— Part six —
Holl’s Inn opened on July 1, 1935 and its initial name was “Holl on Fourth Lake.”29
Starting slowly, they soon began servicing South Shore camp owners who needed board for their overflow guests.
In 1937, Syracuse golf pro Jake Freiberg received a medal in Syracuse for his hole-in-one at the Inlet Golf Course.
He sent it to Oscar to have him frame it to hang in the hotel lobby because he credited his shot to the delectable vitamins in the hotel’s meals.30
Noting the bare shoreline, the Holls planted many seedlings to remedy this as well as to provide some seclusion and solve a long-time mud problem.
Short of funds for new furnishings, they noted the cocktail lounge had surplus shelf space.
So the brothers painted cracked plates and added them to the shelves.
Afterwards, a guest bride asked if their names could be hand-painted on a plate and a new tradition was born.
Numerous hand-lettered plates in various colors surrounded the tavern walls.
Later returning couples often requested an anniversary plate added to the collection.
O’Hara’s green tavern beams were maintained by dipping in acid instead of staining or antiquing.31
Before the property’s sale in 2013, the Holl family donated the painted plates, some displaying years as early as 1935, to the Inlet Historical Society which is returning them to family members, asking for a donation.
Not being married, Oscar enlisted in the Army during World War II and was honorably discharged in 1943 in time to open the season that summer.32
Improvements to Holl’s Inn over the years included a 10 room Pratt Annex (1945) and afterwards an additional 15 more units.
To honor the site’s history, a nearby spring was named Pratt Spring.
A Bavarian cottage, called Alpine Camp, added later offered year round lodging.
The Holls added a dining room porch extension to the dining room. In 1988, the Holls installed a new regulation tennis court.