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Do You Remember Summer Camp?


beckyrepp
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This year, 2010, is the 100th anniversary of the American Camp Association® (ACA)--promoting summer camp for youth.

 

They document the first summer camp starting in 1861. You'll find an historical time line about summer camp - with some great photos here: http://www.acacamp.org/anniversary/timeline/

 

Becky

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Camp Mohawk... Sometime in the late 1950s, somewhere in the back woods of Prince Georges County, MD. Our Mom worked so my brother and I went every week day one summer. Somehow I finagled a junior assistant counselor position and got to swim with the older girl counselors... Cool beans! B)

 

~ Steve

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YMCA camp on Ossippee Lake in Waterboro, Maine, about 30 miles from where I used to live, the summer of 1947 - I was 9 years old. First time away from home, I was scared to death. But when I got home I wanted to go next year. Sadly it was not to be - the camp, and most everything else in the area, burned in the great fires of 1947. I remember we did drive up there and it was so sad to see the rusting springs from the bunks, the burned buildings.

 

But I got a surprise in 1948 - Mom and Dad signed me up for the YMCA summer camp on Lake Cobbosseecontee up near Winthrop, Maine, and I had a great time. I still remember the YMCA camp motto - God First, the other fellow 2nd, I'm 3rd. Lord, is that even politically correct in our world today???? I went again in 1949 and 1950, but that was the last time I went to summer camp until I went to Marine boot camp at Paris Island in the summer of '55 - I think the YMCA motto got turned around a little. Like it was the Drill Instructor first - but, on the other hand, the DI WAS God and you'd better never foget it!!!!!!:D

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

 

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This year, 2010, is the 100th anniversary of the American Camp Association® (ACA)--promoting summer camp for youth.

 

 

 

All scouting related:

 

Camp Eastman - On the Mississippi between Keokuk, IA and Nauvoo, IL on U.S. 96 - 2 weeks each in 1951 and 1952. During my "rookie" year our troop got to stay in log cabins that were screened in out in the deep woods. Daily swimming in the Mississippi was hazardous but fun. Biggest adventure was when my buddy and I were earning our canoeing merit badges and were turned loose on the river. The current was swift (especially for two 11-year olds) and we rapidly came closer and closer to the river dam at Keokuk. Paddled like hell, got the thing turned around, and finally got the canoe back upstream to the camp dock. Whew! The second year found our troop tent camping in a different location. Lots of adventure, as I was the camp bugler (bungler?) and was inducted into the select scouting Order of the Arrow. Spent the night in the woods with only a blanket and a knife as part of the initiation. Exciting!

 

Camp Tesomas - Rhineland, WI - 2 weeks in 1953. Coldest lake water in which I ever swam. Thousands of mosquitoes and they seemed to like me. I rode a train from Springfield, IL to Chicago along U.S. 66 with 3 other buddies where we switched trains for a long, slow overnight ride to Rhinelander.

 

Philmont Scout Ranch - Albuquerque, NM - 2 weeks in 1954. Went with 3 others from my troop and we hiked through the mountains to a different camp site daily. Cooked our own food and loved nearly every minute of it. Another train trip, some of which was along U.S. 66.

 

Wouldn't take anything for the experiences....Bliss

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BW,

My BSA summer experience was the old Camp Roosevelt, circa 1961, on the Chesapeake Bay (MD). We slept in 3-sided cabin structures and cooked over open fires. The camp's beach was always loaded with shark's teeth. I remember getting my Totin' Chip card and looking for snipes<g>. Scout camp was always a great time. Many boys these days don't know what they're missing.

~ Steve

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