It’s a lukewarm, early March afternoon, beautiful for this time of year in Wisconsin – a balmy, nearly 40°F day sprinkled with sunshine. Near Williams Bay, one family in the backyard of a country home for their annual spring initiation: the maple harvest.
Nestled between Delavan Lake and Whitewater Lake on County P north of Delavan is a small, placid spot called Turtle Lake. It’s off the beaten path, all rustic charm and solitude, and it’s also where you’ll find McIntyre’s Resort, a small, family-owned lakeside resort reminiscent of a much earlier era.
Residents of Lake Geneva are often surprised to learn that the area once boasted a world-class music recording studio. Despite the string of hits this studio produced, it remains an underappreciated piece of local history.
Some women refused to be footnotes. They refused to follow the so-called rules, choosing instead to follow their hearts and minds. Mary Delafield Sturges and her daughter, Ethel Sturges Dummer, are two such women. Strong, outspoken and driven, they loom larger today than the men of their rich and powerful clan — proving once again that sometimes the fairer sex is better able to make life fairer for all of us.