Lake Shawnee

Mercer Memories - A look back at the early days of Lake Shawnee

There’s a reason this column was given its name, not only because it’s a history column, but because it helps people recall better times in many cases.

Something that is a perfect example of that idea is Lake Shawnee, now a popular site for supernatural exploration, but for roughly 50 years, it was ”The playground of Southern West Virginia.”

The resort was the brainchild of Conley, Sr., and Maybelle Snidow. Conley Snidow purchased the 150-acre Daniel Day farm on the Bluestone River near Kegley for probable use as a farm as he was in the midst of making land purchases that were farm and timber related.

According to his son’s, Conley Snidow, Jr.’s account in the 1987 Mercer County Historical Society’s History of Mercer County, Snidow said he intended to spend $40-50 to build an earthen dam and create a lake in the middle of “Periwinkle Bottom,” his name for the bottom land filled with many small shells.

The completion of the five-story addition to the Virginian Hotel in 1920-21 freed Snidow to focus his imagination and boundless energy on what was to become Lake Shawnee.

The first fees for swimming were collected in 1924. Bathers dressed in a small building with a dirt floor which became the Shawnee Lodge concession stand. The pool bottom was mud and diving and jumping happened from a tree in the middle.

In 1925, Alex Karnes sold his interest to Snidow, who intensified his efforts for the 1925 season. A two-story structure containing dressing rooms, showers, lockers, a sales office with a large pavilion and living quarters on the second floor was constructed. There was a large post facing the pool for spectators. Three thousand small silver maples were planted around the pool and the picnic area. Row boats were purchased and a boat dock built.

Plans for a big Fourth of July celebration, which would become an annual event for the area were set. Public dances were held every Tuesday and Friday night with live music.

Over the next five years, eight rental cottages were built. Eventually, there were 17 such cottages which were available with swimming included for $10 a week.

Shawnee Lake was suggested as the name by Mrs. Snidow. It was a long time camping ground for the Shawnee and in the early days of the lake, people would walk around and pick up artifacts from the plowed field.

The resort purchased a large number of bathing suits and towels for rent. For $.65, you could rent a suit, towel, locker and enter the pool. On most Sundays, in the early days, all suits were used, sometimes twice.

Although the resort was on a dirt road five miles north of Princeton, it was an immediate hit when it opened for the 1925 season. Crowds came from 50 to 75 miles away in all directions to swim, to look or to just go with the crowd. The summer was hot, Shawnee was new and the crowds were large with the July 4 crowd estimated in excess of 10,000. The lighted pool drew large after-hours crowds from stores and industries.

That first year saw Flynn Snidow operate the bathhouse. June Hall and Dusty Rhoads were life guards. Freeman Brock and Snidow, Jr., operated the concession stand.

Among the life guards over the years were Worth Wilson; Buddy Fry and his brothers; the Snidow brothers (Conley, Jr., Stanley and Jimmy); Pete McGlothlin; Burman Snidow, Jr.; Ralphie Repass; Dick and Bill Morefield; Joe Yost; Bill Waldron; and grandson Trigg Snidow.

The development of paved roads and better transportation giving better access to beaches and other resorts including state parks saw Shawnee gradually decline as the main attraction but it remained popular with the younger people of the area until 1966. It was primarily an operation of family and friends, with Snidow being the primary entrepreneur.

The haunted history of the area which brings in people involves the deaths of three children of Mitchell Clay at the hands of the Shawnee in 1783 and the six deaths during the operation of Lake Shawnee.

---by Jeff Harvey for the Princeton Times Sepember 30, 2022.