De Bruce was once a resort town, catering to fly fishermen. George LeBranch, author of "The Dry Fly and Fast Water" in 1914, who had his home in De Bruce, famously cast his first dry fly there. The De Bruce Club Inn, first owned by Charles B. Ward and then by Walter Kocher since the early 1940s, was also there. The Inn offered a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts and fishing on several miles of the choicest water on the upper Willowemoc. It had its own farm, fish hatchery, hydroelectric plant, private area telephone system, and later TV cable. Movies were shown on weekends. During its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s it was a popular destination for sportsmen from the city, famous for its food and smiling hostesses, and Chef Cesar Ricci. Chef Ricci would oversee its grand formal picnics at both Little Falls and at Mongaup Pond with tables, linens, and flatware with animals spit roasted whole.