![]() ![]() What follows is a history of Birdsong Resort and Marina narrated by Bob Keast, Sr., and his wife Lorrine based on their often-colorful recollections.Ĭlick Here For Some Old Photos From Birdsong’s Past There’s much to tell about Birdsong over the past 40 years, joys and the heartaches, and many fond memories. They returned and have since worked tirelessly as a family over these many years to build Birdsong into a thriving business featuring a resort, campground, second-home lease property, marine sales/service enterprise serving the needs of vacationers and sportsmen throughout the nation and many foreign countries. By September, the Keast family, Bob, Lorrine, Georgene, Carrie, and Bob, Jr., left Birdsong for a brief vacation in Texas wondering if they had made the biggest mistake of their lives. That first season Lorrine remembers only two or three customers with mounting expenses. The weeds in the area were waist-high, and the cottages sadly neglected. That summer, 86 cords of wood were cut and set aside for winter. Then came the hard work of clearing the land of its overgrown timber and tall sage grass. ![]() The Keasts and their three children moved into the “lodge” a rambling two story restaurant and multi-room structure overlooking the lake. The property included 10 acres of land, several old cottages, a mud launching ramp and extensive lake frontage along the Birdsong Creek Embankment on Kentucky Lake. It was a very hot July in 1961 when Lorrine and Bob Keast gathered their life’s savings and purchased Birdsong Dock from a realtor in Camden. The company transferred Bob to Memphis, Tennessee and again, the Keast’s renewed their search for a lakefront resort when they learned that Birdsong Dock in Camden was available for sale. took a full time job as a bread salesman with American Bakeries. Two years later, the family relocated to Houston, where Bob, Sr. Unable to raise the capital needed, they purchased a restaurant and hotel in the small railroad town of Smithville, Texas. The quest began nearly 50 years ago in Ironwood, Michigan when the Keasts set out for Austin Texas to buy a lakefront resort. Bob and Lorrine Keast simply wanted a place where they could live “the good life.” Their ambition was to own a resort on a lakefront, a place to raise a family and live the American dream. They feature guided tours of the nation’s only fresh-water pearl farm, a 150 slip marina, a hundred homes, RV and wilderness camping, pool, pavilion, and boat sales and service Birdsong Resort, Marina and Family Lakeside RV Campground has become a major tourist attraction, recreational complex, and vacation community ranked in the top 40 in Tennessee. ![]()
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