GOIN UPTA CAMP
"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature." Henry David Thoreau
Camp in Mainespeak is a
rather basic, usually seasonal cottage on a lake. Goin upta camp is a summer tradition for many
families from Maine and away. Over and
over I hear families are called year after year by the simple pleasures including
swimming, boating and fishing. Rainy
days and evenings are filled with board games and puzzles.
Louisa Nevitt-Perdoni,
a New Jerseyan, remembers going to camp at Mirror Lake, Oxford, with her 7
siblings starting in the late ‘50’s. After
making the trek to camp since the 1920’s, her family acquired a property and in
1952 built a Sears kit camp with 2 bedrooms, living area and kitchen + a front
porch.
Camp life included
bathing in the lake with ivory soap. Drinking
water was pumped from an unknown source.
There was no worry, and everyone drank it anyway. An outhouse was the norm.
According to Louisa, family
and friends were invited annually and “no one was every turned away.” “We slept wherever we could fit,” she recalls. Day trips to the White Mountains and other
attractions were a special treat. To her
family camp was a “place to reconnect, life simplified, relaxing and
easy.” Although interest in camp waned
when they became teenagers, the young adults with their own families have
revived the camp experience. Louisa’s
family now maintains “Aunt’s Camp” and encourages the tradition and stability
her family enjoyed. TV offers 2
channels, and there is no internet connection.
Scrabble is the family game of choice.
For our son-in-law, Mainer
Rick Strout, goin upta camp meant traveling from Auburn to Grandpa’s place at
Sabbathday Lake. He and his six sisters
swam and fished, picked berries and cooked hotdogs. They loved listening to stories around the
campfire. Rick never tired of hearing his
great grandfather’s hunting tales of McGourty’s Swamp in Chesterville—about the
hunt itself and sometimes about dodging the game warden.
There was no indoor
plumbing at Grandpa’s, but there was a hand pump outside to pump water. Although Grandpa had a big fireplace, there
was no central heating system.
Rick says, “I love the
smell of a camp.” For him hearing the
wooden screen door bang brings back memories.
Rick, who is a
carpenter, converted a seasonal camp on the upper portion of Little Sebago to a
year-round home for his family.
Rena, who lives in a
newly built home on 20 acres in Skowhegan, maintains a camp a few miles
away. Her family’s camp is a geo dome,
28 feet in diameter. It is all open with
a loft and offers one bedroom and a bathroom.
Power for the camp is an example of Maine ingenuity. It is connected to a 12 volt marine battery
located in a truck outside with underground wires.
Rena’s family enjoys
swimming, tv with local channels, cards, reminiscing and making photo collages
to take home. Rena says “The family
connection is the key to camp life.”
My husband and I are
new to the camp experience. Being from “away”
with children and grandchildren living in Maine, a lakefront vacation home
seemed a good idea. That was the
beginning.
On a leisurely boat
ride on Little Sebago, we happened on a handmade “for sale” sign in front of a
typical camp. Frankly, it was not my
vision of a vacation home, but my son-in-law convinced me it was right to
pursue. Being a native, he made the
first call to the owner, also a Mainer, to introduce me.
After a year of
negotiation we had a contract. The
mortgage company underwriters doubted the wisdom of our purchase – the failing
septic, no actual bathroom, no hot water, and no source of central heat. We patiently explained there were 100’ of
shoreline with a sandy bottom and gradual drop, and yes we knew what we were
doing. So in February 2006 we became
camp owners, and we’re hooked. We enjoy
seeing and hearing the loons that frequent our cove. My husband, John, reminds us on arrival to
“relax, it’s camp.”
Today our camp includes
a new well and septic, bathroom, hot water and Rinnai heater. We’ve added a
round, stone fire pit, which is great for evening campfires or the lobster pot.
We rent our camp during
the season, which to my surprise, is limited to July and August, and we have
succumbed to the demand for cable TV and internet. Games and puzzles as well as an assortment of
books are available for everyone who wants to immerse in the camp experience.
We do our best to retain the camp feeling/nostalgia of original knotty pine
paneling, shaving mirror over the kitchen sink, linoleum on the bedroom floors
– all included when the original owner built this camp in the 50’s.
Lobster bake is a special treat!! And don't forget the corn . . .
A favorite day trip is
a visit to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray.
There is always something new to see.
Last season we attended a wonderful program on eagles, and the star of
the show was a young eagle that had been rescued after a storm on Little Sebago
blew down the nest.
I asked one of our
repeat tenants, Anne and Jack Marsh, what makes them return. Although the Marshes only live in Portland,
going to camp is vacation for them, a true getaway with few distractions. Anne chooses not to bring her computer. She says “Being at the camp draws our family
together.” The Marshes have twin 12-year
old sons, who love the water and campfires.
On rainy days they play monopoly together for hours.
Among the boys’
favorite activities is fishing from the dock.
Anne, who was raised a city girl, learned to bait a hook and remove the
hook. Anne says, “the boys have become
catch and release fisherman.”
We use Krainin Real
Estate, established in the area since 1976 to handle our rentals. I asked owner Maggie Krainin whether she
heard stories from returning tenants.
She told me Krainin handles approximately 1200 rentals per year, and 56%
are repeaters. She said “Some folks
always want the same property, and they develop a feeling of almost
ownership. They even bring additions to
the camps like decorative items, books and games.”
Her rental agents have
some funny stories to tell like the renter who complained about a squirrel in
the cottage who was eating their Oreo cookies. It seems the squirrel was not inclined to
leave as long as the cookies lasted.
Another agent remembers
folks who had asked their agent over and over whether there would be loons at
the lake. When they got there, they
complained the loon calls were so loud, they kept the family awake.
Camp is not for
everyone. A Krainin agent remembers a
lady arriving for check in wearing tight capris and 4” heels. When a chipmunk ran out of the woods and
under her car, the lady screamed “An animal!
An animal” and immediately put her child back into the car to avoid an
animal encounter.
For those who love the
simplicity of camp living, the campfires, relaxing on the shore or playing
games on rainy days, camp is a treasured summer tradition.
As for us, we’re sad to
close the camp in the fall, and we can hardly wait for the ice to go out on the
lake in the spring so we can prepare for opening.
