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The de Graff-Hentschel Family Started a small campground (17 sites)in August 1971 on their lake shore property on the southwest shore of Gull Lake.
It didn’t take long for those 17 sites to fill with campers who wanted to “stay forever”, for it was a cosy, pretty, garden like, safe family setting.
Then, the government bought the farmer’s field next to us, talking of putting in 600 campsites.
We fled to the other side of the lake and started a new opening in May 1980, on an empty field. No house, no road, not a tree in sight. Nothing but rocks along the shore.
Margrit DeGraff, founder and owner of DeGraff’s Camp Resort, ran the campground in summer for 35 years. Along with the hard labour of running a campground, in winters she trained for cross country ski racing and she also taught skiing for 30 years.
Margrit was known far and wide as ‘The Grand Dame of Cross Country Skiing’. Margrit was masters class Canadian Champion for years and was on the Canadian National Masters Ski Team for three World Championships, bringing home medals from Austria, Alaska and Quebec.
Margrit’s son York Hentschel contributed to the purchase of this property by playing professional football, helping the Edmonton Eskimos win three straight Grey Cups. York has since passed on, but his legacy lives on through this beautiful resort.
In the early years the entire family pitched in to make the new resort a success. De Graff’s Eco-Camp Resort is now flourishing as a Successful Camp Resort of 83 permanent full hook up sites and 32 natural sites.
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