Buildings and Property

Open The Doors and Windows!

Published on by Kathy Baker

Summer is here, spreading a fine layer of pine pollen on my newly cleaned surfaces, as I attempt to clean the lodge porches. Eight weeks post-op for a radial head replacement on my elbow after a fall, I am cleaning and opening up as a one-armed bandit.

Weeding the perennial garden is daunting, but two days of rain made my single-arm weeding easier. Peonies, Irises, Geraniums, and Social Garlic are in bloom. Lupine and baby Irises flank the campcraft hut. It used to be so much easier to lift myself off the ground in my younger years when weeding and I bemoan the aching bones.

This season my hubby is scraping and painting hut one next to the lodge. The screen door, main door, and trim will get a fresh coat of white paint to offset the olive green siding of the other buildings on our property. This is the first summer of total retirement for him, as we sold Wicker Hills Golf Course to his cousin Judy Stuckey and husband Mike from Texas. (Daughter of our ex-partners Blanche and Aaron Starks.)

My goals this summer include assisting members of the Hale Historical Commission with a summer exhibit with a great portion of the Camp Maqua memorabilia and artifacts donated by me from the lodge. My other goal is lofty—attempting to bring back the donated photos, albums, camp sentimental saves, and news clippings back from the Greater Bay Region YWCA archives. When the offices moved a few years ago, the accessible archives were moved to a vault with no public access.

Ex-camper Laura Taylor recently visited Camp Maqua. As a long-time resident of the Bay area with numerous connections, she promised to help me with my endeavor. If there are any contacts in alumni land with connections to this project, please email me at walkbake@gmail.com.

We’re expecting three of our four children and their families this summer. No family will be present for the ever-delightful 4th of July parade on the lake, but we expect a sunny day for the fun of participation and joy of those who go over the top decorating their boats. Photos to follow!

Happy 2021 after a year of isolation and changes. Throw open the doors and windows on the world and in your place of happiness!

 

Camp Envy–Opening Up

Published on by Kathy Baker

THE ROADSIDE PORCH ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LODGE

I wish for the magic of an energetic crew to appear to help me dust the cobwebs, tear down the screen tarps that protect our wood floors from winter snow and mop the winter dirt off the porches of the lodge. The pollen from the pine trees coat the porches and furniture in pale yellow dust 1/4′ thick.  I tip the bootstrap benches over and vacuum the spider webs and laugh as I see wads of chewing gum older than me clinging to the old wood. It takes hours to clean the screens, furniture, and floors.

In days of old, there was a volunteer crew. Either the YWCA committee members, staff or volunteers from different organizations assisted the caretakers with the opening of camp. It had to be a huge undertaking to open a camp for the season, with so many outbuildings and acres of property.  My offspring will discover how much work is involved when they start taking over from their aging parents, (As they have grown into adulthood, they have taken on a  new sense of ownership and offer to help when in residence. This summer, they labored at the beach with the weeds, raking, gardening, and general repairs.)

Many years I paid to have the place opened up and cleaned before our arrival. With four young kids and slivers of a break that fit into the time slot between the end of the school year and the beginning of the next one, summers seemed to fly. By the time our family of six arrived, I just wanted to unpack, be on vacation and relax. Other years I have just done the work myself, especially when we have had construction and I knew cleaning was a lost cause.

The perennial garden has to be weeded, and if I get up in June instead of May, the weeds have taken root and the acorns have sprouted into baby trees that are difficult to uproot.  It is a rock garden of sorts, with Michigan stones and pieces of the old sidewalk that trailed to the door by the kitchen between both porches. Irises, peonies, lilies and other summer flowers grow under the two planter boxes that house red geraniums. They appear happy from my tall paned kitchen windows, and it is a garden that needs only a modicum of care to keep it lovely.

The bunkhouse next to the lodge, which is in use all summer with relatives and friends, needs the spiders and ants eliminated, so our guests don’t get a fright in the night. I even turn over the mattresses to make sure no nests or webs are hiding. The boathouse and craft hut get a good sweep and thorough cleaning to ready for guests who enjoy the rustic camping style. Since the new stairway went up to hut nine, it is now a favorite spot to camp, but needs all new screens. The lower boathouse, catch-all for anything beachfront, gets its yearly organization and sweeping, too. The craft hut still contains a few cots with the original mattresses, but most of the campers have their favorite inflatable beds. Usually, the chipmunks and mice have dragged in pieces of nesting material that we sweep out, which has also included pieces of our mattresses.

Our association of residents takes the maintenance of the Maqua property very seriously, plowing the roads in the winter and grading them in the summer. When the potholes jar our senses, fill dirt and stone are brought in. When tree limbs look precarious on our trails, the men get their chainsaws out and make our world safer. When the corral fence planks rot, new ones are nailed up. When the biffy needs new plumbing or cleaning, someone volunteers. If the dock is dipping and splintering, the crew goes into action for repairs or replacement. The beach sand is refurbished when needed, the campfire pit is cleaned out periodically and one resident is appreciated for his Paul Bunyon skills by keeping our firewood piled high for campfires.

It took a village when the camp was a real camp and it takes a village now! Thankfully, the next generation, with their happy memories of this magical place so ingrained in their childhood, return with grandchildren for all of us to love and create new memories. And, they are young and strong and able and we don’t mind watching the babies in the water while they take over some of the maintenance and repairs and heavy lifting, and they do! The circle of life at Maqua continues in familiar traditions.

 

THE ROADSIDE PORCH ON THE WEST SIDE UNDER RENOVATION

 

 

 

Camp Envy-Bunk Houses and Outbuildings

Published on by Kathy Baker

Those musty wooden huts had to be a little frightening for little girls who had never left their homes. Bunking in with seven others, sometimes all strangers and accompanied by mosquitoes and spiders, had to leave lasting memories. Many of those little bunkhouses are still standing, but a few were removed from the property before the subdivision was developed by the previous owner. They are scattered around Hale as outbuildings for whoever purchased them.

Our hut was number one next to the lodge. It has been since transformed into a cozy little guest house that sleeps five. The original wood floors gleam golden honey and the walls are painted white. (Had I known how sentimental ex-campers and staffers were about their names on the wall, I would have preserved at least one wall.) The windows with the pull ropes and damaged screens were replaced with vintage sash windows from the same era, and they let the breezes blow through on hot and humid summer days. A ceiling fan was installed and window shades for privacy, but the porch screen door still slams shut and the original wooden front door remains.

The Brownie at the dip in the hill by the trail to the lake still stands. It is constantly used, as it still contains a portable shower on one side with the boy’s commode and a girl’s commode on the other with sinks on both sides. It is convenient to the lake and kept up in repair and cleanliness for our family and guests.

Further up the trail, another hut tilts at an angle that is precariously dangerous when the skewed door is opened. The names are still plastered in lipstick and toothpaste and the floors are rotting. There are plans to take it down and I have asked for boards with names I recognize from interviewing campers when that day happens. Housed in there for years was a cubby that graced one of the huts and it was gifted to me. On the same property, the owners preserved the hut that stood tall and proud by the lake as their own bunkhouse before building their log cabin. The names still remain on their walls and the sliding glass door at the front gives a great view of Loon Lake.

On the property where the senior Brownie stood is a magnificent log home with a garage attached. It was the senior Brownie, transformed by turning the roof around and installing a garage door. This family also owns one of the huts that was utilized for years as their weekend cabin until they built their home. They also moved the cook’s cabin to their property, high on a hill where “Scold Trail” is used for their cross country skiing in the winter.

The last two huts face the lake by the boathouse. One was moved off the property next to the firepit to make room for a log cabin for the family and sits behind the craft hut and used for storage of lake toys. The other hut has had a renovation, complete with a bathroom, deck, new windows and siding painted to match the owner’s house, which was the cabin by the fence. Their grandchildren have full use for sleeping and activities and the renovations from the lake make the property appear like a resort or a family compound, which it is!

Along with the lodge, the campcraft (left) hut on the front lawn and the boathouse and craft hut still stand and are in great shape, since the historical committee of our association sets aside funds to keep up with repairs and renovations. Every building that survived is utilized and treasured as a piece of history from the camp and enjoyed by our family and friends. The craft hut and boathouse, especially hut nine above, has had floors repaired and exteriors shored up and painted and are in constant use with residents for their reunions and overflow company.

Gone is the gazebo, which was consumed by age, the elements and the chipmunks. The infirmary is now a part of a guest house, and the trading post (or camp store) did not withstand the test of time. Dutton stood for years, but from the very beginning, repairs were constant. It was taken down to make room for a family cabin and they saved the doors covered in graffiti.  There are photos and memories and traces of what was—including the concrete of the tennis courts, the campfire pit area and horse trails that serve as hiking trails.

 

 

Sale Of Camp Maqua

Published on by Kathy Baker

Bob Sukenik saw an ad in the Detroit News advertising the lodge for sale in 1979 by the Bay City YWCA. He submitted a sealed bid, forgot about it and after a business trip, arrived home to a congratulatory message from the YWCA. The following weekend he and his family drove north to see what they had bought.

“What we got was an abandoned camp that had been closed for quite a few years.—maybe five. Everything was quite dilapidated and nothing worked”, said Bob. “The toilets were called “Biffys” and I think the only one that worked was the one adjacent to the lodge. You could not see the lake from the lodge because of the dense forest of trees 8”-12” in diameter. There was some rudimentary wiring on half fallen poles. The lodge itself was a huge open room filled with tables and benches. It had no bathroom, running water or heat.”

“It had not been vandalized, but small animals had chewed through the back screen doors. On that weekend, we were sitting inside and a chipmunk ran across the floor, stopped and looked at us with a face of no fear and proceeded to run into the kitchen, eat some of our dog food in the bowl on the floor, then scampered back out. Groundhogs were also a problem, eating all the tomatoes that had been planted by the west side outdoor wall.”

“Now that we had it, we had to figure out what to do with it. It was a gorgeous piece of property on a beautiful lake”, said Bob. “Our first thought was that we might be able to fix it up and lease it to someone who might want to operate it as a camp again. That didn’t work. We fixed it up so that it was relatively safe, but never even found the slightest bit of interest. We had an opening party for our friends that out to be a work weekend just to survive. It is a miracle they took to it so happily and that they remained friends.”

“Lacking any better ideas, we decided to convert the lodge into a duplex and subdivide the rest of the property for sale. This required surveying, making decisions on subdivision, writing restrictions and setting up the Maqua Association,” continued Bob.

“We continued to work many a weekend doing one thing or another to upgrade the property. One spring weekend, with no heat and freezing temperatures at night, my son Jim and I plus a few of his friends, slept in front of a roaring fire on the west side in front of the fireplace. (This was where you broiled on one side while freezing on another!) The heat also woke up a few mosquitoes, so it was not too comfortable. The boys had built a huge fire. Suddenly, there was a roaring sound, and I discovered what it meant by a chimney fire. We went outside and watched flames shooting out of the chimney for about one minute.”

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Camp Falls On Hard Times

Published on by Kathy Baker

IMG_0007Camps across the country were closing in the seventies for many reasons. Some of these camps were positioned in areas that were popular for vacations and second homes. Property taxes had risen and many families began taking family vacations together, instead of shipping their kids off the camps. Camps closed when they could not afford to operate with high bills and lower enrollment. The media was focusing on issues of pedophilia within some camps, which caused parents to tighten the reins on allowing their children to attend.

Judy Alcorn, forties camper and board member at the YWCA, wrote, “It was at the end of their time at camp when it fell upon hard times. There were four women who served on the board who decided to begin much-needed repairs and painting. They, along with their husbands, were Marge and Jim Falvey, Georgie and Jim Fenton, Nancy and Bob McAlister and my husband Pat and me,”

“We put hundreds of gallons of paint on all the huts. We called ahead to the hardware store in Hale, which stocked the paint for us. They would have it all shaken and ready to pick up during the weekend. We all cleaned and generally picked up the place. Our kids came with us and we would build a fire in the lodge at the end of the day and sleep in our sleeping bags. Although we worked hard, we had a good time. We used a small fundraising campaign to pay for the paint and the material used.”

“That kept the camp going for a few more years. I am not sure about sharing with Camp Mahn-go-tah-see across the lake. Camp came to an end and we started an agreement with Camp Iroquois, the Bay City YMCA camp, for a few years. Then, that folded as well. It was a sad day when that happened. At that time many sports camps were in business and the competition was too strong.”

Judy was not on the board when it merged with Camp Iroquois, but she recalled the YWCA had turned down the offer to merge at one time because they were afraid the men would take control. The men felt that Camp Maqua property was better suited to a camp

When the decision was to be made in 1976 between the Bay City YMCA and the YWCA to merge Camp Maqua and Camp Iroquois (on Sand Lake), David Bast was the camp director at the boys’ camp. He was designated to be the director of the combined effort but accepted a position in Alabama. Camp Iroquois’ decreased enrollment and the financial situation at both camps was the impetus for the merger, despite Maqua’s higher enrollment. “The plan was to merge the program, but not mess with the assets,” said Delphine Evans, director in 1976.

“Both camps were struggling financially and Maqua had the better physical facility, so the two boards merged their camps, or that was my understanding,” said Amy Falvey, whose parents were huge volunteers at Maqua.

An article in the Bay City Times on September 21, 1979, said, “In an effort to save the camp, it was merged in 1976 with Camp Iroquois, a young men’s camp, and renamed Camp Maquois. Camp Maquois operated for two years on a co-ed status before the decision to sell the Camp Maquois property was made. Officials of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Bay County say interest in the camp has dwindled to money-losing levels in this age of recreational campers and snowmobiles. The YWCA Board of Trustees decided to quit going deeper in debt with the facility and advertised the property for bids, which must be submitted before November 1.”

Camp Falls On Hard Times–

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

Camps across the country were closing in the seventies for many reasons. Some of these camps were positioned in areas that were popular for vacations and second homes. Property taxes had risen and many families began taking family vacations together, instead of shipping their kids off the camps. Camps closed when they could not afford to operate with high bills and lower enrollment. The media was focusing on issues of pedophilia within some camps, which caused parents to tighten the reins on allowing their children to attend.

Judy Alcorn, forties camper and board member at the YWCA, wrote, “It was at the end of their time at camp when it fell upon hard times. There were four women who served on the board who decided to begin much needed repairs and painting. They, along with their husbands, were Marge and Jim Falvey, Georgie and Jim Fenton, Nancy and Bob McAlister and my husband Pat and me,”

“We put hundreds of gallons of paint on all the huts. We called ahead to the hardware store in Hale, which stocked the paint for us. They would have it all shaken and ready to pick up during the weekend. We all cleaned and generally picked up the place. Our kids came with us and we would build a fire in the lodge at the end of the day and sleep in our sleeping bags. Although we worked hard, we had a good time. We used a small fund raising campaign to pay for the paint and the material used.”

“That kept the camp going for a few more years. I am not sure about sharing with Camp Mahn-go-tah-see across the lake. Camp came to an end and we started an agreement with Camp Iroquois, the Bay City YMCA camp, for a few years. Then, that folded as well. It was a sad day when that happened. At that time many sports camps were in business and the competition was too strong.”

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