A couple of weekends ago we were invited by our good friends, Sue and Paul, to spend the day with them at the beach. But this was not just any beach....this was a private cove on the 12 acre Stack Estate in Crystal Bay.
The Stack Estate is "Old Tahoe" through and through. It goes back to the 1920's when the property was bought by James Stack, Sr., the ad man behind Quaker Oats, and father to two sons: well-known actor Robert Stack (Eliot Ness in The Untouchables) and James Stack, Jr.
Several buildings were constructed including a main house, party house, separate kitchen with servant quarters, and guest cottages all linked by cobblestone paths.
The younger James (Jim) was the owner who employed Paul for nearly two decades as the caretaker of the property. Jim passed away in 2003 and Paul has remained on the property as the remaining family members have sold most of the furnishings from the multiple buildings and have the estate up for sale for a whopping $20+ million.
Because the property has not yet sold, things are up in the air for Sue and Paul. They will most likely have to move out of the little house they have been living in for years. The property is huge and they wanted us the have a chance to see it and appreciate what's left before it sells especially since the buildings will likely be torn down with the property being subdivided.
Our visit was bittersweet as we toured the property (spending most of the day on the beach). We were in awe of the craftsmanship of the buildings and saddened by another piece of Tahoe history being picked apart and sold to the highest bidder. But nothing we felt could compare to the obvious sadness of Sue and Paul who were like family to Jim and have fond memories of the property and it's history.
The boys loved playing on the sheltered, sandy beach. We went out on Sue and Paul's pedal boat and watched fish swimming under the boat house. The weather was unseasonably warm for mid-September so swimsuits and sunhats was the required uniform for the day.
After playing on the beach for hours we headed back up the 106 stairs from the beach to the cobblestone path to go through a handful of the buildings. The amount of wood used to create such amazing structures was amazing. The floors alone were enough to make me drool - perfect grained hardwood everywhere! One building we didn't tour was one supposedly built for the famous boxer, Jack Dempsey in the 1930's - the newest of the buildings on the property. The story goes that Dempsey was in need of a high altitude location to train for a bout in Denver, Colorado and Stack Sr. thought it would be a good idea to have Dempsey teach his sons to box. However, it seems that Dempsey never did come to live in the house that literally was perched on the side of the cliff overlooking the lake.
We consider ourselves to be very lucky to have been able to visit the Stack Estate. It is literally untouchable to anyone without the means to purchase it. If only there were some way to ensure that the history that is there could remain.
Thanks to Sue for the photos above....and though our photos hardly do it justice you can see more at http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=mjbrowder&target=ALBUM&id=5387094891636034129&authkey=Gv1sRgCNLow4DgwseuFQ&feat=email
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