Black Point Estate and Gardens

2026 is the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. Over the next 250 days we will be highlighting historic people, places or things from around Walworth County.

Up next is Bonnie Brae.

The beautiful Queen Anne-style house with the red roof on the north shore was built in 1881 for Judge Thomas Withrow and named Bonnie Brae for his daughter Bonnie.

Originally the house was built on a hilltop property of 31 acres. The three-sided front porch and a second-floor balcony offered spectacular views of Geneva Lake.

In 1897, the estate was enlarged by Martin Ryerson to ninety-eight acres and 1,250 feet of shoreline. At least five other buildings were added on the grounds for the staff: butler, cook, maids, chauffer, pilot of the steam yacht Hathor, and a foreman who supervised eight gardeners.

Bonnie Brae was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Walworth@250 #67

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2026 is the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. Over the next 250 days we will be highlighting historic people, places or things from around Walworth County.

Up next are the Lake Geneva Sanitariums.

What secrets lie behind the walls of the Baker House or on the grounds of Havenwood Apartments? These were two of the locations of the five sanitariums located in Lake Geneva from 1885-1930.

In the late nineteenth-century Wisconsin was the mental health capital of America thanks to Dr. Oscar A. King. Encouraged by Dr. King, the Wisconsin legislature passed the first bills regulating mental health treatment.

Dr. King became the supervising physician at Oakwood, a 50-room, 3-story, brick building on the East Main Street hill.

According to Sonja Hughes Akright, author of The Sanitariums of Lake Geneva, “Oakwood [Havenwood] was the insane asylum for cases that required guardianship. Lakeside [Luzerne Hotel] was the medical sanitarium. There was a surgical facility on the grounds of Oakwood, and then Lakeside Cottage [Baker House] dealt mostly with light nervous disorders, postpartum depression and recovering addicts or alcoholics nearing release.”

Oakwood was deserted by 1927. There were rumors the abandoned building was haunted. After years of superstitious stories, pranks, and fires, Oakwood burned during Halloween week in 1956.

Walworth@250 #66

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2026 is the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. Over the next 250 days we will be highlighting historic people, places or things from around Walworth County.

Up next are the Lake Geneva Marble Tournaments.

Marble shooting competitions in the 1930s were a nationwide youth pastime with structured contests that often culminated in finals at locales chosen by newspaper sponsors or community groups.

Lake Geneva, being a popular resort and community hub hosted local and regional marble championships in conjunction with the National Tournament during that period.

These were big community affairs, with competitors coming from twelve Midwest states and many of them receiving complimentary accommodations at the Hotel Geneva. Winners and a chaperone were flown on a chartered plane to Ocean City, New Jersey to represent the Midwest in the National Tournament.

But according to the Regional News before the champions were flown off to New Jersey, “they will take boat rides, swim in the lake, hike, have campfire songs, see various races and contests on the lake, go sight-seeing, take speed boat rides and be the guests at an elaborate banquet. The city is going to show the champs a "swell" time.”

The tournaments were put on hold at the start of World War Two and never resumed.

Walworth@250 #65

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