The saying "Going to the Lake!" is often heard in the Inland Empire. It is commonly used when heading to a lake place. Today, we might call these a second home or a vacation home. So when, historically, did this saying include going to your cabin or cottage at Liberty Lake? The first homes at the lake were permanent residences. They usually started out as farms and sometimes evolved into resorts. Others came with the specific intent to build a resort as a means to their livelihood.

For the purpose of this article, we are looking at the lake cabin or cottage as the respite from everyday life - not the permanent residence. Through my research, I have concluded that Roderick MacKenzie's cabin in the bay bearing his name was either the first or second of its kind at the lake.

MacKenzie owned considerable holdings on the lake's west side.  What had started out as a ranch developed into much more, including a hotel and a restaurant. He also sought a cabin just for his family to have a place to get away. At the Rockaway Café in Spokane, MacKenzie met with his friend, renowned architect Kirkland Cutter. He told Cutter of his plans to build a cabin on the lake's east side and asked for some suggestions. The architect, well known for his designs including the Davenport Hotel, Spokane Club, Spokesman-Review and many of Spokane's most distinguished homes, took a napkin from the table and started drawing. He drew a rustic cabin to be adorned with logs and rough-cut wood and featured a large, covered patio supported by sizable log posts. Recognized for elaborate detailing in his work, Cutter gave extra attention to the railing design.  

Over the next nine years, lake places started to appear on some of the more favorable locations on the lake. George Doerr, a jeweler from Spokane, had a cottage built on the hillside above Dreamwood Bay. There were stylish verandas around this Japanese-influenced Craftsman design. From the edge of the water, a gracefully curved flight of steps extended up the steep front of the lot.

The Chamberlain Real Estate and Improvement Company built two homes at Liberty Lake just after the turn of the century. Chamberlain, which started building homes in Spokane in 1899, built more than 500 homes in its first 12 years of business. Known for their Craftsman-style homes, the company built two of its models from the company catalogue. "The Killarney," which was built on the eastern tip of Dreamwood Bay, was sold to A.E. Gallagher, an attorney and apple grower from Opportunity.   

"The Pines," one lot to the west, was built for company president G.L. Chamberlain. The living room in this cottage was finished in naturally stained, charred, curly fir on both the walls and ceilings, accented with a soft green trim. This area became known as "The Point of the Pines" because the cottage's name was spelled out in pine branches on the pergola structure which was located on a pier extending into the water. The location became a regular stop for the touring boats.  

Across the small cove also to the east of Dreamwood was another point on which William Seiffert, Spokane's Olympia beer distributor, built a cottage. An attractive feature in his cottage was a circular sun-parlor with a large fireplace.

These first cottages built to the east of the Dreamwood Bay Resort had extensive lake frontages, with some built on double lots. Their grounds were beautifully landscaped with lawns, rock walls and flowerbeds. The Killarney had water on two sides of the grounds, which gave great opportunity for picturesque effects. The owners, taking advantage of the natural landscape, added a substantial amount of rock walls incorporating the large boulders that existed on the property.

Liberty Lake as a residential summer colony was under way. The Spokane businessman could leave his office by 5 p.m., run out to the lake in his automobile and still have time to water the lawn or dig in the garden before dinner.