About Us

We are located in Northern Wisconsin, about 90 miles north of Eau Claire and 30 miles south of Hayward. Situated on the shores of Big Chetac Lake. Big Chetac is more than a mile wide and nine miles long. It has about 1,900 acres of fishing and is connected to Birch and Little Birch lakes. Our lakes abound with many varieties of fish. For the sport angler we have Large and Smallmouth Bass, Walleye and Northern Pike. For the pan fish angler we are the Bluegill Capitol of Wisconsin.

We also have both varieties of Crappie and Yellow Perch, not to mention Bullhead and several varieties of rough fish.

But enough about fishing. Red School Resort is situated in a secluded forest setting on the shores of Big Chetac Lake. We have six Northwood’s modern vacation homes for your enjoyment. Each unit is completely furnished with all your housekeeping needs. We even include the T.P… What we do not furnish is towels and soap products for the kitchen and bath. Each unit comes with private parking in front of it. The units also include a large screened porch with a cedar swing and a table and chairs to enjoy watching sunrises and sunsets on the lake. Or you can enjoy them from your private pier where you may dock your boat or choose to sit on the bench and fish the afternoon or evening away.

There are not any phones in the cabins, however, we do offer free WiFi if you choose to ruin your vacation with one of those pesky devices. We also have flat screen TV’s with about seventy channels of cable vision. Great to catch a local weather report and news.

Big Chetac Lake with sky reflection.

You may be asking yourself what is Northwood modern? Well, four of our units were built in the 1950’s from native woods locally milled at the time. Most of the wood used back then was spruce and oak. In fact, one of the units stud walls are all ruff sawn Oak. You can imagine how hard it is to drive nails into them. As the years passed and owners changed upgrades have been added. When we bought the resort we decided to remodel the units a little at a time to keep costs down and rent at a reasonable rate. With each remodel we tried to keep some of the original interior paneling that’s part of the charm of the cabins, hence the term Northwood’s Modern. Our vacation homes are very comfortable, roomy, well heated, and supplied.

Red School is owned and operated by Rich, Donna, and Tony Manning. We strive to make your stay as enjoyable as possible. We have a new boat launch you may use or we will put your boat in for you at no cost. We will also take it out for you on the Friday of your departure.

The resort got its name from the original three room school house built on the property in about 1926. It was white then. Probably the only color available. The first class consisted of eight students and one teacher. It was heated by a large potbelly stove.  It was called the Big Chetac School. It was used as a school until around 1935 when the Birchwood School was built and all the small rural schools were consolidated. It sat empty, or was used for storage until the 1960’s when it was converted into a house with central heat. When we first bought the resort in 1986 we moved into the school house and lived in it until 1997 when we moved into our current house next door to the resort.

Red School Resort School sign.