MOODUS, Conn. -- The Sunrise Resort, which has been a family resort in Moodus since the early 1900s, is closing its doors for good this week.

Martha Lichtblau said she’s been making the drive from New York with her kids for the last seven years. She said her youngest son took his first steps at the resort.

“There are a lot of memories,” she said. “The kids have such a great time here on the water and stuff.”

The news that Sunrise is closing is hard to take, said Lichtblau.

"We're really sad,” she said. “We haven't even actually told the kids yet."

Since it opened in 1916, only three families have owned the Sunrise Resort. Closing the resort after owning it for so long, the Johnsons said the move is nothing if not bittersweet.

"We have families that have been coming here for five generations – great-great-grandma and grandpa met here, and they came back as married couples, and they came back with their children," said co-owner Larry Johnson.

The Johnson family said it’s ready to move one. It said the state will soon own the land and make it a campground. Most of buildings will be gone, the family said, but the memories won’t.

"As soon as you exit the driveway, they're like, ‘I can't wait to come back next year,’ so that's going to be the hardest thing," said Lichtblau.

The Johnsons said they’re planning a fireworks display 8 p.m. on Sunday to ease the pain a bit and say thanks to of the generations of people who have found peace at the resort over the last 90-plus years.