Barefoot Charlie Haas had big feet and big pine trees growing up inside his Barefoot Charlie's Nite Club. There is a photo of him watering his inside trees with a watering can. He also had a working slot machine installed inside a large dead bear. Charlie was the builder, furniture maker and the owner. Charlie passed on in at the age of 79 in 1970, and the wooden joint burned down in 1988.
It looks like at least one sizable piece (a table and chairs) resides in the Northern Waters Museum.
I met Charlie as a kid fishing with my dad in 1967. I still remember the bear in the entry and trees growing inside the bar. Loved that place. We need more places like Barefoot in the world.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on the Gibbs City Road just west of Iron River, Michigan. My folks knew Barefoot Charlie personally. They spoke highly of him and said he was a very nice character. He owned a farm next door to our place and had sold it to the Halstead. I remember seeing corn growing, and a large dairy barn when I was 3 or 4 years old. The farm no longer exists and the fields have long grown over with brush. It is nature recovering its own. There was a large white pine tree that grew on top of the hill behind our house we called the Big Pine. Barefoot Charlie supposedly held a patent on the tree because of the way the tree limbs were spaced. He planted it and had combined several of the best traits into the tree. To day there are several trees that grow around it as offspring. Barefoot Charlie Haase is buried in Alvin, Wisconsin.
ReplyDeleteI remember being a regular customer at Barefoot Charlie's in the summer of 1973 while I was residing at the Big Twin resort ( Joe Reganfuss, proprietor). Fond memories of that time. I remember you, Kara.
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