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The Boatel at Naples soon after it opened in 1959. On the left is the former cob burner of a grain elevator. Paul Vannier, the Boatel's original owner, transformed the cob burner into sleeping quarters for overnight visitors.BY GREG OLSONJoi RNAI.-Cot kll llt;aul and Dorothy Vannier described their business as “a welcome port” for all boaters traveling between the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. and Mrs. Vannier opened the Boatel at Naples, on the east bank of tin* Illinois Kiver, in 1959, as a combination motel.restaurant and gas station.Gretchen Westermeyer, of rural Bluffs,says that her late parents got the idea for the Boatel in the early 19,50s during a boating trip down the Illinois, Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. “Because they had nowhere other than the river and the boat to sleep, eat and clean up, Dad saw the need for accommodations to service boat enthusiasts,” she says.A self-taught carpenter, Mr. Vannier constructed the Boatel from lumber he salvaged from an old grain elevator on the site. When completed, the Boatel contained six sleeping rooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a small bar and a large, wraparound, screened-in porch.Mr. Vannier also remodeled an old “cob burner,” which had been used by the grain elevator company, into two guest rooms complete with hot and cold running water, showers and porches. The cob burner was connected to the Boatel by a swinging bridge.On the waterfront, Mr. Vannier built a 100-foot wooden dock with gas pumps for his boating customers.The Vanniers kept the Boatel open seven days a week from early spring to late fall. And the family lived there during the summer.“If (my parents) were up, they were open, says Mrs. Westermeyer. She adds that her father sometimes stayed at the Boatel in theoff-season to thwart would-be burglars.The interior of the Boatel reflected theVanniers’ love of the water and Mr. Vannier’ssense of humor. A heavy barge rope was wrapped around two of the main support posts in the dining room, which also featured fishnet curtains, a large anchor, an old lamp from a river mile marker post and several old photographs of steamboats.Mr. Vannier expressed his humor when he labeled the restroom doors. “The doors said ‘inboard’ and ‘outboard,’” recalls Mrs.Westermeyer. Til never forget the day when some little boy asked which one he should use because he said,‘We have an inboard-outboard,”’ referring to his family’s boat.Mrs. Westermeyer, who waited tables at the Boatel from age 9 to 18, says the restaurant had a booming business at times. Sometimes she was the only one waiting tables, which could seat about 140 people inside and on the screened porch.“I remember waiting tables barefooted with a Popsicle in my hand,” she says. “I did pretty good with tips when I was little. Butwhen I got older, I asked my parents for more money, and they gave me $20 a week.”Mrs. Westermeyer says that her mother was the Boatel’s cook and her father managed the place, pumped gas and visited with customers.On occasion, an old friend like CecilTendick, a well-known local character andlongtime farm editor of the Journal-Courier, would stop by to swap stories, tell lies anddrink beer with Mr. Vannier.“(My parents) were both very much people persons,”Mr. Vannier expressed says Mrs. Westermeyer, thehis humor when he labeled the restroomcouple’s only child. “My parents were the type of people who cared about other peo-doors. “The doors said pie. They didn’t make gobs ofInboard’ and 'outboard/ recalls his daughter GretchenmWestermeyer.Tmoney running the Boatel, but they enjoyed it.”Mr. Vannier also got a kick out of showing off the family’s trained beagle, “Merri-Gay,” to all of the Boatel’s visitors. “Dad had trained her to open a storeroom door and then shut it,” recalls Mrs. Westermeyer.The Vanniers sold the Boatel in the fall of 1968, soon after their daughter left for the University of Illinois. Subsequent owners extensively remodeled the Boatel and began operating it strictly as a restaurant.The Boatel was destroyed by fire in November 1991. Today, nothing remains of the Vanniers’ “welcome port” but the shell of the old cob burner.1*11010 Cm kii sv (i Tin Mi kldoma Historic\i socim
Newspaper Details
Jacksonville Journal Courier
Jacksonville, Illinois, US
Mon, Apr 12, 1999
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Marilyn B.
NA, NA 06 Jan 2023
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