This was the entry circa ‘25-42 for deliveries. The “backdoor” you would slip in to play the slots, poker & drink. This was the door that the madame Anna Peck kept locked unless she was expecting you. (There’s also a trap door in the floor from above). You didn’t come to this door unless you were delivering “supplies” for the hotel.

After this post, nobody will notice, care, or know about what went into restoring this entry. But all the details matter to us, so we want to tell their story at least once :

* The security grill was welded by Pug, an elderly East Troy blacksmith who works in his dad’s metal shop, where he began learning the trade when he was 4yrs old.
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* The door was pulled out of an old jail in Madison.

* The shutters came from a PA 1890s house (with patina you can only earn by years of weather)

*The padlock is prohibtiona era. (Used to lock proprietors out of their own establishments after a raid)

* The “PRIVATE” gold leaf lettering, deadstock 1940s.

* Zwick in Chicago made the period blind, “Quality Since 1930″

* 4th-gen Gallagher Tent matched the awning from a ‘49s photo found here

* “No Admittance” sign is antique

Since we became listed on the National Register of Historic Places, we’ve been trying to piece history back together. It’s more time & money-consuming to try to tell the story of the past – we tell it through objects. (Doorknobs & blinds. Fabric & hinges).

Now this is the room that we built our new online camp store around; the old rathskeller is now being used as the “pull pack & ship” room for our online store. And our inventory storage room. And our private bar. We’re carrying on a tradition that started back during prohibition, but we now pour ourselves lattes instead of bath tub gin.

There’s still a trap door in the back room of the old saloon floor upstairs with a rickety staircase that leads down to this room. Patrons could sneak down here to play the nickel slots, poker and get a drink from “Annie” – the madame who also managed the “working girls” she set up in what is now the bunkhouse. In 1942, Annie was sent to prison for what she did in this room.
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This space is pretty much the same as it was back then.
We still don’t don’t have a store front.
Or business hours.
We don’t have a bartender or a shopkeep.
Walk-ins are still not welcome.
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But if you happen to be staying here in one of our cabins as a guest, knock twice. Most days we’re down here making old things new again. We’ll be happy to tell you the stories behind all of our products