Rustling Elms Resort ( Ortonville )

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Rustling Elms Resort is located 3 miles north of Ortonville on Highway 7. We are a 5th generation family owned and operated business since 1924. Originally called Johnson's Beach when our Great Grandfather Emil Johnson first started the business with five cottages and 15 wooden row boats that he rented. Emil's son, Ernie, took over sometime around 1935, married Wilma Kiel from St. Paul who came out to stay in the cottages with her family, and renamed Johnson's Beach to Mile Park, because it was a mile long . Also sometime around 1935 he built the Wagon Wheel Clubhouse which was a bar and offered slots. In 1940 he built a concession stand and bath house near the beach that still stands today. However, times would change as the U.S. entered the war December, 1941 and the recession that followed. Parts of the park was sold and/or divided with Ernie's brother, Wally. The Wagon Wheel was torn down and Ernie looked for work wherever he could find it. Business picked up after the recession and folks started camping and traveling again. The boom in RV's started and Ernie started putting in seasonal and overnight camping lots to accomodate them. Realizing the park was no longer a mile long they thought a name change was in order, thus Rustling Elms Resort. May the peace of the lake be with you!