♪ If you lived in Lewiston, Idaho, in the late 1800's and wanted to escape to summer heat, Lake Waha was the place to be.

Back then, the 19 mile trek could only be reached after a very dusty, four hour horse and buggy ride.

The two mile long lake was a beautiful setting for a cool summer break.

The word Waha is the Native American word, meaning subterranean water or beautiful.

In the old days, go back 100 years.

This was quite a place.

And where the old saloon was on the corner.

That was a stage stop.

For many years, Waha was the first stop on the stagecoach line between Lewiston and Cottonwood, Idaho.

As the area grew in popularity.

Dances were held every Saturday night, and a hotel with nearby cabins sprang up to accommodate summer travelers.

In 1892, the original Waha store, which served as a post office, stagecoach stop and store was built near the lake.

Eventually Waha had two stores.

Well, the story is Harvey Hartley owned the old one, but he sold it to a guy.

And that guy was a terrible man to be in business and Harvey realized that.

So he offered him $10,000 about a year later to buy back.

And he laughed at him.

and he said, okay, I'll build one right below you, you know.

So about a week or two later, they bought two and a half acres from the 21 ranch.

Behold below.

There was the Craig Mountain store at that time.

And then changed to Waha about ten years later.

The last remaining historical building.

The general store burned down in 1983, but the Waha Bar & Grill remains.

Opened in 1975 and originally named the Craig Mountain Store.

The Waha Bar and Grill has had its share of owners come and go.

The current owners, the Haywards, have made operating the grill a family affair.

Well, we didn't choose it.

It chose us.

Wendy and Adam decided they needed to change.

So they sold their home, packed up everything they owned, and bought a restaurant.

We found it online, actually.

And because my son in law is a chef by trade.

It was kind of a natural curiosity.

So we came out and looked at it and we really liked it.

We love the closeness of the community and just fell in love with the area.

Wendy and Adam brought along four adult daughters, two sons in law and eight grandchildren.

We all pitch in and help each other.

We have grandkids that are from baby stage to teenager.

The kids that are too small, they really warm the hearts of people coming in here with their smiles.

And then all of us, you know, share in the cooking and the serving and the other duties like cleaning and such.

So it really works well as a family.

The Haywards have made a few changes to the grill here and there, but the biggest change is a revamped menu by their son in law, David, a culinary school graduate with many years of experience in high end restaurants.

But the food here at the Bar and Grill now is probably better than it's been for years.

Several of the owners was terrible, terrible cooks, terrible, you know, probably better now than it ever was, you know?

When the Haywards celebrated their one year anniversary of ownership, they threw a party for the community.

Well, I've learned a lot since I've been here.

There is quite a lot of history with the stagecoach running through.

And there used to be an older general store that burned down and there used to be an ice cave.

And so there's a lot of curiosity and nostalgia here.

And there was an ice cave and you could go back in there.

It was partly back in the mountain and it was probably 40 degrees, 38, 40 somewhere.

And that's where they kept all the beer and their cold drinks.

But in the summer there was a bar and it was a sawdust floor and people, when it get 110 in the valley come up and in the summer that was always full.

People bellied up to the bar in there and that ice cave.

One thing that Wendy and Adam did bring back from the past is the general store.

It serves a lot of the community that lives up here as we are not really close to town.

The community really relies on this place as a place of coming together and having a place to eat, you know, a place to just gather around and meet each other.

And so it's been here for so long that people do rely on it.

And we try and we try to be there and available for them.