I grew up in Lake Villa by a lake. In fact, during hot weather I spent most of my time in the lake, and quite often on it. We lived between Sherwood Park and Cedar Lake Park, one lot away from Cedar Lake. Clair and Edith Sherwood, owners of the two parks, lived on the lot behind us in a lovely ranch-style house perched on the bluff above the lake.
Our tiny little subdivision, which consisted of three year-round homes and three summer cottages (one of which was later converted to year-round), had lake rights to a little beach down the bluff from the Sherwoods’ home. As kids, my brother, friends and I spent most of our time down on that beach, fishing with bamboo poles, rowing around in our old wooden flat-bottom rowboat, digging clay out of the lake bottom to make little sculptures and pots, building sand castles and swimming.
My brother also ran a set line to catch catfish in the weedy, mucky area to the south of the beach. In the winter, we went ice fishing and skating, although most of my skating was on my rear end! When we were teenagers, we did most of our swimming at Sherwood or Cedar Lake Park. That was the place to go to hang out with friends and meet new ones. We town kids never paid to swim at the parks. Although we were supposed to go through the front gates, we usually just crawled through the fence or waded along the shore until we got to the park beach. We not only knew where to find all the holes in the fence, we knew how to get through the barbed wire without getting a scratch.
When Bob and I got married in 1965, we moved to Gurnee and lived in the little four-unit apartment building on the same street we still live on (when we moved to our house, we literally carried the furniture down the street). Not only was Gurnee a bigger town than Lake Villa (1300 population as opposed to 1100), it also had no lake. Having grown up in the Gateway to the Lakes Region, with one lake nearly in our backyard and numerous lakes all around, it was hard for me to adjust to having no place to swim for free.
One day, one of the neighbors asked if I was going to get a pit pass. “What’s a pit pass?” I asked. “You know,” she said. “A beach pass.” “Um, where’s the beach? I really don’t want to swim in Lake Michigan.” Then she explained about the Gurnee Beach at Gowe Park, aka The Pit.
Located behind Warren High School off of McClure Avenue, The Pit originally was a gravel pit. The excavators hit underground springs, and the gravel pit filled up with water. For years, this old, water-filled gravel pit was the swimmin’ hole for area kids and teenagers. When the Gurnee Park District developed Gowe Park, The Pit was developed into a nice little lake with a sandy beach, a diving raft, slide and concession stand. Although the name of the place officially was Gurnee Beach at Gowe Park (sometimes shortened to Gowe Beach), locals continued to refer to it as The Pit.
After our initial purchase of a pit pass, we continued to get passes for many years. Both of our kids took swimming lessons there, since my rule was “you cannot go to The Pit without me going with you until you pass the swimming test.” After they had passed the test, they were able to ride their bikes to go swimming with their friends and not be embarrassed by having Mom sitting on the sand watching them. It was a lovely little lake, with a nice sandy beach and some shady areas for the moms to gather and either bask in the sun or enjoy the shade while having a nice chat (always keeping their eyes open for their kids). With the park and the concession stand, it was also a great place to have a picnic lunch and enjoy the whole afternoon.
One of The Pit’s claims to fame was its blue gill problem. Well, maybe not blue gills. Maybe it was baby alligators. Or baby snapping turtles. Or piranhas. Whatever. No one every figured it out, but there was something in the water that would bite swimmers. Bite is not my definition of the mystery attacks. To me, it felt more like a scratching sensation. Blue gills do not have teeth like muskies and other pike. I’ve had blue gills nibble on my legs numerous times during my days in Cedar Lake. They go after moles and freckles and those scabs kids get when they scratch mosquito bites. It’s more of a tickling sensation than a bite or scratch.
Aside from the theory that it was kids swimming underwater and scratching unsuspecting bathers (The Pit was little, the bottom was sand on top of muck, a crowd of people in the water would stir up the silt and make the water murky so you couldn’t see much under the surface), I have no explanation. All I can say is, it was not blue gills.
Now, The Pit has been closed, and Gurnee has a lovely aquatic center out on Hunt Club Road. It has a wonderful pool and other attractions for the kids. The days of having a pit pass are over. Swimming pools are nice, but I still miss the pit, killer blue gills and all.
Gurnee Trivia
This week's Gurnee Trivia question asks: Who built the original bath house at the Gurnee Beach at Gowe Park?
Native American trivia
Lake County has many lakes, including the Chain O'Lakes. This week's Native American Trivia question asks: What does Pistakee mean?
Trivia Answers
The first bath house at the Gurnee Beach, aka "The Pit", was constructed by the Gurnee Lions Club as a service project to the community.
As the last lake in the "Chain," Pistakee has a very fitting name. It means "end of the waters" in Potawatomi.