Shoreland Cottages, from a postcard, ca. 1960s.
A view of the beach at Shoreland, which was located in the area of the Geneva State Park beach.
The Shoreland Cottages were located west of Geneva-on-the-Lake and owned by Julia Davis in 1930s. It was later acquired by Herbert E. and Nona J. Behner, who sold it in June 1969 to the Morrison and Case partnership, known as Geneva Cottages. The land grab was in anticipation of the state expanding Geneva State Park.
Prior owners:
The Feb. 14, 1938, Geneva Free Press ran a story about Mrs. Davis committing suicide by drowning in Lake Erie. She was suffering from cancer and doctors gave her only a year to live. The pain became so intense, she evidently walked into Lake Erie the evening of Jan. 21, 1938.
According to the article, “Before coming to Geneva on the Lake, Mrs. Davis had been a resident of Cleveland. She formerly operated the group of cottages known as Shoreland but lately they had been managed by her son, Holand.
Her son found footprints leading from the back of the cottage, over the snow and ice and into the lake. Her body was recovered at Geneva Township Park Feb. 14.
The story noted that the opiates she had been given failed to give her any relief.
Her home at Shoreland was “one mile west of Geneva on the Lake,” the article stated.
Shoreland’s location, relative to others west of The Strip, is shown on this map:
