Most of the families that came to Inverness for summers in the early 20th century were not especially wealthy. They were professionals, academics, artists, teachers and retirees. Historian Gray Brechin explains that Inverness in this era was mostly a middle-class summer retreat, comparable to Bonny Doon in the Santa Cruz Mountains or Fallen Leaf Lake in the Sierra. At the time, the very rich from the San Francisco Bay Area went to places where they…