Ollie O'Brien Greco- Red Pines Outpost
The mid 1930's -the Gunflint Trail was a winding dirt road, electrical power and phone service along the trail was still decades away. Mainly loggers, CCC workers, and several resort families populated the area. It was during this era that Ollie O'Brien and her future husband, Jimmy Greco, purchased property on a remote point of land between Little Ollie and Poplar lakes, south of the inlet from Poplar into Little Ollie Lake. Located one half mile from the nearest road, their new property was accessible only by traveling across Poplar Lake. (read more)
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Just spotted this site: My parents, John and Anne Ericks and good friends, Ken & Esther Stell visited Ollie & Jim several times in the late 60s and my last visit was 1971. We stayed in a cabin adjacent to theirs at Red Pine and have fond memories of them, their home, our cabin and fishing for walleyes at Swamp Lake. I still have an old wolf trap found along the trail, a beaver log that I still haven't made into a lamp, and many good pictures and memories. We would find "diamond willow" in the swampy areas and make walking sticks. Of course the mosquitoes were horrendous. But, we loved it there. Best memory is a goldeneye duck calling out her ducklings one morning out of a nest box over the water near our cabin. We watched her call out all nine, before taking off around the lake with them. The ducklings were so bunched up around the hen that the last few bounced off her back before splashing into the water. Glad you are still there!
Greg Ericks
From-Jim Pascale
I grew up in Chicago where my dad's family settled after coming over from Italy. My father's first cousin, Jim Greco, bought property sometime around 1945 along the Gunflint Trail that accomodated a garage for his car and another garage known as the "Stuga" which I understand means winter place in Sweden. He also purchased a boat access only lot across the lake that had its own small island and a BWCA portage route in his bay. He named his place Red Pine Lodge because of a huge, dominant Red Pine that stood prominently overlooking the lake. He and his brothers hand build 3 beautiful cabins that probably still stand today. His property reached back to Little Ollie Lake. Jim Greco named that lake after his first wife, Ollie, who died at a young age from cancer. Jim used to take a boat across the lake on Sundays and walk down the road a hundred yards or so to a general store / restaruant / service station to use the phone booth to call his relatives in Chicago. He used to connect through Duluth and usually spoke with an operator named Betty. After many calls over time, the two became so well acquainted that they decided to meet when Jim next went to Duluth. They ended up getting married. As Jim aged and could no longer care keep up Red Pine Lodge, he sold it to frequent guests from Lombard, IL. I believe their last name was Leggler. Our extended family was surprised when Jim sold and many were disappointed they didn't get a shot at owning the property. Jim felt he did the right thing as the Legglers loved the lodge as much as he did.
My last visit to Red Pine Lodge was probably 30 years ago when I was a teenager. At the time of my last visit, there had been electicity run across the lake, but water was still taken from a pump that drew from a spring.
Jim Pascale
Edina, MN
Ollie died at age 80 in 1973. She was 15 years older than Jim Greco. Ollie had been married to Jess O'Brien and had a son named Robert who was born in 1920. Ollie bought that property in the 1930s and her brother, Carl Anton Anderson lived in the garage on the mainland by the Gunflint Trail where they had a dock for the boat to go to the island. There were alot of hard feelings in the O'Brien family due to the fact that when Jim Greco died he left Red Pine to one of his brothers and not to Ollie's son and his 4 children. Robert O'Brien never fought for what should have been his and he died around 1997 after slipping on some ice and hitting his head. Ollie Greco was my aunt and I was up to Red Pine Outpost several times.
Carl Anton Anderson was Ollie's uncle, not her brother as I had said in the previous post. Ollie acquired the land where Red Pine Outpost was in the 1930s and her son Bob did alot of the work of building the first cabin and making all of the furniture. She married Jim Greco in 1947. Ollie's daughter-in-law Toots told me that an Indian guide lived up there with Ollie for one winter. Not sure what his name was.
Just happened on this site. We lived about a mile from Grecos. As you left Grecos and rounded the point going toward Flavells, on the opposite shore is a point. That was our 7 acres. My father was superintendent of the Northern Light CCC camp in the late 30s. Fred Brouillette was his name.
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