Saturday, August 6, 2022

Camp Days

Camp Nagawicka


Through a fellow camper, I found a Facebook group from my camp days. I went to camp every summer from the age of 10 for ten years as a camper, then as a counselor. My camp was then sold and is now summer lake homes in Delafield, Wisconsin on Lake Nagawicka. I had no pictures from these days, and through this group found pictures from almost every year. 


The camp was eight weeks long. Can you imagine what that would cost today? I would get out of school in June and immediately start packing for camp. Kids came from all over the country - the largest contingencies were from Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, escaping the summer heat in the South for those cool Wisconsin summers. Campers would travel by train all dressed up with chaperones.

Can anyone find me in the photo above? I am in the second row on the far left.

Here I am the following summer at age 11 - I am in the back row, the second camper on the right (so six from the right).


Camp Nagawicka


It was so interesting going through old posts from the group and realizing how impactful it was to so many people. Fellow campers have bought or built homes on the site, have reunions all over the country, and some have had their ashes spread there. So many say those were the happiest days of their lives. Many relatives have recounted dying family members in their last days reminiscing about their days there.

I learned how to sail, play golf, tennis, ride horses, canoe, fish, you name it at camp. There was even an island with sailing and swimming. My first kiss and first boyfriend were there. It was at camp that I fell in love with musicals, as we put one on every summer. 

Thanks for allowing me this little trip down memory lane. Any other former campers out there with similar experiences?

P.S. I just looked out of curious at properties on Lake Nagawicka and there are lake homes going for upwards of $4 million. Wow!


 

22 comments:

  1. camping----wearing WHITE!!! just wow

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    1. We only wore white on Sundays, but on Sunday everyone was in all white and I thought it was very chic.

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    2. I spent 7 weeks every summer at camp Aloha in Vermont. We wore white every Sunday and green shorts, white shirts and a green tie to dinner every night. Those were pivotal years for me. Loved camp!

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  2. Very COOL: & all in White !

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  3. LOVE this! In Texas, it was Camp Longhorn!! Just a wild guess, but are you #1 from left in row 2, and in the color pic possibly #4 from left on row 2? LOL... just a fun exercise. Great post!!

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    1. You got the first correct, in the second I am in the back row, the second camper on the right.

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  4. We still have bunk sheets with iron-on name tags for my husband, his two brothers, and both our own children. Camp Pinnacle was a family tradition for decades. “It’s a camp on a hill / guaranteed to give you thrills / Pinnacle for me!”

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    1. My grandmother would hand sew all the name tags for my brothers and my things.

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  5. Camp Tannadoonah on Birch Lake in Vandalia, Michgan holds those memories for me. My three daughters all went there as well. What a wonderful experience!

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  6. What a wonderful gift from your parents. Thank you for sharing the memories.

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    1. True, and they probably enjoyed having the summers to themselves with all three of us at camp.

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  7. Such sweet memories! Very glad for you that you discovered this!

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  8. My sisters went to Keystone in Brevard, NC and our son went to Camp Carolina, also in Brevard.

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    1. Camp Pinnacle is in Flat Rock, just down the road from Camp Tonawanda. A beautiful area for summer fun.

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  9. Thanks for the memories! Camp Addison Boyce in Tompkins Cove, New York.
    I spent my time dressed in Girl Scout camp attire. Yes, Girl Scouts had camp
    uniforms in those days! It wasn't as fancy as your's Beth. I recall that we spent a great deal of time involved in nature projects.

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    1. I had a friend who went to Boy Scout camp in upstate New York and still talks about it - it may have been Lake George?

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