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Dear Lee,
Gary Fisher sent me your letter to him dated 11/22/06 regarding the old swimming hole and other features of Camp  Michaux He thought since I am considerably older than he that I might have some recollections. So here goes.

Your surmise about the picture of the "old swimming hole" is correct. As I recall, the churches enlarged the pool, put  in a sand bottom, sluiceways to channel in the water, concrete walls and a diving board sometime in the very early  1950's. The sluiceways formed a "Y" with Tom's Run about 100 yards upstream from the pool. One sluice channeled the Run and emptied back in to the stream bed below the spillway of the dam. The other sluice entered the pool at the side opposite the dam up toward the road. There were slots in the walls of the base of the "Y" so boards could be put in to control how much water went up each arm .You can see these sluices in the photo of the "new' pool.

I can remember going to Michaux with my Dad when he was director of camping for the Mercersburg Synod of the E & R church in the late 40's and early 50's. I seem to recall the old pool . By the time I was a camper in 1953, I believe we used the "new" pool. This is all from memory which is subject to failure as I get older but those are my impressions. There might be a way to check all this out. At the time, capital improvements to Michaux were not part of the operating budget for the camp and were paid for by the judicatories involved. If the records still exist, they might be found by contacting either the Carlisle Presbytery or Penn Central Conference of the UCC (at that time Mercersburg Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church) to see if they have any record of capital expenditures in that time period.

I don't recall the pump house in the location it appears in the postcard picture. There was a pump house to the left of the "new" pool as you faced it from the dining hall. It was between the pool and the incinerator and new office building. As far as I can remember, it had an inlet in the pool and was used only for pumping water through the fire fighting system. The building housed a pump with a 6 cylinder car motor that I can remember Bill Hockley firing up when we did fire drills. We accused him of goosing the pressure up on the pump to see how many of us crew members he could knock over as we held the fire hose. By the way, we used to enjoy those fire drills as it gave us a chance to take the old fire engine out for a spin. Sometimes we got halfway to Caledonia since we wanted to make sure the battery got a good charge. And of course we had to make sure the siren still worked.

About the water supply, you are correct about it being at the upper dam on Tom's Creek. When I was there, there was an intake structure on the left hand side of the creek as you face the dam about 30 or 40 feet upstream from the dam. As I recall it, it was just a square concrete box about 2 or 3 feet on a side with openings in it to let the water in. I don't know when it was built. As I said, I don't remember where the pump house was since I was not involved with that part of the operation of the camp but I do remember the intake.It is quite possible the water supply pump was in the building with the fire pump and I just didn't pay any attention to it. As far as the tanks go, at the time I was working there from 1958 to 1970 there was only one water tank that I know of. It was located on the uphill side of Michaux
Road about 20 or so feet above the road. On the aerial map of the camp on your Website, it was about where the "p" in camp is in the title of the map.

I still enjoy visiting your web site to see if there is anything newt. Thank you for taking on this labor of love.
Sincerely,
  Dave Robinson    -  New Windsor, MD  November   2006

Hello Lee!
     My name is Cindy Hockley, and I am the daughter of Wilmer and Connie Hockley. My father was the Superintendent of Camp Michaux from approximately 1953 to 1973, when the lease was dropped. My family, including my older brother, Raymond, lived in a house on-site, year round. I spent the first six years of my life at Camp Michaux.

     Some memories are fuzzy, and some are quite vivid. We had a bell along the sidewalk leading to our front door, and my Mom would lift me up every day to ring it at noon, for my Dad to come in for lunch. Dad maintained the grounds and buildings, and worked from dawn to dusk. I can remember feeding birds right out of the palm of my hand, and I can still see the black snakes slithering up the trunks of the trees that lined our yard. Summertime was the best time, and I remember helping Dad around the pool, and meeting kids of all ages. The camp was alive with people in the summer. Winter was a different story, as it was just my family and a few folks living in cabins who stayed to endure the chill.

     This past weekend, I drove up Michaux Road and walked all over the place, trying to reconstruct from a child's memory the way it was so long ago. Luckily, we have pictures and slides still in the family that help to keep that part of our lives distinct. My brother is much better at remembering the layout and the buildings, as he grew into adulthood living at Camp Michaux.

     After spending about two hours reminiscing and stumbling upon broken concrete, exposed water lines, and traces of sidewalks amidst the thick overgrowth of weeds and brush, I found the foundation of what I believe was the dining hall. At that moment, I felt better, knowing that there had indeed been bustling life there at one time, and I could almost smell the smoke of the campfires, hear the faint laughter of kids splashing in the pool and the melodious sound of the piano from the chapel dancing on the breeze. (I have a faint memory of sitting outside the chapel, the sunlight shining on my face, listening to someone (my Mother, perhaps ?) playing a piano.

     I have been distracted now for over 24-hours, and decided to surf the web for anything to do with Michaux Forest. To my overwhelming disbelief and joy, I found your web page. After perusing through the e-mails and pictures, I felt compelled to send you this e-mail. Did you ever meet my family? Did you ever speak to my father? Unfortunately, my father passed away in December 1995, and therefore cannot bring my memories into focus for me anymore. But, I am certain his spirit permeates that mountain and the little clearing that once was Camp Michaux.

     The Hockley's date back to the late 1700's in Pine Grove Furnace, and my father was born in a house no longer standing near the Furnace Stack at Fuller Lake. He was 48 years old in 1973 when we moved away, after giving much blood, sweat, and tears in a labor of love as the groundskeeper for the little church camp that gave so many people like yourself fond memories of summertime youth.

     I apologize for the melancholy tone of my e-mail, but your pictures and web page have meant a great deal to me today, for they have re-affirmed a brief time in my childhood that I will always carry with me. I have always somehow felt cheated that I did not grow up there as my brother did, and as many of the campers did, spending summer after summer among friends. I go back as much as I can, but time and neglect are making the place nearly indistinguishable. Thank you for your memories. I have truly enjoyed the trip back in time.
   Sincerely, Cindy Hockley, Sept. 1, 2003

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     I want to tell you that I've been visiting, and revisiting your site about Camp Michaux... very well done and a definitely worth a look by anyone who ever had anything to do with Camp Michaux.

     Allow me to tell you how Camp Michaux became a part of my life. I'm one of a few nephews to Wilmer (Bill) & Constance (Connie) Hockley.   See letter above. Of course, that makes me a cousin to their 2 children Raymond (Andy) and Cindy. Connie is my Mother's sister. Bill, as you know, was the Caretaker/Groundskeeper at the camp and as mentioned on the web site, he and his family lived there year round in what used to be the old Infirmary/Hospital. In our family, Bill was also called Mort, and growing up it was always Uncle Mort and Aunt Connie... but I'm not sure where that came from.

And now a wee bit about me... Camp Michaux was very near and dear to me for many reasons. Mainly, that place created wonderful childhood/young adulthood memories that we all have and cherish as we get older. I spent many days/weeks over a period of many years at the Camp starting in the late 50's through the entire decade of the 60's and into the early 70's. As I neared graduation (I graduated High School in 1971) I sadly must say I spent less and less time there. In hindsight, that wouldn't have happened, but... being a teenager, I was into other things and my visits became fewer and fewer and further in-between. After graduation, I worked for a year and then joined the United States Navy. We were still in Vietnam and had I not joined the Navy, I would have been drafted into the Army. I spent the next 8 years serving and most of that was overseas in the Orient. When I finally got out of the Navy in 1980, the Camp had long been closed and the Hockley's had moved "out in the valley" to Walnut Bottom.

Some of the best times of my youth was spent at Camp Michaux, and it's heartbreaking to think about what was there and what is there now. That place will forever hold very fond memories for me. In my minds eye, I can still see the Camp as it was in it's glory days, and I can easily echo the thoughts of others as we ALL  remember the smells and the sights. I'm equally certain that anyone who ever been at the Camp and spent any time there can easily conjure up many good and fond memories of that place. We had countless family get-togethers and picnics there and spent numerous holidays there as well. It sure was a wonderful place and great time in our lives. I'd love to be able to turn the clock back and live through a few weeks there like it was back in the 1950's-60's... wouldn't that be wonderful! I just wish life was as simple now as it was then.

I've been back there off and on over the years (it's been a long time since the last visit) just like others who have migrated back there. The place seems to draw one near, regardless when you were there last or if you have never been back. It's sad to have viewed it during the heyday's, since I can easily and vividly remember so very well what it was like away back when, and look at it after it was closed down. But at the same time, I also feel lucky that I did see it when things were in full swing and thriving.

Our families were together there often, but 4 of us kids spent much time there together (me, Andy, and 2 other cousin's - Charles & Ronald Kunkleman). The Kunkleman's were Judy's boys and Judy was another sister of my Mother and Connie. So, after seeing your web site, the memory floodgates opened wide and it got the juices flowing again. I contact my Cousin's and the 4 of us are going back this Spring (2006) and we are going to make a day of it. I figured we ALL hold memories and we can key off one another's memories and that will make it easier for our minds eye to paint the pictures we will surely be remembering. Each and everyone of us is looking forward to this trip. In general, I know it will be a bittersweet journey for me and the Kunkleman's, but in particular it will be bittersweet for Andy who spent his entire youth there. I think it will return all of us to a "kinder, gentler time" if only for a few hours. I'm well aware that nothing, absolutely nothing is ever the same. One thing that is constant is change, and when we visit anyplace, the next day it has changed just a wee bit. Of course, that snowballs as the years go by. The Camp is no different. I think it's nice if one can reach back and visit childhood places where so much fun was had.

I've been scanning and retouching old photo's that I got from Aunt Connie and I want to do "then 'n' now" comparisons in pictures of the Camp and surrounding areas. I know Aunt Connie has many pictures that the regular campers/staff don't have because they lived there year round. I have a bunch of winter pictures that I came across and the Camp was beautiful even under a few feet of snow! My main interest is in photos that had buildings and open areas because that way I have a points of reference to take the "now" pictures from.

This will take me awhile to get this all together, but I'm going to do it. With that said, feel free to publish this on your web site with the others that have left comments. I was impressed and moved by the article and comments that my Cousin Cindy Hockley wrote back in 2003. She was a real young girl away-back-then, but even then, Camp Michaux left it's mark on her too. And that is, without a doubt, what Camp Michaux did to anyone who ever went there... it left it's mark and found a permanent home in each of our memories.

Best regards... Gunner (Mike Gross)  Feb 2006
P.S. Thanks again for all the work you have done on the web site. I hope it continues to grow and grow.

We did get over to Camp Michaux on April 1, 2006. I went back myself on the 10th as there were a few other pictures I wanted to take after I had a chance to get home from the first visit and think about what I had just seen. Unfortunately for us, Andy did not make the trip as he was ill. It was a huge disappointment for the rest of us, as his memory from living there so long is much better than any of ours. He certainly wants to go back, so we are already working on a return trip that will include him. Andy is really key to the whole thing and he can definitely cross the T's and dot the I's on everything there.

However, even without Andy, we really did do pretty good. Between my 2 Cousin's and myself we pieced together most of the Camp as we remembered it and I have been working on those photo's for weeks. I did show some of them to Andy and, like I figured he would, he immediately filled in all the details that we couldn't.  Looking at the pictures really got him "charged-up" and as soon as he gets a decent day when he is feeling well we are going back again. Once you make the journey back there, it becomes a "moth to the flame" thing as it draws you back, even though that journey is a bittersweet one. I have been constantly looking at the photos (old and new) over the past few weeks and it really brings it home the sadness that we had viewing the place now, and remembering what it was like then. I really appreciate the disk you sent as it has been very helpful in me piecing many things together. One thing for sure, it will not be too many more years before the mountain will have completely reclaimed most if not all of the Camp. In fact, if anyone goes there that was never there, they would not have a clue what had been there.

Gunner (Mike Gross)  April 2006

"If you can read this, you can thank a teacher. . . but FAR MORE IMPORTANTLY, if you live in the U.S. and are reading it in English, you really SHOULD make it a point to THANK a Vet."

      
    I spent many happy summers at this church camp in the early sixties to mid sixties. I even spent a summer there as a counselor for the children who came there in the summer of 1970. I remember working with a wonderful guy, Rick Smiley that summer of 1970 and always wonder how he turned out.

    I too have a tee shirt and the banner! I still even have the song book. Yes, I fondly remember singing "The Ash Grove", "Henry the 8th I am, I am", and "Them bones gonna rise again".   I remember morning vespers - sitting under the trees listening to the birds sing and reflecting. I remember singing after every meal, hiking on the blue trail, walking next to the stream "Toms Run", learning to swim in the pool, playing four square and volleyball, and buying candy in the camp store!   I remember skit night and somebody always getting drenched with a bucket of water.

    I have pix of me standing there with my bunk buddies at the pool and in the dining hall. I have the collection of camp pictures of the whole weekly groups taken on the stone steps in the upper camp!

    Thanks for the info and the memories! It's like seems like ages ago to this "35 years teaching special education students" going to retire soon lady!   Thanks again!   You brought back wonderful memories and yes, a few tears about its sad ending. I truly enjoyed the site and what people wrote.
Becky - 2009
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Many fond memories of Camp Michaux.
     I was a camper there July 19-31, 1948;   July 18-30, 1949 and July1950. 
These were the Senior High Camps from the E&R churches.
     I have the camp photos of the campers who attended with many "autographs". 
The truth be told, I met my future wife there in 1949...and after putting up with me for over 51 years....we still talk about "Camp".
    If anyone is interested, I would be pleased to send these photos.
They are long, rolled up kind; 28"x 8" for two of them. The other is 7"x10".
     It would be interesting to find anyone who attended Camp Michaux at that time.Please feel free to publish this and put our email address out there.

Edward L. Smith & Eva Eissmann Smith
Thomasville, NC   -  November 2006
E-mail:  terp59-at-northstate.net    (Replace the "-at-" with an @)

 

Lee,
     It was very nice to meet you at the Camp Michaux walk last Saturday. My sister and I enjoyed it very much, though it was quite sad to see that all of the buildings are gone, the entire camp is overgrown, and the pools are nothing like they were.  John Bland's presentation of the POW history was very interesting, too.

     If you recall, my sister went to Michaux for eight years from 1956 through 1963, and I attended for three years, 1960, 1962, and 1963. I don't know if you saw the song book that she had along or not. Since then we raided my mother's house and we found song books from the other seven years she was there and three with my name on them. She also
located pictures that were taken at the junior camps she attended of all of the campers, like the ones I showed you of two of the years I was there.

     I am attaching scans of all of those pictures (see above), scans of the postcards we had along on the 18th and also scans of the front and back of a Red Cross swimming card that she got while at Michaux. The rear of the card has some signatures of people who approved it.

Thanks for your wonderful web site.
We've really enjoyed the memories that it has brought back.
C. B  November 2007

 

    Just checked back on your Camp Michaux site and see that there are a couple new messages from folks whose memories you have stirred!  I hadn't checked back on the site for some months and was afraid it would be "gone". So glad you still have it up and running.  Your site is fabulous and it was nice to see lots of familiar names and even faces on the various pictures.

    I worked on the staff during the summer of 1961. Among the other workers were Sally McElwain, Alice Rippon, DeDe Albright, Sharon Stabnau, Kip Bollinger, Russ Weer, the assistant cooks Kendy and Laurie, the lifeguards Fran and Craig, our boss, Mr. Baker, his right-hand man, Mr. Miller (and their children), Mrs. Kopenhaver (the nurse I believe), and I'd try to remember more of them, but I'm afraid I'll miss someone's name!

     I have my scrapbook and picture album from that summer and they are treasured items even now.   If you recall, I sent for your CD of pictures and my heart broke at how so much of the camp has "disappeared". I've read that given long enough Mother Nature reclaims her own and it's proof that she does.

   Thanks again for stirring up all those fond memories. Obviously some of the crew enjoyed their work enough to return again after 1961 because I saw some familiar faces in other group photos.   I hadn't checked back on the site for some months and was afraid it would

   I would be very pleased if you would include part of my message and my e-mail, so that if any of the former staff reads it, maybe they would contact me. 
sandybeach61 -at- earthlink.net   (Replace the "-at-" with an @)
Once the gals married and moved around, I lost track of them -- all except Alice. She and I have kept in touch over the years.

    It was a great place and a summer full of memories for me.
    Great site --- keep up the good work.
    Sandy Thomas Fisher
    Waynesboro, PA    March 2006

  

     

 1.)   I enjoyed the memories on your site. I was a camper in the early 1950s (Steelton, PA Presbyterian Church) (Rev. John and wife Ruth Talbot) for several summers and then came back in the late 50s as a camp counselor for two summers before heading off to college (Mansfield University) and then teaching and coaching for 40 years. I loved the experiences of Camp Michaux, the friends, etc.   I still have the camp pictures of my groups when I was a camper and also of the counselors when I was a counselor. I also have a camp newspaper that was published one of the weeks I was a camper there. It was called the "Bugler". Camp Michaux was one of the truly good and inspirational experiences of my life.

2.)   What a coincidence! Yesterday my wife and I drove up to Camp Michaux to explore. (because of your Website, of course). It was the first visit for me in 47 years. The weather was great and we had a really good time. I found my way around quite easily. One never forgets. When we got home I found your CD in the mail waiting for me loaded with more pictures and history. On top of that, I found 2 pictures of me in your collection. In the "\Reunion\" folder, image 4118 (above) and I'm' #5 in the group of counselors third from the left with the crewcut.  In the camp picture, image 4122, I'm in the last row middle with the same crewcut.  So, yesterday was a double treat. It was "Camp Michaux Day" all around. I was a history teacher for 39 years and was the local historian for my towns of Steelton and Highspire, PA.so as well as having been at Camp Michaux for 4 years (2 as a camper and 2 as a counselor) this is all right down my alley. Thank you so much for the CD!!!
    Yours in history  - John Beck  April 2005

"Hi from Oregon!  I stayed in both Zwingli and Calvin Annex, the girls' barracks. The boys were housed in Calvin. Zwingli in the barracks to the right of the rec hall on your map. Calvin is the building directly across the road from Zwingli, and Calvin Annex is the smaller building to the left of Calvin. " Regards, M. H.

   I have just been let in on your great Camp Michaux site and have just begun to read it. It is great. I would like to comment on your section describing the location of various landmarks. In it, you surmise that the upper dam on Tom's run was the water reservoir. This is correct. At one time the water intake for the camp was very visible.
     I have a long history with Michaux beginning as a camper in the late 1940's. In fact, my dad is the Albert C. Robinson listed as director of Camping for the UCC church. Beginning in 1959 I was on the permanent staff of the camp as a work crew member and later as crew leader. In 1966 or 67 I took over from Gil Williar as camp manager with responsibility for hiring staff and running the camp. I had a lot of good help from a lot of people, most notably Russ Weer who was the assistant manager. A lot of the people mentioned in your site were hired by Russ and me, including Gary Fisher, Andy Rebert and Cheryl Schoonover. I was succeeded in 1971 by Carl Henry
    As I find time, I'll try to see what I have in the way of memorabilia and will send it as I find it. Again, it's a great site and I am enjoying reading it.
     I just got to the section asking about identifying the barracks of the church camp. Here goes:
As you entered the camp from Route 233 on the Michaux Road, the first  building you came to was a guard building on the left. This was just  before you crossed over Tom's Run. As you entered the camp an turned left on the hard road, the buildings were as follows: on the right was Michaux Lodge (marked intelligence building in one of the maps) which was used by the directors and staff of the lower camp as housing and gathering area. This was the only winterized building in the camp and it burned down I think sometime in the 60's but I'm not sure when.
     To the south of this building was the Caretaker's house where Wilber Hockley and his family lived. The next building on the right of the main road was Calvin, a boys dorm. The POW marker alluded to was in front of this building Next was the boys bath house which was slightly set back from Calvin and then came Calvin Annex which was half the size of the other barracks and was used for both boys and girls depending on the need. Next was the fountain which was slightly set back from the road and then there was was a small building we called the Secretaries shack because the camp secretary kept her stuff there. Behind the shack was the footers of a guard tower. Then there was an open area and then the dining hall you mention.
     Across from Calvin on the left of the road was Zwingli, a girls dorm. Next, and slightly set back was the girl's bath house with a small room on the right end as you faced it that at one time was the nurse's station. It ceased to be used as such when the new office was built across from the dining hall. The next building on the left was the lower rec. hall which also housed the camp store and behind this was the basketball court. The next building on the left was the old administration building and it was used as such until the new office was built. At some time after that it was torn down. After the old administration building was the new office, then the incinerator then the fire pumping station then the pond.  The above buildings comprised what was known as the lower camp.
     Returning to the intersection of Michaux Road, if you turned right you were in the maintenance area. On the left were the gas pump and several garages. On the right was the maintenance shop. This road went on out to Vesper Hill and became the Appalachian Trail.
     If you go up Michaux road to the upper service road, the building on the right in front of the stone barn wall was Trail Lodge where the male permanent staff lived and beyond that at the base of Vesper Hill was Deer Lodge which was mostly unused although for a while it was home for Clark Eckenrode who was an assistant caretaker.
     As you turn left on the upper service road, the first log cabin was Hutch and housed the kitchen girls and at one time the camp manager. The next log cabin was Honeymoon and was where the cooks lived. Next was the upper rec. hall (this is listed as the dining hall on one of the maps.) What at one time would have been the kitchen was turned into the manager's quarters and the screened porch was part of those quarters.
   Next there were 4 barrack going down the hill. The top one was the crafts building, the second was Witherspoon, the third one was Knox and the bottom on was the chapel. Knox and Witherspoon were girls dorms (depended on which camp was in session). Next (to the east) was the Pavilion with the Bath House below it. Then came the Steps To Nowhere and then two barracks, 52 and below that 51. The service road then turned left and circled around to meet the main road at the dining hall.
     Not all the building listed above were all there at the same time as some were torn down. They were there in the late 50's and early 60's. The usage I describe are as they were used by the church camp.

        Dave Robinson    -  New Windsor, MD  May, 2004

Permanent staff (work crew) 1959
Back row: Mr. Dick Adams, manager, Dave Robinson, Bob McCullough, Dean Young,
Dick(Tiny) Moyer, Jerry Derr, Jeff Smelser, Woody Wiley, Elly Long, Betty Kearns, Mrs. Cesna
Middle row: Jean Uhl, Marlene Kisner, Judy Spenser,Bev McElwain, Gail Shell, Joan Caelo,
Sandy Adams, Gail Charles, Sue Oster (now Robinson), Sharon Young (now McCullough),Mary
Lou Wood, Mrs. Adams with Kay Kopenhaver behind, Jean Copenhaver
Front row: Davy Uhl, Mark Uhl, George Uhl, Sue Kopenhaver, Jo Ellen Kopenhaver

Permanent (work) Staff 1963
Front Row, L to R: Andy Hockley, Kay Kopenhaver, Jo Ellen Kopenhaver, Sue Kopenhaver
Row 2: Mrs. Finkey, Jean Kopenhaver, Mrs. Baker, George Baker, Manager, ---,---
Row 3: Karen Albright, ___, Dee Dee Albright, ---, ---, Sally Mcelwain,---, Kathy Bange
Row 4: ---, Sue Oster,--- Ruth Weer, Russ Weer
Row 5: Dave Line, ---, Bert Baldwin, Bill Hockley, Charley Schaeffer, ---

Permanent (work) Staff 1964
Front Row 1 L to R: Eddie Williar, Terri Williar, Mark Williar
Row 2: Helen Shullenberger, Helen McAdoo, Ruth Weer, Ann Roelke, Francine Stenger, Pat Williar
Row 3: Mrs. Finkey,Janet Compton, Donna Cohick (now Weer), Karen Albright, Sue Oster(Robinson), Dee Dee Albright
Row 4: Mrs. Keefer, Charley Schaeffer, Russ Weer, Dave Robinson
Row 5: Tom Johns, John Hosteter, Scott Evans
Row 6: Gil Williar, Manager

Permanent (work) staff 1965
Front Row 1 L to R: Eddie Williar, Terri Williar, Mark Williar
Row 2: Helen Shullenberger, Donna Cohick (Weer), ---
Row 3: Paula Stenger, ---, Josie McCarter(Robinson), ---, Ruth Weer
Row 4: Pat Williar, Gil Williar, Manager, Sue Robinson, Francine Stenger
Row 5: Mrs. Keefer, Mrs. Finkey, Dave Robinson, ---
Row 6: John Hosteter, Scott Evans, Tom Johns, Bob Robinson, Russ Weer
Note two more of the couples on this picture were later married and my wife and I were married at this time.

Permanent (work) Staff 1968
Front Row 1:---, Barb Thrush, Carla Thrush, Meredith Schoonover (deceased - cousin of David)
Row 2: Sue Robinson, David Schoonover, Barb Thrush, ---, Josie McCarter (Robinson)
Row 3: Dave Robinson, Manager, ---, Mrs. Thrush, ---, Jean Hoffheins, Bob Robinson
Row 4: Tom Robinson, ---, ---
Row 5: Caleb ?,
Row 6: Ken Cohick, Bill Hockley, Gary Fisher, Clark Eckenrode, Russ Weer, Assistant

 

      After spending an evening reading through all the information on the Camp Michaux web page, I had to write you a note.
      I grew up in Carlisle & the camp was our Presbyterian Church camp. I am not certain about how many years that I went, but it would have been in the mid and late '50's. It is a special place to me still. In recent years when I come home from North Carolina to visit family in Carlisle, my mother will ask me, "well, when are you going to go?" What she knew is that I had to make a trip to visit the camp and Laural Lake to wander around.
     My family spent a lot of time in the Michaux State Forest in the summers when we were growing up. Many years ago my grandfather had built a small one-room, log cabin on the stream between Fuller and Laural Lakes. When summer came our family moved there to spend the summer, and my dad commuted to work from there. There was no electricity or running water at our cabin and all the food was cooked over an open fire. It is amazing to think about all the great family time we had there during the summers.
     What led me to your site is finding a link to the article written by Helen McAdoo. She was my sister. She wrote the essay for a contest while she was a student at Carlisle High School and won the contest that year. She was killed in a car accident in 1968.
     Helen, another sister, my brother, and I all went to the camp in the '50's and early '60's. I even spent part of one summer there in 1967 as a counselor. I had just graduated from West Point and had two months of summer leave before I reported to active duty. Going there seemed to be a good thing to do for part of that time.
     Thanks for gathering & sharing the information on the camp. As with everyone else, the place was very special to me. I was very disappointed when I returned one year and found that they had torn the buildings down.  The same thing happened to our family's cabin. In spite of the buildings being gone, I love to revisit both places and try to do it at least once a year.
     Best Regards,
     David McAdoo   Kernersville, NC  April 27, 2004

I do have one picture taken just west of the camp along Tom's Run.  It happens to be one of the native orchids that I found there on some of my summer visits. The flower is called the "Purple Fringed Orchid."

       

     My brother sent me this Website on Camp Michaux. My sister Helen Louise McAdoo was the high school girl from Carlisle, PA who wrote the history of the camp for her senior class essay. 
     The summer after her senior year she went to the Synod camp for the Presbyterian church there and was elected moderator of the state of PA. It was there during that week that she met Rev James (Mike) Ferguson who came to Carlisle to be the senior pastor of our church for 35 years.
     Going to Camp Michaux was a highlight of our childhood. We made many friends from neighboring towns and would meet them at local football games, etc. I kept in touch with many of these people for years. I was on the  staff one summer ('65) and was a camp counselor another summer. Many, many fond memories.
B. McAdoo H.   April 28, 2004

     Hi there. I really enjoyed visiting your Camp Michaux Website. I found it late one night after the melody of "The Ash Grove" suddenly popped into my head and wouldn't leave. I had to dig out my old copy of the Camp Michaux "Rejoice and Sing" songbook with the "The Ash Grove" on the back cover.
     I was at the junior high camps from 1960-62 (from Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church) and often wonder what happened to my camping buddies: Miriam "Peewee" Fairman, Elaine Coombs, and Lee Fenicle. Only a few camp snapshots survived my parents' empty nest clear-out and our own cross-country move to Oregon a few years ago.
     The last time I visited Michaux was in the spring of 1970, when I was saddened to find the director's house had apparently burned down and I could see no traces of Zwingli, Calvin, and Calvin Annex barracks or the rec hall, site of endless games of four-square. I had fantastic camp experiences at Michaux and I hate to see that it's gone.
    Thanks for keeping the memories fresh!
   Regards, M. H. -  Oregon

    I was a camper during the late 50's and early 60's. I served on staff at the end of summer in 1968 for the Synod Camp. Good Web site. I live about 20 minutes from the camp. I remember the old "Valley Pride" bread truck used for delivery of stuff to the campers. Sure would be nice to be able to contact the old staff members who formed pretty close bonds, but not close enough to keep in contact.
    My sister and others from the Presbyterian churches in Newville, Shippensburg and Carlisle worked there also. We had reunions until the lodge burned, but don't remember when that was. Russ Weer seems to think that the old rec hall photos ended up with the state museum commission, but details indicate otherwise. Raymond Hockley, caretakers son, went to Big Spring and probably graduated in 1967 or 1968, as he was ahead of me in school. It would be good to interview him for missing details.
D. S   April 14,  2004

Follow up to this letter:
     I noticed the other day that you had added some more e-mails on the Michaux site. The one above really caught my eye!  
      Russ Weer and Dave Robinson were two of my bosses while I was worked there, 68 and 69. I was able to stay for one reunion at the "lodge" before it burned. I remember, it was during Christmas holiday and was it ever cold. We all put ice skates on and skated up the "run" behind the old dam, threw the woods. I also remember the POW "face" on the stone wall in the dam. The water level would be right under the nose of the face. But its fallen long ago.
     If any of the old staff from 68,69,70 would like to get together and see old friends. Andy Rebert (life guard 69, 70) and Gary Fisher (staff 68, 69) will be at Camp Michaux, June 19, 2004. We will meet at the old CCC fountain in the middle of camp. (7:00pm).
Gary Fisher April 21, 2004

     My brother (D.S. above) forwarded your Michaux site to me - and I've had a ball just pulling out all those old memories from my brain. I'm afraid there is a lot that I've gotten - but Camp Michaux has always held a special place in my heart. I attended camp in the summer of '59 (I think) as an elementary student - then again in '65 as a Sr. High camper.
     The real fun came when I joined the permanent staff in '66 - with Gilman Williar as the camp manager. My first job was as a "lowly" kitchen girl - but in the next two summers I worked as an assistant cook. My brother emailed you previously and mentioned the Valley Pride bread truck. According to the cook of '66, it was the "Walley Pride" truck.
     We used that truck to take meals to campers who had hiked to Poles Steeple. The usual meal for that was barbecue and baked beans, and we had these big square roasting pans that held them both. The trick was to get the food up the trail without spilling it. In addition I still have some memory of the other evening menus:

• Pork (which we carefully sliced ourselves), sauerkraut and mashed potatoes (instant)
• Roast beef (which we sliced), gravy, mashed potatoes instant) and corn
• Baked chicken, peas ...
• Meat loaf
• Ham, sweet potatoes (which everyone hated) and green beans.

     You've got to remember that we served those same meals, week in, week out, all summer long. Then there were the milk coolers (one on each side of the dining room) - where campers could have as much milk as they wanted. The guy assigned to kitchen staff had to lift those heavy milk cans up into the cooler for dispensing.
     The dining room was divided in half (with a swinging door between) - and there were generally two different groups in for a week of camp.
     We loved it best during Synod camp - when the door was propped open so that announcements and singing could be heard on both sides. Being a teenager myself at the time, it was neat to see all the cute guys who came to Synod Camp.
     The blessing offered at each meal was often: "Morning (noontime, evening) has come, the board is spread. Thanks be to God, who gives us bread. Thanks be to God." This is only a tiny bit of what I remember.

Graces
Morning is here, the board
is spread. Thanks be to God
who gives us bread.

For health and strength
and daily bread. We praise
thy name O Lord. Amen.

     I could probably write a book on some of our crazy escapades - moonlight swims, cabin raids, going to the Cumberland Drive-in Theater with the bread truck and the manager's pick-up truck, regular trips to Twirley Top for soft ice cream, etc.
     Besides all the memories of these events, I treasure the memories of Michaux's beauty and its interesting history. Michaux represents not only spiritual significance in my life - but three summers of having my first real job, living away from home and making lots of friends. Incidentally I work closely with Raymond Hockley's wife - so I may be able to get some more information from that source. Raymond is the son of the caretaker.
     I just learned about the reunion tonight - when my brother (who mentioned the Valley Pride bread truck) forwarded Gary's message to me.  It's on my calendar - and I'm already excited about seeing people I worked with back then. We used to have a winter reunion - using the Lodge. But I've really lost track of people - except the ones who are still connected to Newville (either living here or having family who is still here).
    Thanks for all your painstaking research - and for compiling such an enjoyable site.
Cheryl Tritt   April 22, 2004 

    First I'd like to say that I love your web page.  I have many fond memories Camp Michaux.  I was a camper there in 63 and 64.  I'm one of the campers in the 1963 stairway photo. I found your site via my brother (Squirrel), he's in the photo as well.
     Those two weeks were some of best times of my youth. I would've stayed all summer if I could. The crafts and hikes. The pool and the old pool / pond. I loved the overnight campout at the end of the week. I'll always remember the last night when we would float those candle "rafts" we made in crafts during the week, in the pond. Singing and watching those candles drifting across the water. What memories these.
     Those endless games of four square. I loved that game so much that I taught the kids at my school. It was a hit there as well.  I loved the food too. Even the "rubber" pancakes. They would stretch if you pulled them. We would laugh and then gobble them down.
     All this fun in an old W.W.II German prisoner of war camp. My little imagination was full of movie like scenes of prisoners marching around and trying to escape.
     I've been there once since it closed but that was at least 20 years ago. My brother worked there in the late 60s and is one of the two guys putting together the reunion this June. I've put it on my calendar and plain to be there as well. I live in Cooperstown NY and it looks like about a four hour drive. It'll be special to see what's left of it now.

All of my old photos of the camp are long gone. I'd love to have the CD.   I'd sure like to see what it used to look like.
  Thanks
   C.  S.  Cooperstown NY  April 23, 2004

  
Lee Schaeffer Photo

I found your CD very interesting and even answered questions and helped identify some pictures.l

We had a picture of my sisters standing with me next to a sign which read, "Be still and know that I am the Lord". We were not sure where it was if even at Michaux, then Poof and it appeared on the path to Vesper hill and in unison Barb and I said "wow, there's that sign".
     More and more pleasant memories keep popping up. Thanks again.
Bruce Dull  Baltimore, MD - May 2004

    When I went to the Synod of the Trinity page a familiar name jumped out at me! Camp Michaux! As a youth fellowship officer at the Bethel Park Presbyterian Church, I attended a conference there. I have vague memories of the buildings, but what I remember more are the young people whom I met. They are people whom I have come across throughout my life as an educator in the Presbyterian Church at various times!
     What a delight to look over all the information you have collected and to think again of some of the leadership roots that I have in the church that were nurtured at conferences like the one at Camp Michaux. I have a vision of a group of us standing outside a white frame building and singing to the playing of a guitar by a young man from Canonsburg.
     When I went to college at Wooster, I discovered Rosalie Carson who had been at Michaux, whose father was a Presbyterian minister in Pittsburgh, was also a student there. Then about 10 years ago, Rev. Bill Keeney was in our presbytery briefly to meet with a committee and he, too, was one of the folks who was at Michaux Westminster Fellowship Leadership conference with us! Roberta Barlow, from Bethel, went with me to the conference. This must have been in about 1957. What fun to wander down the path of memory to that place from so very long ago! Thanks for the site!
     M. L. F.
     Associate for Christian Education and Congregational Programming
     Redstone Presbytery

   Thank you for all of the wonderful information on Camp Michaux. Even though I was never a camper, my dad and I spent many happy hours on the Appalachian Trail in the Pine Grove State Park area. In the late 60's, we would park at the end of the Old Shippensburg Road, where I would sometimes fish, and then hike up the AT to the Tom's Run Shelter or beyond. One of our best trips was a day hike from Pine Grove down to Caledonia which ended with a dip in the pool. We would pass by the camp which always seemed to be a beehive of activity. You could hear singing and the noise from the pool area. Campers would greet us as we passed along the trail. After reading the various e-mails, I can assume that Camp Michaux must have been a very special place for many young people.
     My father knew some of the history of the CCC and POW camps from the Appalachian Trail manuals which he imparted to me. Some barbed wire was also still visible up where the AT turned toward Tom's Run. We tried to visualize the two camps while walking along the AT. My last year at Pine Grove was probably 1971 before entering high school, but then I would need to make money during the summers in preparation for college.  
    I didn't think much of Camp Michaux until I camped in the area with my family in 1994. By coincidence we stayed in some cabins owned by a gentleman named Mowry, who lived off of PA 233 about a mile north of Pine Grove. In talking to this man, we found out he was one of the men who helped cart away much of the wood and other parts from Camp Michaux. He told us that the lumber and other hardware were free to anyone who could remove them. He used some of this lumber to build the barn on his property and some of his own cabins, so I guess I was a camper after all. He stimulated our interest in the AT and Camp Michaux. We went up to the camp, but we could find little except for the CCC fountain and the Old Barn wall because we were losing the daylight. That place was a bit eerie in the dark!!!
     In 2002 we went back during the day and were able to find a number of other landmarks. We went down the roads to the pool, the old foundations, and the new wooden bridge. Other people had obviously been looking around the area. Unfortunately along with some great memories I also brought home a good case of poison ivy. I wish I had seen your Website before we went out to the camp. In the next year or so, my dad and I will try to explore the area with the benefit of your extremely helpful maps and information. Thank you for all of your efforts in keeping the memory of this magical place alive. God bless.
  B. G. West Palm Beach, Florida.   March 17, 2004

     This Web site is such a blessing. I spent 3 years at the camp, 64-66. Went to college in Shippensburg, PA., 78 graduate. Hiked countless miles on the AT over and over on South Mountain. My grandparents lived in Gardners. I know to this day I could find the steps where the pictures were taken, the old and new pools, and the place where the tent platforms were located on the road to the creek crossing at Tom's Run. As I recall these tent platforms were down the road to the right of  the old barn wall.  At the time, it was not part of the actual AT.  They were maybe 300 yards from the barn wall. This trail or road went downhill to where Tom's Run crossed the road.
    I recall, there were German POW names on the side of a stone arch bridge near the entrance to the camp. Anyone ever mention this before?

 
                   Michaux Road bridge over Tom's Run just before camp entrance has writing by a prisoner.
"255 Prisnoer of war?????
1945 ?????????????????
Lt. Morberg???????
The remains of the old sewage treatment plant are up the road to the right about 100'and about 200' into the woods.

   You've brought back a part of my past.   Bless you.
   M. P.  Castle Rock, CO  March 17, 2004

  I'm so glad I found this page. My daughter sent me the link from somewhere. I'll have to find out how she came across it. She lives in Gettysburg.
     I grew up in Annapolis and Camp Michaux was our church camp for the St. Martin's Lutheran Church in Annapolis. I attended camp there in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades in the 50s. It was always so much fun, and I have such fond memories of the camp. I had been trying to find the camp for quite awhile and a friend and I found the remains of it a couple of years ago. So sad to see it all overgrown. We never did find Vesper Hill which I would really like to see again. The maps you have here are great. Next time I visit my daughter, we shall have to go back to Camp
Michaux and see if we can find Vesper Hill this time.
     My first time hiking was on the AT at Camp Michaux. My daughter also took me hiking last year at Laurel Lake (at Pine Grove Furnace State Park) where we used to go swimming. I remembered it as soon as I saw it.

Junior Camp Staff 1954
Row 1 L to R: Bunny Curran, Teenie ?, Rev Alcorn, Lois Kopelman, Jane ?
Row 2: Mrs. Miller, ---, Marlene ?, Betty Jane ?
Row 3; Sissy Smith, Rev Roy Snyder, Rev. Smith, Craig Smith, ---
Row 4: Dick Peret (from my church), Rev. Kenneth Snyder, Little John Bucher, Chuck Stein, ---

Here's the picture I have. I believe it is from 1954 because that is the year that most of the stuff I saved was from.That's all I wrote on the back.  It was taken on the steps but look how  much bigger the steps were then and what is left at the site now. I kind of remember a building behind the steps. The pictures on your site sure brought back memories.
   I have a 1954 Camp Schedule (see above), a welcoming letter from Albert C. Robinson, Director, and the Michaux Barker (a camp newspaper type thing) and it lists all the people who were there in 1954.
     Thanks for your site. I'll have to send it to my friends who attended with me.
J. G. - Burke, VA Sept 28, 2003
          

     Thank you so much for creating and maintaining the web pages describing  Camp Michaux. I've been searching through my memory for some details about  my past and any trigger is welcome. (I was there in the early 1960s with a  group from Saint Matthews UCC in Baltimore, MD.) I've been searching for information on the camp but had been misspelling the name as "Micheaux". Once I found the Michaux State Forest on a map and discovered my error, the rest was easy. I visited the remains of the camp in early July but wasn't able to get my bearings until late in the afternoon, so I'll be making a return trip in the late fall, hopefully.
     I am very much interested in the CD you mentioned containing the old slides  and your other pictures and documents. Please let me know how I can   receive one. As far as I know I have no old pictures of the camp but I did   take some while I was there in July. I'll try to upload them to a web  server soon and will send you the links.
     By the way, earlier this year I visited the Early Television Museum in  Hilliard, OH.  I see that you have an  interest in that subject as well and I was wondering if you have visited  that museum. They have a CD available with pictures of most of the items on display.
     Thanks again.
     Bob, Baltimore, MD  Aug 29, 2003

     Although I was the chairman of the Carlisle Presbytery Camping Committee in the last years of its existence I was not in the circle of powerful decision makers in the Presbytery. What I heard at camp committee meetings was that despite the plans that were drawn up to renovate the camp the presbytery was reluctant to put money into property they did not own. Indeed they scrimped on maintenance and got complaints from the state for letting the property run down. This made the presbytery feel that the state wanted them out of there, thus making them even more reluctant to put money into the camp.
     While we were at this impasse the church camps of central PA brought some experts in to study the camps of the region. As the result of this study the United Church of Christ decided to pull out of Camp Michaux and concentrate there camping at Hartman Center near Milroy, PA. Since they sent most of the campers to Michaux, it was really untenable for us continue on our own.  Because of my many years counseling and directing at Camp Michaux I let my heart rule my head and proposed that we keep the camp open and run it alone. My proposal was defeated and the camp closed. 
     We began to purchase services from Camp Krislund and later bought into Camp Krislund which is run now by Carlisle, Huntingdon and Northumberland Presbyteries. I also graduated from college with a B. S. in Physics, but as the result of my summers counseling at Camp Michaux became a minister instead.
Sincerely yours,
     W.W.  -  June 2003

I just heard about this site today at a Mercersburg Association meeting. My dad was a counselor at Michaux, I was a camper and later on "permanent" summer staff as a counselor. Wonderful place! Lots of incredible memories . . .
    Just looking at my old camp pictures (when we all sat on those stone steps) bring them tumbling back - vesper hill (both of them) the dining hall, singing songs, the camp sites, cooking out, sleeping out, pioneer camp (and rain - of course!) I could go on and on. Apparently you have great memories, too! thanks for bringing them back!
   I was on staff at Michaux summer 1970, I think . So your mention of the western PA goodies brought back more great memories. - Kennywood, KDKA, etc. I student taught at Hempfield and lived in So. Greensburg. My church affiliation is UCC - when Michaux was our church camp it was Presbyterian and Evangelical&Reformed (before the UCC merger).
    Now I am a UCC minister, serving two UCC Homes nursing homes in Carlisle. Somewhere around here I have my Dad's white and green Michaux hat - on my bookshelf with my Bibles!
    I also have (but this I will have to hunt for) that little red booklet that had the history of the camp in. Do you have one of those? When the ground was broken for Michaux Lodge at Hartman Center (now our church camp) I was there - as I was on staff working in CE at my home church. We had the confirmation class on retreat then. Now I take the resident's of the Homes on a retreat to Michaux Lodge! My how history "repeats" itself and is so inter-related!
   Once again, thanks for the memories. Best wishes!
      Anna -  May 2003

   A pleasure to find Camp Michaux on your site.
   I was a camper there, 60 and 61, and later worked on the staff 68, and 69. I have my old camper pictures and staff pictures from 69 and one from 70. Plus pictures that I took around camp, 68 or 69. I don't have a scanner, but I would send you copies to add to the site.    I would love to see your old slide pictures. So send me your CD.
Gary also sent me the copy of Helen Louise McAdoo's History of Camp Michaux

Staff 1969

Staff 1970 Front: --- First Row, L to R: Dan Robinson, Ester ?, Emily McLaughlin, Uncle Fred ?, Fran Rinehart, Judy ?, Teri ? Row 2: Charlie ?, Pat Potter Row 3: Ellen ?, Anna ?, John ?, Dan?, Alan Potter Row 4: Ken ?, Gregg ?, Ellen Rinehart, Scott Evans, Sue ? Row 5: Jane ?, Deb ?, Dorrie ?, Kenny ? Row 6: Sue Newpher, Barb Thrush,Doc ?, Kim ?, Dave Robinson, Manager Row 7: Tom Robinson, Marsha Imhoff, Allison Palmer, Andy Rebert, Carl Henry

1963 Campers & Staff

Hey Lee,
    I just received the CD of pictures today. Thank you so much. I'm still trying to figure out how to view all of the pictures. I'll get it. Anyway, the last "walk" picture, #800 of the prisoner's writing on east side of Tom's Run culvert. All the years that I have been coming up, I never knew the signatures were there. Have to check that out the next time I'm in camp.
     That picture reminded me of a story that happened to me. I think it was the summer of 68. It was my turn for "KP" duty in the kitchen/dinning hall. I had just finished dumping the GI cans and running the dish washer for lunch. I walked up the "grove of pines" and had just started to cross Michaux Rd. to Trail Lodge. I looked both ways, of course, and sitting down the road at that little bridge was this black object. At first I thought it was a camper. Then without a sound, this "thing" got up and walked across the road. On all fours! It was a black mountain cat, long tail and all. I looked around for a witness but of course no one was around. The cat proceeded to disappear into the "cover" and that was the last time I saw it. This happened mid-afternoon. I'll never forget that one.
       A lot of memories at Camp Michaux. Thanks again! Sincerely,
Gary   July 2003

     WOW! I cannot thank you enough for posting this Web site. Two years ago we took our scout troop through there on an overnight hike. I only wish I had found your Web site earlier. Our imaginations ran wild trying to figure out what stood on this foundation and along that path. Armed with your information, I'll take the troop back again before the vegetation grows too thick. Thanks again for all your hard work.
   Sincerely,
   D. B., Troop 149 BSA, York, PA   June 2003

   I was filled with joy and great memories to view the Web site of the history, etc of camp Michaux. Ken Sell gave the address to me during our recent Southern Conference. Historical trip to Trapp, PA celebrating the 265th anniversary of St Luke's E&R church there
     You will be glad to know that I have many photos, much data, camp newspapers, etc of my years as director, counselor, rec. director, etc at Camp Michaux.   I worked there with the UCC contingent while I was Director of Christian Education at St. Johns UCC in Richmond Va.  St. Johns sent busloads of campers to Michaux back in the 60's since the central Atlantic conference had no camp. I worked at Michaux in the 70's
      I remember fondly the pastor of the large PCUSA in Carlisle Bob.(Scottish name) who helped at Michaux.  Also Carl Henry, the director. Where is he now? also Frosty (rev Frost from York) Ivan Mohr, etc.
     We should make a list of those former associates and their whereabouts if they still are among the living Trudy Kleindinst was a fabulous counselor among others.
     Thank you for preparing and publishing such a great web page of the camp. It is an act of love. The many happy years at Michaux still enrich our lives.
     I understand that the murals painted by the German POWs in the barracks (Zwingli I think) are on display in a building at Pine Grove Furnace. Is that correct? (Only one.)
     My son and daughter-in-law met and began their courtship at Michaux and now are living near us.
     I have Presbyterian roots too, having gone to Davidson College and Austin Presbyterian Seminary in Texas.
     Below are some of the myriad of snapshots I have of camp Michaux activates in the late 60's and middle 70's  The old officer's club rec. room had a big stove and I remember someone had written on it 'GIMMIE SOME!
     These photos of course are from the UCC camps, at which I did my camping work. We had lots of Presbyterians in the camp makeup, but the camps were done as far as I remember by the UCC's
     Hope to hear from you soon These photos have been in storage for a long time and are somewhat shriveled up like we adults get when we age.
Shalom,    Wade Hampton Shuford   Oct 22, 2002

  
    Summer 1972  -  July 16-22
Last Year the Camp was open

    It was a joy to discover your Web site on Camp Michaux. For some twenty years I have been gathering together graduates of old "Western Seminary, Pgh." - started out as class of '54, but as our class began to dwindle we have essentially made it the "Western Retreat". At this year's just ended - Dick Sigler told me about your site. What wonderful memories.
    I was active at Michaux very soon after our church leased the grounds.   I was part of the staff of several experimental "junior camps" - with "outdoor woods homes" etc - all rather common place relative to modern camping experiences. I was also very active in Westminster Fellowship (William Henry Vernon Smith!) and was involved in the planning of the Synod WF Annual Conferences at Michaux. Michaux holds an important place in my life, formative of many values and experience of many joys. Thank you for getting it up on the web page. I will check my photo and see if there aren't some interesting pictures of those years. Later, by the way, I became the national moderator of the National Council of Westminster Fellowship.
    Please advise as you add more.
          Thank you, Bob Curry Oct. 2002

   My sister and I just returned from a walk sponsored by the Cumberland County Historical Society through this beautiful area. We were both surprised to learn that the iron industry had once ruined this beautiful piece of property.
We were just as surprised to see that there was little left in the way of identifiable buildings and areas of our church  camp. My sisters and I attended the church camp (UCC) during the late 50's through late 60's. Today's walk was  just another reminder that nothing remains the same - except our sweet memories of youth. Thank you Cumberland   County Historical Society for taking us back to a time before our birth - through our youth - by walking these beautiful paths of today.
K. - May 2002

    This morning my son referred me to your Web site about Camp Michaux. This camp has a very special place in my heart. While a camper there in 1951 or 1952, I met a girl from Beech Creek, PA.   She came to visit me in Shamokin in 1952 and I in turn visited her in Beech Creek in 1953. On August 13, 1953, a young man came to visit her the day he was discharge from the Air Force. John Widmann and I were attracted to each other and in 1955 we married.  
     In 1972, while on a church exchange to Germany we sought to find my husband's family. We were able to find the German Widmann's through the aid of a receptionist in the Town Hall of Boeblingen, Germany. She arranged for a meeting with the Widmann relatives, and in the process we became friends.
     In 1973, Lore and Leo Groeger visited us in Chambersburg. Leo had been a prisoner of war in the US, having been captured with Rommel's Afrika Korps. We took him to the site of Camp Michaux, and he excitedly shouted "This is the place."   An article in the Chambersburg Public Opinion, December 26, 1986 relates this story, as well as contains a picture  of Camp Michaux as a prisoner of war camp.Leo is now dead, but we keep in touch with his widow (saw her last year when we were in Germany).
                                 
    The area of the camp where the Vesper's were held was near the entrance. If you face the entrance (as if to leave  the camp), it was on the hillside to the left.
We sat on ammunition boxes as pew seats. When I was there there  was no chapel (at least not to my present memory). The pool was not there, we swam in what you picture as the swimming hole.
     One of the advisers was a seminary student. I believe his name was Edgar Dayton (I may be incorrect).
N.  W.  August 2002

   I stumbled onto your web page over the weekend and was most interested in your information on Camp Michaux. I, too, was a delegate to the Youth Leadership Conference and remember a wonderful week there in August, 1969. The name Dick Sigler seemed very familiar, though I don't remember a lot about him. Some things I do remember:   Sleeping in the old P.O.W. barracks.  Skits under the pavilion on Saturday night.  A girl from North Warren who played guitar and sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane." Volleyball games after supper pitting Presbytery against Presbytery.
              
                                  Looking NE showing upper Crafts Building and cabin.
                   The volleyball court was behind the chapel and up the hill from the pool.
   I represented Second Presbyterian Church in Oil City and we didn't have a pastor at that time, so I knew virtually no one before going. I rode down with a pastor from Franklin Presbyterian Church named Claude Ponting. For some reason, he couldn't give me a ride home, so I came back with Jack Larson. (whom we kids called the "sinister minister") Jack was at the Cambridge Springs church and later went to Carlisle. I got to know him much better in the year to come through meetings of the Lake Erie Presbytery Youth Task Force.
   I got to know the girl who played guitar as well, and ended up taking her to my senior prom in May, 1970.  We both attended Clarion State College and after we graduated, we got together on occasion, she driving up to Williamsport, where I was teaching math, or I driving down to Carlisle where she got a job teaching German. On one of the Carlisle visits, we drove out to the camp, which I was surprised to find no longer existed. This was probably in 1976. Anyway, thanks for the trip down memory lane. 
   Sincerely, G. K.

   Great site! I was a camper in 1960 and 1962 at the age of 10 and 12. Back in 1995 I too went in search of the Camp and was thrilled to find the remnants (concrete support piers for the watchtower, the pool, the steps up to the pavilion, the overgrown depression that was the drainage ditch next to the road) yet saddened to see that the camp was no longer there. Fond memories is an understatement. I even had this vision of learning more about what had happened to the camp and working to re-open it.
    A couple years ago I searched the web for "Camp Michaux" and ultimately wound up in touch with a man at the Army facility in Carlisle.    Today, on a whim, I searched again and found your page. The one year I was there, we had counselors one of whom was Larry Kirby, a folk singer of some note in the Baltimore area, another called "Frog" and a woman named Bonnie. Also, my association with the camp was through the United Church of Christ. I'll collect what I have, see how it scans and send it on.
    Bill B.

     I am so thankful to have found your Web site on Camp Michaux. I was a camper there in 1966 and 1968. I have good memories. In 1994, I tried to find the camp, but couldn't, probably because there are only remnants. I still have both group pictures from those years.  I wonder if anyone out there was a camper in the picture and if they would just like to say "Hello" or post their memory. My email is Carpentersfem@hotmail.com. Thanks.
   C. P.  Baltimore, Maryland  6/06/02

     Just a note to thank you for the page on Camp Michaux. It brought back many fond memories.  I was a member of the Market Square Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg in the late 50's and  early 60's and attended Camp Michaux three times during my youth. It was my favorite place to go in the summer! As for the POW artwork, I remember a painting in the dining hall that a German prisoner painted of the Statue of Liberty. The artist placed the shadow of Liberty's nose in such a way that it looked like Hitler's moustache !

Picture taken on "The Steps to Nowhere"

Photo of the camp staff taken during one of the years I was there.
Unfortunately, there is no date or names on the back of the photo.
Maybe you'll recognize some of them *.
(Check out the old Studebaker and the '55 Chevy in the background!)
    K. S.,   -  Safford, AZ  02/23/02

*Top Row: Joe Dahl (holding the cat), Fred Seltzer, Charlie Davis, Ted, Jerome VanNest,  Ken.
Second from Top Row:  Patricia Shoop (Aunt Pill),  Ruth,  Mary Douglas,   unknown.
Second from Bottom Row:  Jeannie Roberts,  Flora George,  unknown,   Peggy Terry.
Bottom Row: Walt Williams (eventually became a Presbyterian Minister - was at camp reunion), Colin Douglas,
Ruth Sensenig, Rev. John Sensenig (camp director).
    Regards. (Uncle) Fred Seltzer with additional names by Walt Williams

      I found your web site because my 3 sisters and I are going to go on a hike through Michaux in May 2002. This is a Cumberland Co. Historical Walks tour. We all went to UCC camp in the 60's and 70's. I must have been one of the last camp groups. My last camping year was the summer of 1970 when I was 16 years old. Of course, I met my first serious boy friend at Church Camp (didn't we all?). We actually dated for 2 years (his parents doing all the driving until he got his license - they must have liked me).
       I was going to relate my favorite memory of Camp Michaux, but I can't think of just one -- so here is a quick list of fading memories. Cabin inspection (how are those hospital corners?), running to the outhouse cabin in the middle of the night and cutting my food (couldn't take the BIG hike that year), wonderful counselors, meditation time in the morning just before breakfast, my first taste of PB&J sandwiches, SINGING after every meal (my favorite part) especially "The Ash Grove" to which I learned to sing harmony, the group picture taken on the hill, trying to look sexy in my first two-piece swim suit, meeting counselors from a foreign land, vespers, the time the boys stuffed sheets in the bell so they couldn't wake us up in the morning and taking the doors off the administration building and putting them on the roof, trying to sneak across the road to the boys cabins, the boys trying to sneak across the road to ours, letters from home (always with a piece of chewing gum enclosed)
      I could go on and on. It's hard to believe just one week each year could leave such an impact on our lives. I probably went for about 4 or 5 years (I don't really remember, I'll have to get out my group photos and check the years).   Thanks for the web site. I'll be sure to tell all my sisters.
   T.Z.    Frederick, MD  2/22/02

    I just wanted to let you know your site was a great source of information to me. My husband told me about the camp, which I knew nothing about, and we just returned from a walk in the area. We found a wall from I believe the old stone barn that is still intact and in good condition considering its age. I am looking forward to going back and exploring more of the area. Maybe we will find the fountain or other remnants of the camp that I found out about on your site. I find it sad that the camp was not maintained by the state or some government agency as I believe it to be a important piece of history. I also look forward to returning to this site for more information as it becomes available. Thank you for the great service you have provided!!! You have done a wonderful job in providing information about a important piece of history.
   H. F.

   I am a UCC minister who was a counselor at Michaux in 1948. Spent 3 weeks there. I was told there were 2000 Germans and 1000 Japanese, which seems to have been an "enhanced" figure.  Also we were told three Germans escaped and only 2 where ever found. Interesting tales.

   We sat on ammo cases for just about everything we did. The barb wire had been taken down by some of our counselors  who had been there in '47. The paintings I remember were alpine scenes on the walls of either the rec. hall or the dinning hall. They were painted on the wall board. While I was there 6 rattlesnakes in the center of the camp where "dispatched" by the caretaker who was good with a 22. Since this is going back a good bit I don't remember too much more. I suppose I have some pictures somewhere but finding them would be a job.
   N. W. 1st. UCC, Winston-Salem, NC          01/28/02

   I just discovered your wonderful material on Camp Michaux. Thanks for a great piece of work. I am writing my memoirs and was searching for information on the camp and you had it all there.
   I served as a counselor at a Presbyterian camp in 1954. I was living in New Bloomfield at the time and I guess Dick Sigler talked me into it. I also served in a couple of E. & R. camps in 1955-56.
   Thanks again for your work. I told a couple of my friends who also served there about your Web site.
   K. S.           01/28/02