Khardomah Lodge / Susan Hill Yerkes

In 1873 lumberman James Brayton built a cottage here, which he and his wife named “Khardomah Lodge.” Susan Hill Yerkes bought the property in 1919, adding thirteen rooms and converting the cottage to a summer hotel, thus beginning Khardomah’s history as a part of Grand Haven’s tourism industry. From 1938 to 1984 the lodge was owned by Jennie Smith and her daughter Helen Unger. Families from as far away as St. Louis and Little Rock returned to Khardomah each summer. Susan Hill Yerkes Susan Hill Yerkes owned Khardomah Lodge from 1919 to 1937. Yerkes (1861-1937) was highly educated and cultured for a woman of her time and expert in Greek, Latin, and German. From 1901 to 1926, Yerkes and her sister Mary Helen served as teachers and co-principals of the Akeley Institute, a girls school in Grand Haven. During that time, Susan took students to Paris to study and acquired art objects that she displayed in Khardomah Lodge.