The search for cooler summers and a respite from the pressures of the city brought Chicago industrialist Egbert H. Gold to the eastern shore of Lake Michigan in the summer of 1912.  Cruising aboard his yacht, the Marigold, Mr. Gold entered the channel leading from Lake Michigan into Lake Macatawa at Holland, and examined the shady edges of the smaller lake.  The search ended at Point Superior, a small densely wooded peninsula on the north side of the lake.

Mr. Gold's love of nature and his vision of a summer home were combined in an effort that transformed Point Superior from a wild tangle of trees and briars into a delight of gardens, a great house - Marigold Lodge - that matched the mood of the sun and shade spangled forest, and carefully planned auyxiliary buildings to meet the needs of maintaining the estate.  There Mr. Gold, his wife, Margaret, their sons, Egbert H., Jr., and Samuel Dickey, and one daughter, Mary Jayne, spent their summers until Mr. Gold's Death in 1928.

Margaret Gold and the family continued to make Marigold Lodge their summer place. With Mrs. Gold's passing in 1968, Marigold Lodge was left to her daughter, Mary Jayne.  The two sons had preceded their mother in death.

It is to Mary Jayne Gold, who now makes her home in New York, that we owe our gratitude for the opportunity now present.  In 1969 Miss Gold gave Marigold Lodge and the gardens on the Point to Hope College.  For many years the lodge was home to the college's Environmental and Ecology Center and was also used for symposiums, retreats, art exhibits, musicales, receptions, weddings and as a college guest house.

Left in the keeping of the Gold heirs was a unique piece of wooded ground that lay virtually untouched since the end of the 19th century.  This is Marigold Woods, purchased by the Woodland Partners in 1972.

It is almost impossible to convey the mood of this place, almost primeval in its setting of great silvery beech trees dominating scattered oaks and pines.  Truly a lovely bit of forest that, we feel, has its best chance of survival through careful development now, and the future husbandry of homeowners who really care.