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The house on Somerset Island is
Called Woryco. A glimpse of the early days on Somerset
Island can be had from a book written in 1925 by Charles
E. Kennedy, publisher of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
(About 1900) when but a half dozen
cottages had been built on the islands (around Sans
Souci), Mr. J.J. Mandelbaum, worn from the work of
strenuous and successful interurban railroad promotion,
must have reasoned to himself that man, like electric
batteries, to be kept going, should have an occasional
rest and overhauling. Anyway ‘M.J.’ discovered,
as had John Farley (see B2207) and some others of
us, that Moon District points directly to the stars
and health!
And one result of Mandelbaum’s
speculations upon health, and in railroads, is picturesque
Somerset Island upon which glistening in the sunlight
and, on nights of storm, beckoning welcome from the
many windows made ruddy from open fires within, looms
his large and very pretty lodge named Woryco. Facing
in part some groups of smaller islands and the great
open water to the south and west, far out in which
play big freighters from Cleveland and other shipping
ports, the view is one for never changing splendor.
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Here for many happy summers,
and usually surrounded by friends, the Mandelbaums
have secluded themselves from the erosive attacks
of old man Worry. Not long ago I read with absorbing
interest a huge pen and pencil written ‘log
book’ in the living room at Woryco. There, spread
in original verse, in humorous description illustrated
the fanciful sketches, I found the thoughts of a hundred
or more Clevelanders who from time to time were guests.
I noticed that a number of these appropriately pay
tribute to M.J.’s ‘chum’ sister,
Mrs. Sarah M. Baker, during all these years charmingly
associated with him in the midsummer trips to this
haven of peace and rest.
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