Orchard Island Hotel

In 1900, Frank “Shad” Reed started construction of a “club house” on what was then still known as McClure’s Island. After purchasing most of the island in the following year, he replaced the club house with Reed’s Cottage, a two-and-a-half story first-class hotel. Four thousand North Carolina poplar trees were planted, and a road was built to connect Orchard Island with the mainland. The hotel grounds included stables for horses, and a boat landing with four expert guides who were in constant attendance to assist the hotel guests. Shad Reed did not get to enjoy his hotel for very long. By 1904, he had fallen on hard financial times and Harry Oldham was appointed assignee and took possession of the hotel and its grounds. The Probate Court decided to keep the hotel, then valued at $37,000, open as a resort because of the good patronage.

*Although the hotel became known as Hotel Burkhold after Shad Reed went into bankruptcy his name remained on the roof as shown in this postcard taken from the lake*.

*Orchard Island seen from a distance in this postcard by Harry Mansfield. Hotel Burkhold is visible in the center of the card. Note the many tree stumps in the water.*

*After the first decade of the twentieth century the hotel became known as the Orchard Island Hotel, pictured here on a postcard dated 1913*.

*Undated postcard showing the hotel during the winter*.

Postcard dated 1915 showing what was known as The Grove, the four thousand polar trees planted a decade earlier by Shad Reed. Someone on Facebook has suggested that “the photographer in this postcard could be Warren Cushman. He was involved in the Chautauqua and cottages and beach that existed at the time. He was a successful wet plate photographer and prolific professional painter. He often wore a hat and coat, but I guess most men did then.”

Front and back of a real photo postcard taken in 1911 showing a group of automobile enthusiasts spending the night on Orchard Island.

1921

At some point before 1911, the Reverend Alexander Tarr acquired Orchard Island and built a 50-room annex to the 100-room hotel, to accommodate overflow crowds. By the late 1920s, Mr. Tarr was accused of mismanagement of the hotel. Rather than facing a court battle, he sold the property for $350,000 to the Orchard Island Development Company. The company, which was traded on the stock market as Orchard Island, Inc., started selling individual lots to interested customers. The Welcome Arch was located on Orchard Island Road and probably added in the early 1930s after Frank and Isabella Wicker acquired the property. Some of the buildings can be seen in the background, but otherwise the island still remained very rural.

*These three photographs allegedly show the Orchard Island Hotel but it does not quite look the same as on the other postcards.*

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