Camps are anything but buildings - they are all about people, but the buildings are central to facilitating the ministry of camping. The Dining Hall, with the bell and flag pole just outside was a central piece of the camp. My goodness that building could be noisy! And how many times was that floor washed - yes the kids loved doing that.Then there was the washrooms. Now these washrooms are familiar to the younger crowd but I remember the old building - remember the urinal trough? Ugh.
That buiding became our drive-in shed and workshop for the maintenance worker.
I always thought the washrooms could have been located elsewhere but location was dictated a bit by the way the services were located. And finally the cabins. The old ones left the property with much history still inside them - walls, beams with notes and names inscribed on them. The new ones allowed more space and the porches provided shelter from the sun and rain.
Did you have a favourite building? One that seemed to represent camp to you?
5 comments:
I am writing this for Nancy Haskell.She had a favorite building that she can remember from her working days at camp.It was a little red building across from the White House (Hoover)They use to use it for canteen before the one up by the cabins and dining hall.Then they moved it over by the guest house for boys staff.Can anyone remember?
Donna Haskell
I had a couple of favorites:
The old cabins before the infamous renovations - when they had a big common room and 2 big rooms with bunk beds. I miss the open rafters!
Hoover House, definitely. Great place to live for a summer when you're on staff!
It really wasn't a building, but I also loved the Tee-pee out back in the guide camp (mid-90's) - I remember Dyan Gill and I scaring the life out of the kids camping out back there, with our "moose calls"!
i always liked the old dining hall. My earliest memories were of being driven to the DH (the rec hall) in somone's station wagon because the mud was so bad. I loved the old benches and the long tables. I was only 7 when i first started there, so my memories of buildings then, of course, were of MUCH bigger facilities!! ha ha! how they shrunk!! I loved the pools, the old one was so tiny! But any pool for me was a good pool. When the new pool was put in with its twin diving boards, i had a blast the summer of '78, counseling at Freshie with Elizabeth Stickland - she and i learned and perfected our 'jacknife' moves, in tandem, on the diving boards. We nailed 'em!! It was SO fun! I loved the old cabins but they were so hot and spider infested. . . *shudder* I used to swing from the rafters with my beach towel. It was great reading all the rafter graffiti with my flashlight.
I agree with J9. I liked living in Hoover House, and the cabin style she mentioned.
I also liked Cedar Lodge. I think the first time I ever went in was while on staff. We had to clean it between camps. While a camper, it was always 'out of bounds', a forbidden place!
And the auditorium. I was only ever in "the hangar" for the very last Sr. music camp program. It just wasn't the same without the stuffy, over-crowded auditorium!
Does anyone remember the old bathrooms???
Walking from the old cabins every morning and night to brush your teeth in a sink filled with spiders and bugs. Today kids ARE spoiled!! We would freak out if camp was like that now for our kids.
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