Like many Baby Boomers growing up on the East Coast, a significant portion of my childhood summers (and arguably the best portion) were spent at a sleep-away camp in New England. For me, that sleep-away camp was Camp Lenore, "A Camp for Girls in the heart of the Berkshires," Lenore not only provided me with the expected roster of summertime skills, (swimming, canoeing, etc.) it played an enormous role in shaping my identity. My nearly a decade of summers there produced some of the fondest memories of my life. I suspect I am not alone. And that's why I am writing this.
50 years ago, this summer, was my first summer at Lenore. (1959!) Coincidentally, my last summer, was the Camp's 50th anniversary. Even weirder, today is Wednesday, July 1, and 50 years ago, today, it was also Wednesday, July 1! The synchronicity of it all is too much to ignore. I felt I had to put it in writing.
Unfortunately, Camp Lenore now exists only in our memories. (Or, in faded photo albums and scrap books- if you kept yours, like I did.) Those memories are fading along with our diminishing population of former campers. So, here's what I'm thinking: A bunch of us former Lenorites have already been in touch via Face Book. What I've sensed is that there is clearly a wealth of information/reminiscences that can and should be codified somehow. I hope this can be the forum in which to do that. As a former "Lenorlog" editor, and one who still has copies of nearly every Lenorlog from my camp years, I'll be posting excerpts from campers entries. (Hopefully, they won't mind!) Here's where you come in...
HISTORY: I'd like to create a sort of Wikipedia of Camp history, pieced together with your contributions.
PHOTOS: Please send/share if you have
COMMENTARY: Ditto for any of your recalled experiences.
SONG LYRICS; And there were many!
CAMP TRADITIONS: Songs, special days, etc.
CAMPER LOCATOR: Let's try and create an address book
It's "No Common Task", but, if you're up to it, let's go through those old stone gates again, together!
So, to commorate, today, the anniversary of my "first day" of Camp, I am including an excerpt from the 1959 Lenorlog. It was written by a first time camper, Liz Rapoport
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
"This is my first year at Camp Lenore, or for that matter, any camp. Right now, I am having a wonderful time, but let me tell you about my first impressions...On Wednesday, July 1st, I traveled by car with my brother and mother to Hinsdale, Mass. As we neared the camp, I was excited, but also scared. If this had been the first camp day in your life, wouldn't you have felt the same way? When I got to Lenore, I was amazed; I had never seen such a beautiful camp, and I had visited many!...But, I also experienced a peculiar feeling. Suppose the girls didn't like me/ Suppose they didn't want me in the bunk?..As the buses drove up and I saw my friend Gae (Gae-Ellen Zaymore, one of the owner's daughter, I believe), my fears began to subside...I thought to myself, "I'm going to like this camp after all."
What were your first memories?
Unlike the camper in the above entry, in 1959, (and 1960) campers traveled to Lenore by train. Imagine nearly 200 girls, ranging in age from 6 to 17,staff members and anxious parents, all crammed onto a platform at Grand Central Station in Manhattan on a hot July 1st. Since I had already been to a sleep-away camp the prior summer that departed in the same manner, I felt like a pro. But, Lenore was a much larger camp, and everything was on a much grander scale. I couldn't wait to kiss my parents good-bye and jump on that train. Besides, I was going to Lenore with two good friends, Diana and Barbara Noble, so the separation wasn't difficult. Not so for others. I do remember watching from the train window as staff members had to physically separate a hysterically sobbing Elise Sambur from her mother, right before the train pulled out. She was fine a few moments later, but this scene replayed every year that Elise went to camp. (I recall hearing that her father had recently passed away, so separations were especially hard on her.) I remember watching as the station platform seemed to recede, along with the throng of waving parents, as we pulled away,. Once enroute, there was a huge level of excitement on the train as returning campers reconnected with each other. It must have been quite the task for the supervising counselors to keep everyone under control... We newer girls tried to make our way through this scene as best we could. And we certainly had the time to try. The trip up to the Pittsfield area must have taken anywhere from 4 to 5 hours. I don't remember being bored. Besides, most of us were equipped with plenty of comic books and enough sugar to have sent us to Canada. When we finally did arrive at the station in Massacussetts, we were met by buses that took us the rest of the way up to camp. The trip took us down narrow, country roads, and through little towns with quaint, victorian-like cottages. Even as a first time camper, with whatever anxiety I might have had, I remember I couldn't wait to get there. At some point, the buses all had to slow down to make it up this one last hill. To the seasoned campers, this gear shift was apparently a cue to start singing. Because soon after, we made a sharp turn onto a drive bounded by two large, stone gate posts and bordered by beautiful, mature trees. As we made our way up the road, you could hear the sound of hundreds of girls singing the anthem that we used for every entrance (or re-entry) we made into camp:
Here we are! We are the girls from Lenore
Campers all, loyal and true!
Green and white, colors of lasting glory,
We will pledge ever to you!
Faithfully, we will return each summer
Knowing the joys that are in store.
Our mem'ries fond will linger on
For we are the girls of Camp Lenore
Green and White for peace and beauty
Lenore will carry on
For the Green and White for peace and beauty
Undaunted will go on
The fun we've had, the friends that we have made
Will linger on although the years may fade,
And be it so, Lenore, we pay thee homage
Forever and again.
(Repeat until exhausted)
That was the first song of many that we would have to learn. And we had just arrived! My first summer at Camp Lenore was already in full swing.
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