.. Ye Olde Front Desk

..Attol Tryst Today

..1909 Postcard

The house at 33 Edgemere Avenue looks much as it did when it was one of the more impressive structures in the millionaire's colony known as Breslin Park. Situated on a steep hill overlooking Van Every Cove, it is of split-level design in an odd combination of Queen Anne and Swiss chalet styling.
Next to Kil Kare Castle, [the imposing fortess built on Mount Harry by the patent medicine king, Col. George G. Green], it was the most elaborate of all the homes in Breslin Park. Called Attol Tryst, it was the summer cottage of the actress Lotta Crabtree, known more commonly as Miss Lotta. [Attol is Lotta spelled backwards.]
Some may think she must have been a grand lady to have socialized with the wealthiest of Americans during the turn of the century. For those who inhabited Breslin Park were "well-established, married and without scandal". Not Miss Lotta. Being an actress and single, she found life at Lake Hopatcong dull.
The only thing Lotta had in common with the other residents of Breslin Park was her wealth. Attol Tryst was her mother Mary Ann's fabrication. It was here that she could rub shoulders with the millionaires. The cottage was a gift from mother to daughter, but built with Lotta's money.
Lotta was described in later life as eccentric. The New York Times called her the "eternal child" in her obituary. At the height of her career, she was known as "the nation's darling". She was described by critics as mischievous, unpredictable, impulsive, rattlebrained, teasing, piquant, rollicking, cheerful and devilish.
Being an actress, Lotta was all of these at one time or another. She stood 5'2" and had light red hair, which she sprinkled sparingly with cayenne pepper for her performances, and smoked thin black cigars off stage. She always wore her skirts shorter than was the style, simply because she wanted to. She was a comedienne who played mostly boys' roles and it was said this is was kept her young.
Lotta Mignon Crabtree was born on November 7, 1847, in New York City to Mary Ann Livesey Crabtree and John Ashworth Crabtree, immigrants from England.
After her mother's death in 1905, Lotta never lived at Attol Tryst. Although she visited Lake Hopatcong fequently, she always stayed with friends. She visited the lake for the last time during the 1920's. The millionaires were mostly gone and Attol Tryst had been sold.
[excerpted from "Mount Arlington: A Pictorial History]

Further reading:

"The Triumph and Trials of Lotta Crabtree" by David Dempsey, Wm. Morrow and Co. 1968 and ""Troupers of the Gold Coast" by Constance Rourke, Harcourt Brace 1928.
.. Ye Olde Front Desk