Thad Thayer, who came to this area from Maine, was one of the first white settlers in Sawyer County, establishing a trading post around 1865 in the Indian village of Pahquahwong, which today mostly lies beneath the waters of the Chippewa Flowage and is located about a half mile to the southwest of the Church Bars.

Thayer’s hotel (as it was sometimes referred to) can be considered one of Sawyer County’s first places to actively serve guests. In effect, much of our area’s tourism can be traced back to this historic site. While the clientele of these places consisted primarily of tote-teamsters and lumberjacks, there was that odd adventuresome outdoors man who was known to wander up now and then.