Mary K

Olive Williams built this cabin in 1923 and later sold it to Jean Palmer and Mary K. Bettles, colorful legends at Ox-Bow. They met at the Ferry Store, on the river at the entrance to Ox-Bow, where they ran the soda fountain and gas pump.

Mary Kay was known as the “Sheriff of Ox-Bow.” She believed the lagoon was private property, and would often use her canoe to approach people in boats and tell them so. She wore a real sheriff’s badge, which upon closer inspection read, “Cook County, Illinois.” At one point, she was investigated for impersonating an officer and being a public nuisance. She patrolled the grounds with her fearsome-looking dog Rex, who carried a flashlight in his mouth. She was known to run fishermen off the grounds, letting air out of their tires if they did not obey her request to leave.

 This cottage, now known as the Mary K, houses Fellowship students every summer. There have been reports of ghostly sightings of a curly-haired woman out the back window and lights turning on while the switch is off, among other supernatural activity.