Lorne Guesthouses

At the beginning, sawmill workers who lived rough, often in tents, came into town for their night off on Saturdays. They wanted a good meal and somewhere to stay overnight. The families in town, the Stewarts, Clissolds, etc, had many children as well as taking these workers in, and so began to add more bedrooms. Some built bungalows in their grounds. The owners were often good cooks, so some places became famous for their meals like Kalimna. It had up to 60 guests and staff. Most guesthouses had a passage up the middle with bedrooms off it and bathrooms and toilets shared at the back. No one minded this arrangement. They played croquet and tennis, had dress-up parties, and took long walks to fern gullies and falls. Barbecues and billie tea were highlights. Many romances and marriages developed in these places. “making whoopee” it was called. There were many competitions between the guesthouses. This lasted until the 1960s and then came the  rise of the self-contained motels.
( from a talk given at Lorne Historical Society meeting by Doug Stirling, October 2023.)

Lorne had three hotels and many guesthouses in its heyday. The hotels were The Lorne, The Quamby, a private hotel, and The Pacific. The guesthouses were Argyll House, Ben My Chree, Bonnie Doon, Carinya, The Chalet, Clovelly, Cora Lynn, The Cumberland, Erskine House, Gracedale, Kalimna, Kia-Ora, Glendora, Minapree, Nenthorne, Ozone House, Riverview, Santoy, Yendalloch, Rivernook and Erskine Cottage, one of the earliest, and later changed its name to Bridge Cottage.

Guesthouses by Robert Coy

(Source: Lorne a Living History by Doug Stirling)