Shady Rest Cottages – Vermilion, Ohio

Shady Rest Tourist Camp vintage postcard

Remember the classic TV show Petticoat Junction?

The beloved 1960s rural comedy about Kate Bradley, her three beautiful daughters and her Uncle Joe all played out at the Shady Rest Hotel, which Kate operated. It was located halfway between Hooterville (where Green Acres took place) and Pixley. The Hooterville Cannonball steam train ran between the two towns, and figured prominently in the story lines since it stopped at the Shady Rest.

Well, Vermilion had its own Shady Rest too, where guests could come to relax and enjoy some old-fashioned hospitality. But instead of a hotel, it was a tourist camp – a collection of cottages or cabins arranged in a row or a circle. (Tourist camps predated today's modern motels.)

So where was the Shady Rest Tourist Camp located? According to the back of the vintage postcard, it was "On Routes 2 and 6, 2 miles west of Vermilion, Ohio on the banks of Lake Erie."

I checked the Morning Journal's online archives and found a listing for Shady Rest Tourist Camp under "Vermilion" in the New Telephone Number listings for June 2, 1956.

The listing said that it was located at Stop 133 1/2 on W. Lake Road, which the Lake Shore Rail Maps website indicated was somewhere around today's Coen Road. But where?

I drove up and down Lake Road in that area, naively hoping that the buildings were still there – but with no success.

But then I got lucky. The Shady Rest Tourist Camp had somehow survived into the late 1970s (as Shady Rest Cottages) and began to show up in real estate and rummage sale listings.

Dec. 27, 1977

I was happy to see that a few of the listings had a street address of 12807 West Lake Road.

July 28, 1979

October 28, 1979

Shady Rest Cottages apparently received a new name – Lakeside 6 – in the early 1980s.

July 31, 1982

While the 12807 W. Lake Road address no longer exists, 12809 W. Lake Road does – and it shares common ownership with an empty lot next to it, to the west – which makes me think that perhaps the cottages were all removed at some point in the last 40 years and replaced by a house on the eastern portion of the property. The two parcels have a nice beach unlike most of the neighboring properties.

Here's a street view, courtesy of Google Maps, showing the empty lot. 

And a 2008 view (below) shows even more trees on the empty lot. 

Could some of those trees in the 2008 view be the same ones shown on the vintage postcard? If I have the location correct – maybe.

Anyway, if anyone knows for sure where Shady Rest Cottages/Tourist Camp was located or anything about the history of it, I'd be mighty obliged if you left a comment.