Winnipesaukee Camps Remembered

[winnilakegirl]

The only thing I remember about this was the summer my parents sent my brother there for two weeks. He hated it and was very home sick.
He had been waterskiing for years behind our boat but at the camp he didn't pass some test so he was not allowed to waterski. That was it for him -he wanted out. I must admit he was (and still is) an excellent water skier and loved to show all he could do. I only wish I could be half the water skier he was at that time.
He was so mad at the camp he refused ever to go again. He said that was the longest two weeks of his life.

winnilakegirl

[Merrymeeting]

Grant,

I feel like we should know each other! My daughter is a many-year Huckins camper and spent this past July there as a junior counselor. My sons were at Belnap for their 5th and 4th years respectively. They LOVE it! And I spent 5 summers working at Bald Peak (some as a caddy at the caddy camp, some as an employee) in Melvin Village in the late seventies. I'd join you in mourning the passing of many of these types of camps. The life lessons I learned...

Summer camp...a right of passage that every kid should experience.

[Sue in NH]

In response to Winnilakegirl’s post…I’m that sister that had the rollaway bed at Little Spokie (sorry, Winnilakegirl…Spoky Spot is the “mother” camp where the landlord lived…right above us on the top of the cliff). But I have to agree with her on this is the best memory ever….our camp in Alton Bay. Our famous waterfights often included the next door neighbors as well, no matter who rented the place out. Remembering those tiny pine needles everywhere…you always woke up with a stash under your covers. Every year the boathouse would be leaning more and more into the lake…I used to put on my dad’s skates and stand there…and rolling along without even trying. That leaning pine tree on the point it still there… I relived the memories she wrote out..and wish my son could enjoy these as well. But unfortunately, change happens…and our wonderful camp was sold and the new owner renovated it and added a mansion at the top of the cliff. The new version of our camp can be seen on this site at http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...cat=503&page=2 but this is no way our camp anymore. Those stairs shown now are no way the “fun” stairs and ramps we traveled each trip. We’ll never be able to visit our old camp anymore…one time we were checking on our friends camp (landlord’s camp, Spoky Spot) in the off season (which we typically did) and we had the police called on us by the new owners of “our” camp. They were building their mansion in our “parking” area and thought we were trying to steal from them. Luckily, we have pictures of our Heaven, and it will live in our minds and hearts forever.

[JacksonB]

And do you remember Wee Spokey and Spokey' Pot?

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Camp Alton
Does anyone know of other camps that are no longer in business?

[Frdxplorer]

Originally Posted by winnilakegirl

The only thing I remember about this was the summer my parents sent my brother there for two weeks. He hated it and was very home sick.
He had been waterskiing for years behind our boat but at the camp he didn't pass some test so he was not allowed to waterski. That was it for him -he wanted out. I must admit he was (and still is) an excellent water skier and loved to show all he could do. I only wish I could be half the water skier he was at that time.
He was so mad at the camp he refused ever to go again. He said that was the longest two weeks of his life.

winnilakegirl

My guess would be that your brother might have been quite a good skiier but not such a hot swimmer. The test you refer to is a swim test to make sure a camper is proficient enough to swim on his own safely. Camp Belknap is a YMCA and therefore uses the swim test that has effectively worked for YMCAs for decades to test swimmers' abilities. I must admit, I too had been coming to the lake for a few years before heading to Belknap and some of their policies annoyed me at the time. I really wasn't to hyped about wearing a life jacket on the boat but looking back I realize that these policies help protect the camp in an overly litigated society.