Please note that location entries may feature older photos or post card views that may not represent the current appearance, features, addresses, phone numbers, or contact names of the attraction. This site is intended to be a historical as well as current record of various attractions but it is not always possible to have up-to-date information due to the vast number of locations featured here. We ask you consult the propietor for current information.
Maplewood Resort was in Sister Lakes, which was quite the place back in the old days. One of the earliest references I found was from 1897 when Mrs. A. W. Rapelge owned it. Picking up the story in 1925, Leroy Koski owned it. As a side note, he was jailed for bootlegging which was a common thing in those days. James Rissky owned it by 1931 until he passed away after being struck by a car near Woodward's Resort near Coloma.
I am a little unclear as to whether Smallbone's Resort and Maplewood were one in the same, but I am sure Mr. and Mrs. Smallbone owned Maplewood. Moving forward to 1953, the place went up for sale. By 1963, it was up for auction and Jack Jerome owned it then. There was an article regarding a motorcycle accident from 1976 mentioning Smallbones Resort so there was some version of it open then. By 1978, a subdivision was approved to be built on the former site.
The location is given as being on 95th Ave on Big Crooked Lake. It was a full resort with 28 cabins, dining hall, dance hall with orchestra, etc.
A different Maplewood resort also existed in Paw Paw Lake area. The prior owners of that resort and small bones resort location are getting incorrectly mixed up and merged together. The man convicted for bootlegging was from Paw Paw as were several other owner names you listed. They were not part of Smallbones/Maplewood location. The articles on this website, make it clear that it was near Paw Paw lake and also made reference to the resort “north of Coloma”. A totally different resort history.
Old George Smallbones owned from at least the early 60’s to the mid 70’s (likely till when it was sold in 1978) and im pretty sure he was American Indian - (he was darker skinned, strong facial features and very tall and big bodied - I met and talked to him several times as a kid). Stayed there for at least 4-5 summers starting at age 5. One of my great memories was going into the kids clubhouse and listening to the newly released Beatles song called Revolution.
Old Geo In about 1999 or so, I decided to stop by the old resort area and was disappointed to see that it had been sold off years earlier to single-family home development. According to one of the articles on this website, it shows it was sold in 1978. I had stopped in the old barbershop across the street and the long-term barbers told me that old man George had two sons that had made it to the NFL. Never confirmed it, but I remember them telling me. I was wondering what had happened to the shop, but I noticed a vacant lot right next to Driftwood and the restaurant so that would make sense that’s where it was.
Old Geo I then discovered on this website that same barbershop was saved by a local farmer not too many years ago. The website also shows a map area of the location of small bones resort and it is shown in the wrong location on the southeast corner of big crooked lake. In reality, smallbones was over right across the street from Driftwood, the restaurant and the barbershop on the southwest corner of the lake. I had found memories of running over the hill across from driftwood to buy my rubber band airplanes. Not sure what I was doing on the other side of the street to go over that hill, but I remember that hill distinctly.
Old Geo I also remember a distinct unique smell of lake grasses that I had experienced at no other lakes we’d ever visited. I absolutely love that smell, but haven’t been over there enough to know if it’s still exist, but it was always there when I was a kid and I would know we were there without even looking out the window. Hope this helps