Spider Lake Lodge owner mines the past for today’s cabins.
By Lisa Meyers McClintick
As the road ribbons farther into the woods and cell signals sputter and disappear, northwest Wisconsin’s Spider Lake Lodge appears, feeling like a refuge; a retreat into simpler times.
Vintage red skis stand propped near the door to this historic 1923 lodge near Hayward, a mecca for active nature lovers with ski and bike trails throughout the 1.5-million-acre Chequamegan National Forest.
The warm glow of antique lamps invites guests into the cozy living room where chairs encircle a stone fireplace. The call of loons lures guests onto the screened-in porch with telescopes for spotting the region’s iconic bird bobbing on the surface of Spider Lake before disappearing with a dive.
In the dining room, a clock without any hands sits on the mantelpiece and states, “Here there is no time.”
Lodge owner and expert home designer Jim Kerkow has created this cocoon from the modern world. The retreat is also a showpiece for his design business, Spider Lake Trading.
Jim took over the lodge in 2000 with his late partner Craig Mason. It’s his base camp for travels that take him around the globe on the hunt for treasures and around the country to add fresh life to old lodges, make new ones feel old and help vacation home owners create idyllic retreats that fit their setting, whether it’s the Rocky Mountains or Florida.
Love of Cabins
Despite a national reach with his design expertise, Jim’s heart clearly resides in northern Wisconsin, wrapped around the shores of Spider Lake. His love of old cabins sparked when he was about 4 years old and traveling with his dad to a northern Wisconsin cabin for a business meeting. “At that point forward, I was fascinated by log cabins,” he says, recalling time spent building with Lincoln Logs and drawing cabins and wildlife.
Later, he considered studying architecture, but instead pursued a business degree and spent 20 years working with American Express, heading to northwest Wisconsin for getaways. Once he had a solid financial base, he launched Sticks and Stones, a home store that grew to four locations in the Twin Cities.
Wisconsin’s northwoods kept calling; he bought the lodge, sold his Twin Cities stores and began using the lodge as a showroom for his design services.
From Lumberjacks to Vacationers
Wisconsin’s northwoods boomed from the 1890s to 1920s as lumberjack crews made their way across the northern United States harvesting virgin forests. Then wealthy folks from Chicago set up rustic fishing and hunting retreats. By the 1940s, there finally was a road to Spider Lake and electricity, too, both fueling Wisconsin’s heyday with lake resorts that peaked in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then the only entertainment families needed was a beach, a boat, a bonfire and the great outdoors.
As the 1970s and 80s came and went, people bought up lake lots of their own, built simple cabins, then increasingly larger vacation homes. Resorts began to look rustic, and even the area’s supper clubs declined. Fortunately, on Spider Lake, many of the vintage cabins endured.
“This lake had 18 resorts on it. Now it has one,” Jim says. Spider Lake Lodge, which originated as Moody’s Camp in 1923, had 14 lakeshore cabins that now are privately owned. Jim has helped many of the cabin owners with their interior design.
At Spider Lake Lodge, the decor incorporates stories of the area’s earliest residents through artwork of Native American chiefs and maidens, antique fishing gear, a mounted raccoon that climbs across a dining room ceiling beam, and books about cabin life. Most of the items have a story behind them, like a bronze lamp base depicting a farmer and a bear that Jim found in France. “I get to preserve these buildings I love so much,” Kerkow said. “The integrity of all the cabins has been maintained.”
Blending in Personalities
Lake homes and cabins comprise close to 85 percent of Spider Lake Trading’s business. The shop’s staff understands cabin decor, with furniture and fabrics sturdy enough for beach sand, and porches and windows that frame the beauty of the outdoors and lake views.
“Clients want something warm and cozy, but not a lot of fuss,” says Jen Bohen, an associate at Spider Lake Trading. “These are their vacation homes.” The design team strives to incorporate a cabin’s history while catering to its owners’ personalities.
Felicity Boyd, whose family rescued and restored a 1,300-square-foot “falling-down 1929 pile of opportunity” on Spider Lake over several years, now gathers beneath a massive antler chandelier in the living rooms. Her six kids play vintage games unearthed by Spider Lake Trading, such as Parcheesi, bingo and cribbage, and sleep in the three bedrooms accented with antique sleds as art, along with snowshoes and skis.
The kitchen welcomes them with butter-yellow cabinets, red Formica countertops and chrome detailing. Rescued original wicker furniture continues the cabin’s heritage.
“It’s been fun,” Boyd says, especially the more whimsical, creative decor. “It doesn’t look like an Eddie Bauer cabin, but an authentic hunting cabin that’s evolving. The results are fantastic.”
On the Hunt
To find their many unique touches, Jim, his partner Sean Chopp and their staff make several buying trips a year, seeking rugs in the Middle East, antiques in Europe and cabin decor at places such as the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, North Carolina.
Jim’s network of pickers across the country flags great finds with good stories. Additional craftspeople can do upholstery or build furniture such as dressers with twig and birch accents to complement a cabin and add an Adirondack style.
“On rustic log homes, I’m a purist,” Jim explains. “I don’t value the modern shortcuts that take away from the beauty of the building.”
When approaching a new design project, Jim also studies what makes cabin owners happy. He watches what colors they wear to see if they love bold color or prefer to blend in. If they love cooking, he focuses on making the kitchen a special gathering place. For others, it might be a lakeside porch or cozy living room with a fireplace.
Joe Lahti wound up tearing down an old cabin on Spider Lake and building a new 4,000-square-foot home with six bedrooms that could accommodate his five children and four grandchildren. His favorite spot? A porch where he can watch the eagles nest on the lakeshore.
He tapped Spider Lake Trading to transform the home into something comfortable, sturdy and welcoming, and not feeling brand new. To do that, they found reclaimed wood and beams and paid attention to details and purposeful imperfections to give the home an authentic, vintage feel. One room even used the wood reclaimed from the torn-down cabin.
“Everyone is thrilled,” Lahti says. “They found so many unique things.” His favorite: A large vintage sign that Jim pulled from his own property. It says “Moody’s Camp 6 miles” with an arrow. It was the perfect fit, with Lahti’s home exactly six miles from Spider Lake Lodge.
Creating beloved lakeside homes—whether they’re private or open to the public like the Spider Lake Lodge—has a healthy effect that Jim has seen firsthand with his clients and guests as they unplug and shift into vacation mode. “You can literally see a softening,” he says. “They relax and decompress.”
[gallery link="file" columns="4" ids="53536,53534,53532,53531"]
As the road ribbons farther into the woods and cell signals sputter and disappear, northwest Wisconsin’s Spider Lake Lodge appears, feeling like a refuge; a retreat into simpler times.
Vintage red skis stand propped near the door to this historic 1923 lodge near Hayward, a mecca for active nature lovers with ski and bike trails throughout the 1.5-million-acre Chequamegan National Forest.
The warm glow of antique lamps invites guests into the cozy living room where chairs encircle a stone fireplace. The call of loons lures guests onto the screened-in porch with telescopes for spotting the region’s iconic bird bobbing on the surface of Spider Lake before disappearing with a dive.
In the dining room, a clock without any hands sits on the mantelpiece and states, “Here there is no time.”
Lodge owner and expert home designer Jim Kerkow has created this cocoon from the modern world. The retreat is also a showpiece for his design business, Spider Lake Trading.
Jim took over the lodge in 2000 with his late partner Craig Mason. It’s his base camp for travels that take him around the globe on the hunt for treasures and around the country to add fresh life to old lodges, make new ones feel old and help vacation home owners create idyllic retreats that fit their setting, whether it’s the Rocky Mountains or Florida.
Love of Cabins
Despite a national reach with his design expertise, Jim’s heart clearly resides in northern Wisconsin, wrapped around the shores of Spider Lake. His love of old cabins sparked when he was about 4 years old and traveling with his dad to a northern Wisconsin cabin for a business meeting. “At that point forward, I was fascinated by log cabins,” he says, recalling time spent building with Lincoln Logs and drawing cabins and wildlife.
Later, he considered studying architecture, but instead pursued a business degree and spent 20 years working with American Express, heading to northwest Wisconsin for getaways. Once he had a solid financial base, he launched Sticks and Stones, a home store that grew to four locations in the Twin Cities.
Wisconsin’s northwoods kept calling; he bought the lodge, sold his Twin Cities stores and began using the lodge as a showroom for his design services.
From Lumberjacks to Vacationers
Wisconsin’s northwoods boomed from the 1890s to 1920s as lumberjack crews made their way across the northern United States harvesting virgin forests. Then wealthy folks from Chicago set up rustic fishing and hunting retreats. By the 1940s, there finally was a road to Spider Lake and electricity, too, both fueling Wisconsin’s heyday with lake resorts that peaked in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then the only entertainment families needed was a beach, a boat, a bonfire and the great outdoors.
As the 1970s and 80s came and went, people bought up lake lots of their own, built simple cabins, then increasingly larger vacation homes. Resorts began to look rustic, and even the area’s supper clubs declined. Fortunately, on Spider Lake, many of the vintage cabins endured.
“This lake had 18 resorts on it. Now it has one,” Jim says. Spider Lake Lodge, which originated as Moody’s Camp in 1923, had 14 lakeshore cabins that now are privately owned. Jim has helped many of the cabin owners with their interior design.
At Spider Lake Lodge, the decor incorporates stories of the area’s earliest residents through artwork of Native American chiefs and maidens, antique fishing gear, a mounted raccoon that climbs across a dining room ceiling beam, and books about cabin life. Most of the items have a story behind them, like a bronze lamp base depicting a farmer and a bear that Jim found in France. “I get to preserve these buildings I love so much,” Kerkow said. “The integrity of all the cabins has been maintained.”
Blending in Personalities
Lake homes and cabins comprise close to 85 percent of Spider Lake Trading’s business. The shop’s staff understands cabin decor, with furniture and fabrics sturdy enough for beach sand, and porches and windows that frame the beauty of the outdoors and lake views.
“Clients want something warm and cozy, but not a lot of fuss,” says Jen Bohen, an associate at Spider Lake Trading. “These are their vacation homes.” The design team strives to incorporate a cabin’s history while catering to its owners’ personalities.
Felicity Boyd, whose family rescued and restored a 1,300-square-foot “falling-down 1929 pile of opportunity” on Spider Lake over several years, now gathers beneath a massive antler chandelier in the living rooms. Her six kids play vintage games unearthed by Spider Lake Trading, such as Parcheesi, bingo and cribbage, and sleep in the three bedrooms accented with antique sleds as art, along with snowshoes and skis.
The kitchen welcomes them with butter-yellow cabinets, red Formica countertops and chrome detailing. Rescued original wicker furniture continues the cabin’s heritage.
“It’s been fun,” Boyd says, especially the more whimsical, creative decor. “It doesn’t look like an Eddie Bauer cabin, but an authentic hunting cabin that’s evolving. The results are fantastic.”
On the Hunt
To find their many unique touches, Jim, his partner Sean Chopp and their staff make several buying trips a year, seeking rugs in the Middle East, antiques in Europe and cabin decor at places such as the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, North Carolina.
Jim’s network of pickers across the country flags great finds with good stories. Additional craftspeople can do upholstery or build furniture such as dressers with twig and birch accents to complement a cabin and add an Adirondack style.
“On rustic log homes, I’m a purist,” Jim explains. “I don’t value the modern shortcuts that take away from the beauty of the building.”
When approaching a new design project, Jim also studies what makes cabin owners happy. He watches what colors they wear to see if they love bold color or prefer to blend in. If they love cooking, he focuses on making the kitchen a special gathering place. For others, it might be a lakeside porch or cozy living room with a fireplace.
Joe Lahti wound up tearing down an old cabin on Spider Lake and building a new 4,000-square-foot home with six bedrooms that could accommodate his five children and four grandchildren. His favorite spot? A porch where he can watch the eagles nest on the lakeshore.
He tapped Spider Lake Trading to transform the home into something comfortable, sturdy and welcoming, and not feeling brand new. To do that, they found reclaimed wood and beams and paid attention to details and purposeful imperfections to give the home an authentic, vintage feel. One room even used the wood reclaimed from the torn-down cabin.
“Everyone is thrilled,” Lahti says. “They found so many unique things.” His favorite: A large vintage sign that Jim pulled from his own property. It says “Moody’s Camp 6 miles” with an arrow. It was the perfect fit, with Lahti’s home exactly six miles from Spider Lake Lodge.
Creating beloved lakeside homes—whether they’re private or open to the public like the Spider Lake Lodge—has a healthy effect that Jim has seen firsthand with his clients and guests as they unplug and shift into vacation mode. “You can literally see a softening,” he says. “They relax and decompress.”
[gallery link="file" columns="4" ids="53536,53534,53532,53531"]
Bear Pattern Wall Mounted Hooks
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