Gail Huntley is an author, retired English teacher, and playwright, who has written historical plays for Hamilton County and several historical books. She grew up in Long Lake and now splits her time between her cabin there and her place in Virginia near her children.
The teacher has a pet.
His name is Frank Burnett.
He can play basketball
because you see, he is so tall.
He likes to dance with Miss Volker alone
when he gets ahead of Harold Stone.
He likes to dodge away from girls
because they have such pretty curls.
Robert Rowe & John Sullivan Jr., 1927
Students at Long Lake Central School
In 1849 William Stanton brought his family across the frozen lake to an ice filled cabin on the west side of Long Lake next to Joel Plumley who had arrived in 1832. He was an unfriendly vengeful man. He had been known to set fires, cut tails of animals, and refuse to help anyone. He claimed Long Lake as his own and saw neighbors as intruders. His remarks when asked to help a starving family that arrived in the dead of winter; “Why should I if they are fool enough to come in the middle of December.” William Stanton’s daughter, Lavonia, kept a journal and this text was sourced from that journal.
At age fourteen, Lavonia married a local man named Benjamin Emerson. They moved on to the back section of the land left by John and Alice Boyden who had encountered Mr. Plumley’s wrath because they bought the land that he wanted. One day Alice went out to the back field and discovered that the man had set fire to their hay. That was the final straw. They packed up their belongings, moved across the lake, and built another house.
For many years, this steamboat, The Buttercup, was surrounded by mystery and intrigue while it sat in its watery grave at the bottom of Long Lake. If you look closely, you will see a large hole in the bow of this unique ship. The secret of the who, how, and why of that hole stayed a secret for many years.
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