We recently started an Okara Lakes Historical Committee to record the history of the camps in order to compile an historical register of the Okara Lakes area. This prompted me to pull photos off my phone and put them all in one photo album on the computer. Warning: This post is word heavy :-)
Joe built the camp shed. It's a skyscraper :-) The shed holds a LOT of firewood.
Even though this photo is from Budapest, this looks exactly like our lake and floating dock that we use to dive in the water. We even have the rubber tubes.
The remainder of this post is what I submitted for the historical register. I'm sure my parents and grandparents would have had wonderful memories to share :-)
Our camp is a single family
dwelling built by father and paternal grandfather in the early 70’s. The camp
was built in three sections, with the first section being 16 x 16 with a sink
to wash dishes. I think the outhouse was built first. J As
children (ages 6-11) we enjoyed spending time at the lake looking for polliwogs
and floating on tubes while dad was working on the camp. Then a second section
was added, and a few years later the third section. The third section is what
we referred to as the “bunk room”. Boy was life good for us. A hardworking
father supporting his wife and four children, and going to “camp” on the
weekends in a station wagon with the wood on the sides. Travel in the pre-mini-van days of the 1970s – sans seatbelts
of course. Upon arrival, we got out the webbed lawn chairs while dad worked on
the camp and mom prepared lunch. My dad also had a 1982 International Harvester
(Chrysler) that we used to haul items to the camp with my brother. Our next
door neighbor was Wilson Candee and his family whom we shared many fun times
(and meals) with. Occasionally we would head down the dirt road to hang out with the very sociable Baister family
at their camp. When I was a teenager, I babysat at the Pontiac Lodge for the
Callahan family.
My maternal grandfather retired from Remington
Arms and worked in the summer for Theodore Schenck (Town of Webb peace justice)
at his gas station and Little Bayou Cottages (where the arts center View is now located.) My
grandparents helped my mom and dad with camp projects and lived in a cute
Shasta trailer that he parked on our camp lawn. My grandmother and I would pick
blackberries and bake pies in the trailer. Seems that I recall mostly the
culinary activities that occurred at the camp.
Many gourmet meals have been prepared in our
camp kitchen and on our outdoor grill, and we hosted 32 people overnight one
weekend when our family was younger. One morning I was looking out the window
and there was a moose in our backyard. I have counted over 40 species of birds
in our backyard, and the loons sometimes wake me up in the morning. We also
have our share of bears, fox, deer, etc. Our camp provides us with a kind of
“soul food”. I could write an entire
book about the stories we have shared with over hundreds of friends and
families around the campfire. My siblings and I now have grandchildren that
will create their own memories around the campfire at camp.
Have you spent time at a family camp? I'd love to hear about it.
Thanks for stopping by!
xo
Debbie
