Jan Mosier and Geraldine McDonald had memories of cabin three, which was renamed “Sleepy Hollow” in the fifties and although Senior Village was the furthest from the lodge and was a highly desirable spot, no cabin created envy more than the one atop the boathouse!
Carla Wilhelm, Helen Hasty, Yolanda Erickson and Sally Harris had all attended camp in the forties and were a bevy of campers who wistfully recalled the enchantment cabin nine had for them, but they never had the chance to stay.
Maureen Moore remembered being in the cabin down the stairs and to the left in the late sixties before her stay in Senior Village, but never got into the boathouse cabin. “The wood floors were always sandy and the beds were awful, but cool, and everyone wanted the top bunk with the area on the wall for our flashlight and personal things.”
“The big thing was to be in that hut above the boathouse, but the year I could be in it, we stayed in Senior Village” said Kerry Weber, who began in 1952. “It was the first year it was built and a group of girls from Essexville were in with me. We thought we were so grown up. I think we wrote on every board in there.”
Located above the boathouse and reached only by a stairway, the larger cabin was situated on the shoreline of Loon Lake, next to the campfire pit and directly in front of the craft hut. When the windows were open, the waves lulled the girls to sleep and the plaintive cries of the Loons echoed under the stars. It was camping magic.
Dorothea Kelton was thirteen in 1940, when she left for Maqua for two weeks. As an only child, she loved camp and attended with friends. They stayed together and always preferred the cabin over the boathouse,
“It was the elite place to be”, said Susie Utter, who camper from 1954-56. “We were the oldest and the boldest. There was something special about being in that cabin. I think we got to keep the lights on longer or some special privilege.”
“It was cool if you got to stay in it, plus the counselors were always at the campfires at night, so sometimes they would let us come down and sit with them,” said sixties camper Karen Magidsohn.
Carolyn Wait’s favorite camp memories are wrapped around her stay in the boathouse, because she was in with great girls and her bottom bunk was on the back wall facing the lake with the craft hut in the background. She can still peek into her diaries from 1955-57 and find the words, “going to camp tomorrow” with all her experiences. (And we can still peek into the boathouse hut and see her name everywhere:)
Mary Beth Morton spent her first and second year as a camper (1974-75) with her stepsister Mary, who was the same age, in the cabin above the boathouse. “I was so glad to be up there. I remember the metal trunk and the bunk beds and loved setting up the trunk. I felt so independent. We all goofed around and there was no meanness from any of the girls. We would talk at night and the counselor would try to shush us up.”
Counselor Amy Johns (1967-68) and C.I.T. Mickie Kessler (1949) had their opportunity and loved it. “I lived over the boathouse as the waterfront assistant the last year”, said Amy.” There was always a lot of jealousy to be in that cabin. But, alternately when the counselors were on duty by the campfire, you could not get away with anything. I think the last year the camp enrollment was not full and they used that cabin for counselors and junior counselors.”
“Since it was on the second floor, it seemed like it was nestled in the trees”, said Janet Dixon (1951-52). “I had the top bunk of a bed up front, so I could lay there and look out over the water. I remember the wonderful sounds of water lapping on the beach and the wind blowing through the trees.”
Carrie Norris (1972-73) had total recall of her amusing boathouse adventures. “The second year my Mom and Mrs. Eakley drove me up, and I was like ‘See ya-bye!’. I had already been there and everything was fine. I had the hut above the boathouse. Ah, the glory of being in that boathouse! One night it was kind of cold and we opened the doors. The counselors were pretty strict and would make us go to bed. Camp life was pretty structured, and I could hear that stinking reveille all the way to the boathouse. I would be wrapped up in my denim covered sleeping bad and think to myself, I hear it, but I’m not getting up.”
“Somebody told us the best way to sleep was to be naked, so we thought we were so grown up as we slept naked in our sleeping bags. There was one girl who wet her bed and no one wanted to sleep under her if she was on the top bed. There was a lot of bed shuffling”, she laughed as she recalled writing ‘Carrie ’72’ on the back of the boathouse wall.
Did you ever experience boathouse envy and did you ever camp up there? What was the enchantment for you?