HOW PAVLICA’S SOUTH SHORE RESORT CAME TO BE

The tale of Pavlica’s South Shore Resort began over 60 years ago…

For as long as any of us have known, the Brotherton Family owned the majority of South Manistique Lake’s southern shore.  The trademark Brotherton green-roofed, white cottages lined the south side of the Lake and were rented out for more than a half-century.

As time passed, many of those cottages passed into private ownership and by 2003, Brotherton’s Resort was no more.  Fortunately for tourists who frequent the southern shore, Tom Satre of Montana purchased a group of six original Brotherton cottages to have the only Resort on the south shore.  Newly re-named – Cedar Shores Resort.

After a short tenure, Tom sold the resort to our good friends Dan & Kathy Miller.

As vacation cottages disappeared and our favorite spot was up for grabs once again, we dreaded it being taken away from us.

Back in the mid-1950s, a Toledo, Ohio man named Gus Pavlica, grandson of a Czechoslovakian native, decided to take his family on a new summer vacation adventure.  Gus packed the family car to the brim and headed north.  When the Lower Peninsula’s roads ended in 1950’s Mackinaw City, no bridge was in sight.  The family drove their car onto a ferry boat and floated across the straits to the UP for the very first time.  After a short drive west, they’d arrived at South Manistique Lake.

Some of our family’s best stories, events, and life-long memories have taken place during annual vacations at this cherished lake. Gus and his wife Marcella have passed but three new generations of Pavlicas have fallen in love with this special place.

When Cedar Shores went back on the real estate market, we feared it could be gone forever.  In 2013 we decided to take the leap to keep the tradition alive.  It seemed only right that a family member who had ridden along on that original trip in the mid-1950s would be one of the new owners… Michael Pavlica, Gus’s oldest son, now with four sons of his own (and seven grandchildren), cemented a permanent spot on South Manistique Lake’s southern shore.

For the Pavlica Family and every other family who has been lucky enough to experience this breathtaking place, we’re happy to be open for business.  Whether you’re a returning visitor or it’s your first time, this lake may take you by surprise.  With it’s beautiful sunsets, the decades of great fishing, and it’s calm, relaxing spot nestled in the woods, we’re sure you’ll see this lake’s magic for yourself.

There’s just no better place than the South Shore.