The History of Independence Beach

John Wilson (4595 Walnut) describes an incident he vividly remembers from his childhood when he was about nine years old, around 1939. He spent most of his summers with his grandparents on both sides of the family, the Ackers who lived on Fern and the Wilsons who were the owners of Wilson’s Resort. His grandfather Wilson was also the Justice of the Peace, which mostly involved dealing with people who were intoxicated. Early one evening some of the neighbors ran down to the resort to report that three young ladies, who were renting a cabin at Lakeshore and Walnut, were dancing on their neighbor's cabin roof, completely naked. Apparently it was a very hot day and they’d had a lot to drink. The cabin roof slanted almost to the ground so it was easy to get up on the roof. John’s Aunt Flossie ran down the street and grabbed some bedsheets from the cabin next door . She managed to get the young ladies covered up and back inside their cabin.