Photo courtesy of the LL Historical Society Neyland’s Grove operated for 40 years at the northwest corner of Liberty Lake (see location on postcard image above) under the leadership of Daniel Neyland and his descendants. The resort rented out 20 cabins, such as the ones pictured at left.

Search the News Archive

History: Grove helped establish Neyland family’s LL roots
7/6/2011 11:14:01 AM

Photo courtesy of the Liberty Lake Historical Society

By Ross Schneidmiller
Liberty Lake Historical Society

In 1902, at the age of 53, Daniel Neyland sold his farm in Franklin Township, Penn., and moved his wife, Louisa, and their two youngest sons out west. He purchased 17 acres of land at the northwest corner of Liberty Lake. A portion of this land was the former Lake Loomis and was very fertile. Daniel built a general store bearing his name. Daniel's great-granddaughter and current Liberty Lake resident, Mary Floy Dolphin, does not know why he happened to settle here, but she is grateful since seven generations of their family have enjoyed the lake.

Located on the northwest side of Liberty Lake, the D.A. Neyland Store was more accessible to the community at large than the store at Kalez Park. It would have been typical of a country store of that era and most likely sold everything a farming family needed. At a country store, one could find groceries and staples, hardware, medical supplies, laundry goods, sewing provisions, toys, tobacco and candy. It also was a place for socializing, and one might have enjoyed a game of checkers. Yet it would have been unique in that it rented boats and stocked more items for fishing and other lake activities.

In 1904, Neyland's son, Gage, who had come out west five years earlier, moved to Liberty Lake along with his wife, Floy, and family. Gage must have been a great help to his father having been in the grocery business in Davenport, Wash. In 1907, a resort evolved as 20 cabins of different sizes and rooms were built. Carolina poplars, a fast-growing shade tree that could grow six feet a season, were planted in the nutrient-rich Lake Loomis lakebed. A well was drilled, securing a good supply of water, and the new resort greeted campers with the name "Neyland's Grove."

The resort had a stand called a confectionary that sold candy and soda items as well as a café. Boats were rented, but the primary source of income were the cabins and house tents. Mary Floy recalls that all the cabins were named. They had fun names like Tarry-A-Bit, Goldenrod and Tune Inn.

Advertisement

Daniel died in 1913, and the general store closed a few years later. Canned goods and other grocery items were sold out of the stand, but the sales were primarily to the resort's campers and not the community at large. According to his nephew, current Liberty Lake resident Lyle Stephenson, Gage Neyland was the main force in the Grove's success. It is believed Daniel's other three sons had some form of ownership. Gage was progressive and updated the cabins as time allowed.

When Watson Boat Company introduced the "Kan't-Sink-Em" line, the Grove was the first resort at Liberty Lake to receive shipment. Gage was more than a grocer and resort owner, he was an entrepreneur. In addition to the resort, he operated the telephone system at the lake. The Grove had a small farm supplying produce and milk to the resort. The excess milk was sold to the residents of Wicomico Beach, which was referred to as "down the line."

The resort business was hard work with long days. Lyle Stephenson recalls getting up around 4:30 or 5 a.m. to feed all the animals, milk the cows and separate the milk. After breakfast, he would clean boats and cabins. Mowing lawns and working in the produce fields took up the rest of the day, then it was night and time to feed and milk again.

In the wintertime, ice was cut from the lake in blocks and put in an icehouse stacked between layers of sawdust.

"I look back and say 12-inch thick ice was normal and almost 16-inch ice (was also common) on this lake," Stephenson recalls. "… The ice blocks would be 100 pounds or more. The Neylands would put up a huge area of ice every winter, and that would run us all summer long. Every winter, I would be out there cutting ice and putting it up in the shed."

The ice was primarily put in iceboxes to keep perishables cold, the same as using a refrigerator today. Each cabin at the Grove had an icebox dug into the ground. The coolness of the soil helped for the ice to last longer. They put up additional ice to sell "down the line" where the summer residents lived.

In the late 1930s, the resort was split in two. Half the land and cabins continued to operate as Neyland's Grove. The other half went to Gage's brother, Grant, who started Wayside Resort in 1939. The Grove was sold in 1947 to Ted Weeks, who operated it for a few years under the original name before changing it to his own.

Ross Schneidmiller is president of the Liberty Lake Historical Society and a lifetime resident of the community. He is grateful to Dolphin, Stephenson and Liberty Lake resident and Neyland family member Denise Coyle for contributing information for this article.

Photo courtesy of the LL Historical Society Splash graphic by Sarah Burk

Neyland's Grove

Description
A resort that evolved out of the original D.A. Neyland Store (below), Neyland's Grove boasted 20 cabins, boat rentals and a confectionary.

Dates of Operation
1907-1947 (in the Neyland family)

Owners
The Neyland family

What's there today?
The 17 acres originally purchased by Daniel Neyland in 1902 is now the Liberty Lake Village development located where Molter meets Inlet on the northwest corner of the lake.

Did you know
• Current resident Lyle Stephenson was born in the "Liberty Cabin" at Neyland's Grove in 1916.

• Lake Loomis, referenced in this story, was a small body of water on the northwest corner of the lake that was drained when the Spokane Valley Irrigation Co. built a ditch to provide irrigation to Greenacres.