A few years ago she began collecting pictures and details associated with the lodge that her family called home for so many years.
Her grandparents, J.K.Taylor and Marjorie, owned the lodge. Her parents (Beulah and Jack Taylor) eventually took over the operation.
“We spent half the year at Braemar and half the year in town,” says Richardson.
Her memories of those days are as warm as the sun that shone on them. Flipping through a collection of photos that her father’s friend, photographer Bob Brooks, took, she brings the place back to life.
“Seaplanes used to come in, and there were sailboats and canoes and rowboats that guests could use down at the boathouse. I can still remember all the Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling in the rec hall.
“My grandfather, his pride and joy were the gardens.”
Dances at Braemar were very popular, with live orchestras and the Missionaires.
The first dance of the year was always sponsored by the Reliance Fire Company and a Sunday night buffet was held.
Tame white ducks used to swim along the shore and giant cement mushrooms on the front lawn provided shade. A waterwheel and bridge with an arched birch handrail was a popular feature in photos.
On Sundays, local residents would come and enjoy second beach.
The guests, many from the United States, would come over on the ferry or fly in on Trans Canada Airlines and rent the cottages for weeks at a time. Eventually bus tours became more popular.
“Jud Hurlburt would come down with his oxen and you wouldn’t believe how excited the older people on tours were to see that,” she says.
She says everyone who has ever worked at Braemar has their own memories.
“I remember the old switchboard, with all the cords. I used to go in there and ask, “Oh, can I ring somebody’s room,” she says.
Ken and Wreatha Demone bought the property in 1976 from her parents.
Victor Bradshaw and Richard Homburg were the last owners of Braemar. The main lodge was lost to fire on June 2, 1981.
