Henry D Moore was a wealthy businessman from Philadelphia but originally from Maine. Robert Thomas Moore, his son, bought property on Borestone in 1907 and started the Borestone Mountain Fox Company.  At this time he convinced his two sisters, Mini Antoinette Moore Tatem and Eva Sherad , to buy property on Lake Onawa.  His sister Minnie Antoinette Moore Tatem and her husband Joseph Fithian Tatem bought a property with 2 small structures on it called Birch Camp and Cedar Camp.  At this point the only full time residence in the area were the section teams for the Canadian Pacific Railroad.  The Tatem Family contracted Alfred Bert, the foreman of the Canadian Pacific Railroad section team, to build them a small log cabin during his offseason.  They called this camp Deerfoot.

At this time, the only way to get into camp was via plane or the Canadian Pacific Railroad.  In YEAR Pal and a group of his friends gained support to build in a road from Ellettsville and Gilford instead of having the state build a road directly to the lake.  This was in part to keep the lake more private.  The first road only reached the train station and general store.  From this point, families with camps on the lake would hike the trails to their property or hike down to the public warf where boats could be stored.  Boats could then be taken up the lake to their individual camps.

Joseph M Tatem aka Pal (son of Mini Antoinette Moore Tatem) and his wife Edith G.D. Tatem aka Dot would come up from Haddonfield and enjoy Maine with their family, eventually bringing their own family as it grew.  Pal and his brother began taking pilot classes at Camden, then the central airport for Philadelphia.  Mini Antoinette Moore Tatem financed a 4 passenger Waco plane to enable them to fly up to Maine instead of drive from Philadelphia.  They would have 55 gallon drums of aviation fuel delivered to camp via freight on the Canadian Pacific Railroad so they could refuel and fly out of Onawa.

One evening in YEAR flying from Boston back to Philadelphia with Gladwin M. Tatem, Mini Antoinette Moore Tatem, in the plane, pal began to feel heat on his legs.  He landed on the Delaware river in a town called Essington just south of Philadelphia.  When they landed, flames engulphed the plane and Gladwin, only 6 years old, was told to run and jump in the water.  Mini Antoinette Moore Tatem could not swim so Pal threw her out of the burning plane.  As he told the story she made a “perfect dive.”  Everyone survived although Pal suffered burns on his hands from holding the burning pontoon trying to hold up his mother.

When Minnie Antoinette Moore Tatem passed away in 1963, her sons and daughters could not agree on what to do with the camp.  Pal as the executor of the estate had no choice but to put it up for public auction.  Although Pal could not secure the funds to purchase the camp at the auction, he had secured an option on a property next door to Deerfoot, now called Twin Camp.  Pal had an agreement with Mr Ganian and who was another section foreman of the Canadian pacific railroad.  Mr. Ganian had retired to Moose Lodge, a property that he was gifted or offered as payment from 2 Doctors in Wilmington Mass.  When Pal did not win the auction he exercised his option on the property now known as Beaver Point in 1964?

At the time of purchase the structures that existed on the property were Moose Lodge, a work shed, Chickadee, and Loon along with its sleeping cabin, outhouse, and wood shed.  Pal and Dot built a two level camp on the worst site of the property, over a stream on the lowest edge of the lot.  This lodge was named “Lazy Beaver Lodge” due to the beaver that would come steal trees and branches from the site as they were clearing it.  Pals goal was to keep bringing his family to Maine.  The house that Pal and Dot built was intended for winter use.  Although the structure was 2 stories with many sleeping bunks, the living room had 2 franklin stoves installed.  In the winter the living room as well as the bathroom and kitchen could be thermally divided from the rest of the house so there was less room to heat.  Dot and pal would sleep on one side of the living room with one stove and sit in the living room with views of the lake with the other.  The attic had a 4’x12’x2’ water tank above the heated space where the family would store their potable water.  To fill the tank would cut a hole in the ice and use a small pump to bring lake water up to the house.

Joe D Tatem and his cousins Ted and Dick Brigham were avid hunters and explorers of the area.  They often climbed Barren Mountain across the lake up to cloud pond.  Eventually the boys built a small shelter on the mountain.  Robert More dropped shingles from his sea plane for the boys to put a roof on the structure.  The Appalachian Trail was eventually re-routed on the other side of Barren and past cloud pond and the shelter.  The Appalachian Trail committee claimed it as a camp site, under duress from the Tatem and Brigham clans.

Pal and Dot would spend a significant amount of time during the winters at Lazy Beaver, often trying to convince their friends not to go to Florida and instead go to Maine.  The had little success although some families like the Hartzell’s of Hartzell Propeller and the Wrights MORE INFO would often visit.

In May of 1979 Pal (81) and Dot (77) were taking an afternoon nap when the stove pipe closest to the lake the was uninsulated caught fire.  Pal, thinking that the stove was just smoking, opened the window at the back of camp which exacerbated the fire.  Dot had to climb out the first story window to escape the flames but sustained burns on her hands and was treated for smoke inhalation.  Both survived.

Newly passed Maine law stated that if the structure was not rebuilt within 2 years on its previous footprint, any structure built would have to be 100 ft minimum away from the lake front.  Pal and Dot took only one year to rebuilt.  They were known to take relentless notes and have precise direction over all of their projects so Dot and Pal built an electrical connection and parked their sleeping trailer in the parking lot of the new Lazy Beaver camp.  The camp was rebuilt and they continued to invite their family up for the next 3 years.

In July of 1982 Joseph M Tatem aka Pal passed away in Haddonfield NJ.  On at least 2 occasions after Pals death she insisted on going up to Onawa.  On one of these occasions he got her 2 sons to drive her up and convinced them to leave her with her Nash Rambler as long as she promised not to drive too far.  Locals would later tell her sons that she would practically drive them off the road when she would head out to town.  At this point, Gladwin and Joe Tatem, his sons began helping Dot with her assets and day to day care.  It was a primary concern of Dots that her family continue to be able to enjoy he camp her and her husband had always opened to them.  Joe D Tatem’s background in business led them to think of the property and its assets as a company with shares, a board of directors, and officers.  50% of the shares were distributed to the family while Dot maintained the other 50% while she was still alive.  Shares were given out to the 4 Children and their spouses.  By laws were written stating that any shares from that point forth could not be given to non-blood relatives of Dot and Pal.  Dot passed away in 1984 and the board of directors has taken care of the camp with the help of local care takers ever since.

In 2006 Gladwin Tatem and Betty Tatem (Joe D Tatem’s Wife) donated the money to construct Beaver Lodge aka Woodchuck Lodge.  A company called Cedar Lodge Homes built another camp on the lake that interested the family so they were hired to build on a prime spot between Moose and Loon.  The project was overseen by Sam Livingston.  It was completed by the summer of 2010.