Mountain View Resort is named for its wonderful view of the geological rock formation that is called the Cup and Saucer.

This resort was originally a farm owned by John Tobias Nighswander and his wife Esther Lehman, who came to Manitoulin with their family around 1877

It was not long after that Tobias and his son Tom drowned in Lake Manitou on July 12, 1878.  Their small boat capsized when the load they were carrying shifted in the rough wat4r and the boat overturned.  Although Tom made it to shore, when he realized that his father was still in the water, he went back to rescue him.  Neither survived.

Nighswander’s Camp, as it was originally named, was run by the Nighswander family for over 60 years.  It is said to be one of the oldest tourist places on Lake Manitou.

American fishermen would arrive in Manitowaning by steamer and then travel to Nighswander’s either by boat from Vanzant’s Landing or by car/taxi on very rough roads.

At first, tourists slept in the barn. The first recorded date for the resort is in the 1895 diary of Dudley Wetmore Smith. He and his friend, Avery, had brought their own tent but ate their meals at the Nighswander’s. At that time Joe Nighswander was the proprietor and his mother was the cook. She had remarried in 1881 to Jonathan Bassingthwaite and they had one son, Harold (Hal). When Jonathan died in 1884, Esther Nighswander/Bassingthwaite returned to the Nighswander farm. Esther must have prepared wonderful meals! This is what Dudley wrote in his 1895 diary about the food “Dear me, how we do eat! Bass & Perch & corn bread & potatoes & beets & cabbage & eggs & cream & pie & cake & sauce. Mrs. B. is a good cook!”

According to his diary, it cost $1.00 per day
to stay at Nighswander’s Resort:

Cost of 1985 vacation:
Meals & room to Manitowaning $2.50
Livery there $1.25
Hotel $1.50
Boat to Nightswanders $1.25
Board at Joe Nightswander’s 9 days $9.00
Frogs – 50c … Boat … 40c $0.90
Ride back $1.00
Hotel $2.65
Fare on Majestic to Sault $5.00
R.R. + supper $15.00
Total $40.05

The Nighswanders turned their farmhouse into an American Plan tourist resort. The upstairs of the farmhouse was all bedrooms, and the downstairs was all open concept dining. The kitchen was at the back of the house. The house is still standing today and is used as Cottage #7.

In 1905, Charles A. Bachmann, with three friends from Detroit, started coming here to fish. They came year after year and in time, each one brought his son.  There are many photos of these years showing long strings of fish and smiling faces of the men. The four men built the first summer cabin covered with tar paper just north of the farmhouse. It was a very basic structure with a centre common room, two bedrooms off each side and a long cove red porch across the front. This cabin later became the property of the Nighswanders.

In 1909, Ben Nighswander bought a gasoline launch to help with the business. When Joe died in 1911, Ben and his mother carried on the tourist business. In 1912 Ben married Mae Gould. She had lived at the other end of the lake in Vanzant’s Landing and had met Ben when she came to work at the tourist resort. She was 19 years old, and he was 35.

It was in the same year, 1912, that Charles Bachman and his three friends first brought their sons to Manitoulin. The men slept in the tar paper covered cabin and the boys slept in the barn. When they came for their holidays, they all arrived in woollen suits (probably knickers), white shirts, ties and hats. The men also dressed much as they would have in the city (Detroit), wearing white shirts and ties, even when out fishing.

Since they came to Manitoulin every year, they decided to build a cottage or their own. So, in 1924 they bought some property from the Nighswander farm and hired Hall Bassingthwaite, son of Mrs. Nighswander/Bassingthwaite, to build a cottage similar to the first cabin, only larger. The “facilities” were out the back door and there still was no electricity or running water. Although they lived in their cottage, they went to the resort/farmhouse for all their meals.

When Esther Nighswander/Bassingthwaite died in 1923, Ben and Mae managed the resort together, raising their 4 children, Bessie (1913), Tom (1915), John (1916) and Stuart (1917).

Then, in 1927, there were some big changes. Charles Bachmann bought out his three friends and became the sole owner of the cabin that they had build in 1924. For the first time he brought along his wife and daughter. After that more and ore women came every year. The men fished every day from about 9:00 to 11:30 am and 1:00 to 5:00 pm. The women went on drives, sat around relaxing and sometimes played cards. Rob Shiell and his wife Kitty built a cottage north of the Bachmann’s. Breezeways were added from the back door and bathrooms now had running water which was supplied from the lake by a gasoline motor which pumped the water up into a huge tower where it could then arrive in the bathrooms via gravity.

5:00 to 5:45 pm became the cocktail hour held usually at the Bachmann cottage. The fishing was still very good. All meals were served in the farmhouse. Each cottage had its own table, but they were pretty close to each other, so conversations were not restricted to one’s own table. The women all wore cotton dr4esses and stockings to all meals. Slacks were only gradually introduced around 1938 and even then, dresses were worn to dinner.

The meals were really incredible! Always at every meal, in the middle of each table, there was a plate of big homemade (of course everything was homemade) sugar cookies, a plate of squares of cheddar cheese and a plate of homemade sliced bread. Breakfast was hot cracked wheat cereal, eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, pancakes and a big bowl of fruit, either fresh or home canned. Maple syrup was produced from the sugar house. Lunch was soup, lightly fried bass or perch fillets, vegetables and always two kinds of pie, one fruit and the other with some kind of custard filling. Dinner was meat, potatoes and vegetables and always fresh cake for dessert.

At that time the farm was in full operation with sheep, hogs and milk cows. There was no electricity and no running water. The work was staggering, especially considering the meal preparation and serving as many as 30 guests. The meals were large, with plenty of choices, lots of fresh, hot food with homemade bread, pies and cakes. Not only that, but the laundry for all these people was done at the farmhouse. They also cleaned all the fish and kept the outboard motors running. No doubt there was much, much more work done.

In 1929 Mr. Stanley D. McGraw from New York City bough another lot from the farm and had a large cottage built. It was his own unique design and he called it “Four Points” (now called Hoyts Four Points owned by Brenda Hoyt who lives in the cottage from May to September every year). The design of his Manitoulin cottage was planned so that he could have three guests. Then he and his guests each had their own bedroom, and each bedroom would have four exposures and a view of the lake. They too ate all their meals at the farmhouse.

After Ben died in 1938, Mae continued to operate the resort in the summer and live out at Silver Bay Rd. in the winter. She had inherit4ed hr parent’s home which was at the corner of Nighswander Road, and Silvery Bay Rd. Mae and her sons kept things going until each one married and had children of their own. First, Tom who married Lottie Smith, tried it for one year (1941) and then moved to a nearby farm (Lottie lived until August 29, 2020 when she passed away at the age of 103). Mae and her so Stuart managed it in 1942 and 1943. When Stuart married Alvern Cooper in 1943 the three of them ran the resort for the next 5 years from 1943 to 1948.

In 1949 Mae retired and her son John and his wife, Jessie Ingram, bought the farm and the resort. Here they raised their two sons, Jim and Tom. There were now three private cottages built in a row just north of the farmhouse. John built another rental cabin close to the water in front of the farmhouse.

In 1957 Vernon and Roberta Hildebrandt built a large lodge style summer home on property purchased from the Nighswanders on a point just past where the old sugar house had been (now just past the beach area). Unfortunately, this beautiful summer home burned to the ground in 1980. Apparently, it was struck by lightning (the foundation, fireplace and chimney still stand and are accessible by foot. The property is still owned by the Hildebrandt family).

In that same year there was another major change at the resort. They no longer used the American Plan. Jessie stopped serving meals and this changed things for the resort guests as well as the cottagers. Everyone had to get their own meals. No longer was there a reason to mingle and get to know one another. This had been a nice feature of the former arrangement. Also, each cottage had to shop, cook and clean up so there was less time for socializing. The plus side of this change was that meals could be eaten at times other than 8, 12 and 6 o’clock.

In 1969 the resort and farm were purchased by Ray and Arlene Schut who had moved from Michigan with their three children, Randy 17, Sandra 14 and Mike 11. At that time there were 3 cabins. Later, Ray turned the farmhouse into a cottage by removing the top floor and the back kitchen.

This was the advertisement in the 1971 issue of “This is Manitoulin”:

In 1987 Ray and Arlene sold the resort to their son Mike and his wife Yvonne Bond. They operated the resort for the next 14 years. In the mid 1990’s Mike did a total renovation of the resort. Six of the eight cottages were completely re done and upgrades were made to others. They also winterized some of the cottages and their water lines.

In 2001 Mike sold the resort to Peggi and Bob Hildebrandt who came from Ohio with their daughter Katie. Bob had first come to Manitoulin as a child with his parents and still owns the area of land where the remains of the burned cottage stand. The Vernon Hildebrandt family had been guests at Nighswander’s Mountain View Resort for many years.

On March 29, 2019, Bruce and Darlene Beatty purchased the resort and moved with their family from Burnaby, British Columbia. The resort has been run by Rob and Leanne since April of 2019 and many upgrades have been made to the property including winterizing of cottages #2, 3 and 4, new windows in many cottages, railings added to decks, siding on cottage #3, updating beach and fire pit area and most importantly, 2 extensive upgrades to the water system to make the resort’s water fully drinkable.

Rob and Leanne live on the resort year-round and love hosting the many wonderful families who have been guests of the resort for generations.

Much of this history was written by Betsy Bachmann Maxon, whose family has been coming to this resort since 1905.  Not only has she recorded the history of their time on Manitoulin, but she has also shared her photographs.