The Party. After a day of baking cakes and rolls, cooking chicken and making homemade potato chips, the party boomed and sang and thought of the fun to come as they lifted their cups in joy. 1. Tina Goodsell Titus; 2. George Goodsell; 3. Gerald Goodsell; 4. Robert Goodsell; 5. Mrs. George Goodsell; 6.?

Courtesy Town of Webb Historical Association

ANNA AND CHARLEY BROWN’S camp was once home to Kettle Jones. Kettle was a well-known trapper and producer of hand-split cedar shingles back in the 1880s and ’90s. Toward the end of the 19th century Kettle’s strenuous days were over. Old age found him doing more custom wood- working, gardening and cooking.

Kettle’s place was a small log cabin in a clearing approximately a mile upstream from the foot of North Lake in the vicinity of Sugarloaf Mountain. His beds of rhubarb and asparagus were astonishingly productive.

Campfire girls, winter 1920, trail break. A warm beverage prepared over a fire in a tea pail was a welcome break.

Courtesy Town of Webb Historical Association

There was no end to what Kettle could do. He had a knack with a draw- shave. Kettle whittled and fitted all kinds of tools that required wooden handles. He told stories and even foretold the future by reading tea leaves. But his specialty product was wild berry brandy brewed in a homemade still. Gossip had it that Kettle was willing to extract teeth and deliver babies after downing two glasses of his wild berry brandy. He cooked the concoc- tion in a large black iron kettle that hung from a crane over the outdoor fireplace. Those who drank it reported the Adirondack wild berry brew re- stored inflamed joints. Kettle sold his herbal medicine in pint glass fruit jars. He claimed it was “suitable for man, woman, or beast.”

Kettle had two pet raccoons. The animals were his drinking and business partners. Both man and animal were reported to dribble the brandy as a dressing on all the food they consumed. The raccoons always ate from plates and sat at the table with Kettle. Many besotted customers who were on “The Juice” were taken with the antics of his brandy-loving pets. Kettle sold his beloved pets over and over, having trained the animals to open the latch to the cage and escape, arriving back home before the customer ever made the final bend around Atwell Bay. According to those who knew Kettle, “The ruse worked every time.”

Rev. Byron-Curtiss reported that he directed a group of young clergymen to Kettle’s. They were freshly graduated from the seminary and had come to his camp for a vacation. “What a hoot they got themselves in,” re- ported the holy man as he related the story at what was billed as the Great Event of North Lake — Anna and Charley Brown’s silver anniversary on September 6, 1930. “Those fresh-behind-the-ears graduates ended up drinking side by side with Kettle and the raccoons!”