The B’Tawn Beach Club was located on the far west side of the village, near the county line. It was one of at least three such cottage complexes on the west side of the State Park Marina and was among the properties purchased by the state to create the state park in the 1970s.
B’TaWN was owned by the Case brothers who used their first names to create the resort’s moniker: Baxter, Theodore, Weldon and Nelson. The brothers purchased the 162-acre tract in 1965 under the partnership’s name.
There was a Cape Cod and a farm house on the property, formerly owned by the Merrells. The houses were on Wheeler Creek Road.
Theodore Case hired Ron and Hallie Brenwald for the 1968 season as caretakers of the cottages and properties. They lived in the farm house at the corner of Lake Road and Wheeler Creek Road and paid $25 a month rent to Case during the camping season. The Brenwald’s performance for Case was so admirable, he allowed them to live in the house rent-free during the next three seasons they worked for him.
The caveat was that Case added more properties to their responsibilities. They became responsible for 12 cottages at Shoreland, which was to the east of B’TaWN. Shoreland was purchased by the partnership from Behner family.
Rental rates for the B’TaWN cottages ranged from $21 a day for the ones further back from the lake to $24 a day for those closer. Some of the cottages were winterized.
Theodore Case sold the 161 acres that contained the 12 cottages of B’Tawn to the state for $565,000 with possession scheduled for Dec. 31, 1971. A balance sheet prepared in 1969 showed that Case had lost $17,135.72 for the first nine months of that year at his B’TaWN Beach Club operation. Rental income had jumped significantly, from $10,438.72 the prior year to $15,737.16 in 1969, and he attributed that, in part, to the excellent management of the property by the Brenwalds. Concurrently, expenses increased, however.
Photos, letterhead and information provided by Joyce Bond, daughter of Ron and Hallie Brenwald, and court documents. The map below shows the placement of the various west-side cottages and resorts, according to Joyce Bond’s recollections.