Glendalough recalls Ike, Nixon

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, July 7, 2008

Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon will come to life later this month at Glendalough State Park near Battle Lake as part of a celebration of Minnesota’s 150th anniversary. Many people know that Ike and Nixon visited Glendalough in the 1950s, before it became a state park.

On Thursday, July 31, enactments will take place late afternoon and evening. The program will run from 4 to 7 p.m. Admission will be at the group rate of $3 per vehicle. Refreshments will be provided by the Glendalough Park Partners. Actor Cliff Knutson will depict Eisenhower and Nixon will be at Glendalough in spirit. Renowned Battle Lake personalities Ezra G. Valentine, John and Elizabeth Cowles and others will be portrayed.

“We’ll have an enactment of Glendalough's history as told through prominent characters," said Reba Gilliand, one of the organizers for the summer 2008 events in Battle Lake. “It’s great to have many people involved.”

In 1952 Eisenhower took a break from his presidential race with Adlai Stevenson to spend a couple days at Glendalough, back then owned by executives of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The future president did some fishing at Annie Battle Lake.

Nixon spent a couple days at Glendalough following a 1956 campaign stop in Alexandria, when he served as vice president for Eisenhower. He took some time to swim in Annie Battle Lake. Nixon was elected president in 1968.

Their visits are preserved in photographs on display at an outdoor kiosk near the main lodge at Glendalough where Eisenhower and Nixon stayed overnight back in the 1950s. Pictures show Ike and Nixon, four years apart, wearing the same sweater loaned by their hosts.

This summer, with rising gasoline prices, many people in Otter Tail County are staying closer to home. Some are discovering Glendalough while others — after an absence of a few years — are returning to the state park northeast of Battle Lake.

“We preserve one of the largest tracts of undeveloped lakeshore in west central Minnesota,” Park Manager Jeff Wiersma said.

Little has changed near the main lodge where Eisenhower and Nixon stayed at Glendalough in the 1950s. A look to the southeast side of Annie Battle Lake, with its picturesque view of undeveloped lakeshore, is the same as when Ike and Nixon looked that way close to a half century ago.

Wiersma said it’s up to those who love Glendalough State Park to preserve the park so that future generations also can come and enjoy Glendalough.

Many come for day visits while others come for camping of one, two or more days. There’s a beautiful and sheltered picnic area and swimming beach on the north side of Molly Stark Lake, close to the park entrance. The public fishing access ramps also are located at Molly Stark Lake.

Cart-in camping sites, used mostly by those with tents, are located in a wooded area. Camper cabins are available year-round. Cabins 3 and 6 now have electricity and propane fireplaces. Our family has stayed in the cabins a couple of times and I highly recommend them.

Need a place to meet or just have some relaxation? The park's historic lodge is available for day rental, year-round. Several couples we know rented the lodge a few days ago and had a great time.

I look forward to the enactments at Glendalough on July 31.

Tom Hintgen’s column runs on Mondays.