was to decorate the grounds. Around this time, a group of Italian workers were putting in the canal and locks at Healey Falls. Near their work site, they built a small church. When the work was completed, Fred moved many of the church furnishings to Rest-A-While and used the steeple and church pews to decorate the grounds.

Around 1940, the lodge burned to the ground and little is known about the resort until 1945 when the property was purchased by James 'Ernie' Aryhart. Ernie had made his fortune in the Canadian gold mining business and purchased the movie theatre and billiard hall in Campbellford at the same time he bought Rest-A-While.

Ernie was one of the more colorful owners of Woodland Estate. To create jobs for the many returning World War II servicemen, he undertook a large construction effort, building Cedarwood, Basswood, the Poplars and the Oaktree cottages (originally the staff quarters). He also built the Rec Hall and the current store buildings!

Remnants of his fantastic Rose Gardens still exist behind the store. From the photographs which remain, these gardens were a beautiful display of rose bushes, climbing roses, a reflecting pool, birdbaths and hedges.

The Rec Hall was famous for its Saturday night dances and many a Campbellford area romance started here. The present Rec Hall & store building was the dining room, kitchen and front office for the resort. Three hot meals a day were served there, all cooked over the 1890 wood cookstove!

The Cedarwood Cottage, built in 1947 was Ernie's home during the summer months. The stone fireplace still shows his initials. In keeping with his colorful nature, Ernie's cottage had no kitchen. The current kitchen area was a large bar - probably very well used.

The resort was renamed Woodland Estate in 1947. While the source of the new name is unknown, there was a cheese factory known as Woodland Cheese in the area at the time. This was located on the south east corner of Highway 30 and the Healey Falls Road and can still be seen as the old cement block building.

Ernie, the entrepreneur, is said to have organized breakfast flights from Toronto, where businessmen would fly from Toronto in the early morning, land at the airport (owned by Ernie) about 2 miles south of the Healey Falls Road on Highway 30. Cars would meet the planes and bring the businessmen to Woodland Estate for a home-cooked breakfast in the dining room. They would then spend some time wandering around in the gardens until they returned by plane to Toronto.

In the 5 short years he owned Woodland Estate, James Ernie Aryhart changed the face of Woodland Estate forever.

April 10, 1950, Fred Cords and Theodore Yungblut purchased Woodland Estate, owning it only 3 years before William and Margaret Mullock purchased it in 1953. The Mullock family owned Woodland Estate for 20 years, doing much to upgrade the resort facilities. They put the swimming pool in and also dredged the bay to provide sheltered docking for boats. When son Dave and his wife Martie took over the day-to-day operation of the resort, mom and dad Mullock rebuilt Basswood, making it a home.

In April 1973. John Henry (a school teacher/principal) from Toronto purchased Woodland Estate, running it for 4 years until the Hank and Gary Patfield families took over in 1977. The early eighties saw the resort expanded to include a trailer park.

In May 2001, Woodland Estate was purchased by Ken and Sharon Stevens. Sharon is currently known and loved working throughout the resort! In keeping with its history over the years, many changes and improvements were made to the cottages, resort facilities and grounds to ensure Woodland Estate remained your favorite resort.

April 15th 2008 brought new owners and new prospects, when Doug and Rhonda Venator took their place as the new owners of Woodland Estate. The Venator family along with partners Keith Turner and Brent Knudsen are currently enhancing and expanding your resort experience. New development lots are now underway, each to house a gorgeous Resort Cottage, just waiting to become a family tradition!

Now, much as in 1880, Woodland Estate continues to be Your Ultimate Cottage Resort on the Lake!

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