Camp Envy

Camp Envy/Out of Isolation 2020

Published on by Kathy Baker

Michigan is finally opening their doors after long months of quarantine from Covid-19. The beautiful spring flowers seem to be celebrating by opening their blooms and showing us all is well. Social distancing and masks still seem to be the norm, especially for the small family businesses in Hale, but I feel fortunate to enjoy two rural areas to call home, with fewer cases of the virus.

Our kids and grandkids had it the roughest, teaching and working from home, plus agonizing through two successful emergency surgeries for one family. With all the time at home eating up vacation time and loss of income, we won’t have the same amount of family visiting this summer. Our eldest grandson, Keegan, drove up with us to help open up and begin the first of many projects with my husband. A new clapboard ceiling is being installed after a leak on our roof ruined our previous installation. (The porch has an addition from the original to accommodate all the historical tables and benches for our entertaining.)

Our Adirondack chairs, that survived a few Florida hurricanes, received a new coat of paint, but my favorites are the old heavy metal lawn chairs. Years ago I had them sandblasted and powder coated, and they look like new. Does anyone remember them at camp? They were beige and rusting and looked beyond repair, but these heavy chairs are great on the lawn. We sit out there at twilight until the mosquitoes chase us inside.

Our campfires and outdoor seating areas will be the new summer meeting spots. The residents of Maqua are predominately retired folks with underlying conditions and our hearts want to hug and socialize, but our heads know that if we want to keep ourselves and family visitors safe, we need to continue to distance. The original spot for the campfire pit is the most used, but my sons built a small one for us on the lodge lawn, so young mothers could hear their toddlers inside and still enjoy a campfire.

Thank heavens for our pontoon boats, where we can dock side by side, converse and float on Loon Lake, We have one baby Loon to watch this summer, but the resident Eagle enjoys tormenting Mama and baby. Our boat was in for new upholstery, console and motor, but the businesses are just opening up and work loads are heavy, so we are praying it is here before our son and family arrives for the July 4th festivities and boat parade. The highlight of every sunset cruise is spotting the Loons, but we pray the geese don’t stop and “drop” on our decks.

Clean-up of the surrounding property is a never-ending project, but beach and boathouse area are all weeded. The lake had a high water level this past winter, so erosion is evident, and it’s pine pollen season, so there is a fine yellow powder dusting on everything. It is nice to sit on our boats and deck area and watch life go by, but many of our porches are still under tarps until the pollen eases. To all the previous campers and staff, we wish you a happy summer outside!

Camp Envy–Traditions

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

 

 

 

 

The evolution of the new Maqua traditions began with the previous owners, Bob and Luanne Sukenik. Their hot dog and champagne cook-outs, with a Native Indian theme, hosted many friends and family members with water relay races and games. (One year they invited us, long before we bought the lodge and property. Bob started talking to me in the grocery line and invited my husband and me out to their “camp”.  (This photo was of that very day in 1984 on the shores of Camp Maqua with my husband Bill and Uncle Aaron Starks.) For years our association meetings, held in September, continued the hot dog and champagne tradition on the lodge porch following our meeting.

What is summer without a campfire, and we have had many! The fire-bowl or campfire pit, rimmed in huge boulders, appears to be in the same spot as decades ago. Our pile of wood is artistically stacked by one of our wood-chopping residents and we have never run out of logs for our fires. The usual activities take place under the stars overlooking the lake—adult beverages, hot-dog roasting late at night on long pronged forks and the traditional S’Mores for little and big kids alike. We sit in comfy chairs instead of sitting on logs, but the ambiance is traditional and ageless.

The Independence Day traditions include our annual potluck at the beach with our residents, and if it is raining we gather on the east roadside screened porch at the lodge. (We expanded the porch years ago to accommodate five vintage camp dining tables and the original bootstrap benches.) Other traditions in the past have included naming the baby Loon contest at our festivities and decorating the beachfront.

The most fun in recent years has been the boat parades, usually on the Saturday closest to the 4th. The Loon Lake Association purchases a boat flag with a loon and the date to be given as the prize for the best-decorated boat. Some years the weather has prevented many from participating, but each year a handful of families go all out to get into the spirit. Last year our family boat won with the Teddy Bear’s Picnic theme, so we were the judges this year. My eight-year-old granddaughter was so sad not to be here for the judging, so she was number twelve with the decision by viewing photos taken and sent via phone.

One boat was filled with cousins dressed as firecrackers and a patriotic theme, complete with music. One double-decker was the movie theme “Frozen” and nine kids were dressed in costumes as the characters. It was such a difficult decision, but the winner was a bubble bath theme boat, decorated with white balloons and friends taking showers. We hated to see the disappointed faces of the losers, but there is always next year!

Walking the trails in the autumn or cross-country skiing in the winter is a favorite with all the residents. The trails are usually mowed after the mosquitoes are no longer a problem, and residents have named their trails with wooden signs. We walk the roadside with family and friends to the main gate and pick flowers with our grandchildren during the summer, but when the black flies and deer flies appear, we have to cover up to avoid the bites or run!

Sunset cruises never get old and we all have so many photos of the spectacular skies over Loon Lake. One neighbor races out to the cove at the far end of the lake and parks his double-decker boat, expressing his amazement as if he had never seen a sunset before, but we all love the slow cruises and try to spot the family of loons or the resident eagles. Sunrises are a specialty for one of our early-bird residents, who tries to compete with a friend’s photos.

One of the most fun summer traditions happens with the adults and kids when we hook our boats together.  Each boat has appetizers to share. If the gates are opened, it makes it easy to walk from boat to boat to boat, catching up with our friends and sharing food. The night parties sometimes include adult beverages, music, and dancing on top of the Mother Ship–the  doubledecker!

 

 

 

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.

 

 

Camp Envy–The Next Generation

Published on by Kathy Baker

Spring has thawed the ice on the lake and our photographic friend, Carole Elizabeth Wilson, is famous for getting up early for her daily sunrise photo to share. She is the weather girl on the lake, letting us all know when the loons are out or nesting, what the temps. are and what incredible sunrises and sunsets we enjoy. I am in Florida awaiting the journey north to escape the Florida heat and humidity that is just around the corner.

This year our summer home is even more meaningful to us, after selling our home of 38 years with all its memories tucked in each corner. The house was built with love by an uncle of my husband, who is from Hale, and his brother, who was my husband’s father. Various family members helped to build this first home we ever owned, and a Hale stonemason created the Michigan fieldstone fireplace that held our many stockings at Christmas and even a few fires!

Our four children had mixed feelings about the sale of the home they grew up in but had one thing to say. “Do not ever sell the lodge!” For all the memories that were stored in their childhood home, none could compare to their relaxing and carefree summers on Loon Lake. It is where they learned to ski, build campfires, play in treehouses, hike trails, and enjoy the out of doors. Their happy times included making new summer friendships, driving the boat, fishing, catching fireflies and camping in the bunkhouse next to the lodge with their cousins. For all of you who camped and worked here, those were memories that are relatable.

This summer the entire family will gather in July and for the first time ever we hope to have every one of our children, spouses, and grandchildren all in one place. It will be a new experience for this growing family, who we manage to see on a regular basis, but not as a huge unit. With the new loft and extra space, we have room for everyone on the east side. The importance of the lodge as a gathering place will be cemented by the new memories made by the next generations.

With our life in transition and retirement just around the corner, the lodge gives us a sense of permanence and a place for future projects and reunions. It will always be our summer happy place. Our hearts remain in Florida where our children were born and raised, but our Michigan souls remain at Maqua. As the blogs come to an end in June, the transition of this website will turn to stories from the existing residents and perhaps a laugh or two. Thank you for all your special memories that have helped to keep the history of this magical place alive.

Childhood Feelings—

Published on by Kathy Baker

Did Anne Pennington know there were girls who were envious of her tall, thin summer body? Or that the Kiltie sister’s hair was the epitome of summer hair?  Or that “Beanie, Superdoo (Sue Purdue), Kiltie (Susan) and  (Anne) Obey” intimidated some of the less secure girls? Probably not! Little girls in the process of growing up had many feelings that they harbored, but still remembered as adults. Looking back, they were able to process as adults, but as young girls, those feelings were sometimes overwhelming.

Jeananne Grego (1966) and shy Tracy Topping (1962-63) remembered the girl with the cool name—Sue Purdue. Jeananne admitted to staying in the background, and looked forward to getting away to camp. “It turned a medium summer into a great one and camp was the highlight!” Tracy loved how an all girls setting allowed her to be relaxed without makeup or boys.

As a camper in the seventies, Karen Selby was not unfriendly, but did not make lifelong friends. “I have made friends all over the world, but I always saw friends as temporary, so I never felt a loss. I was raised in Bay City, in what was considered a small family. Life was about home and that was my element.”

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Camp Envy—Fourth of July 2018

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

Happy Fourth of July from the present day owners of the property, once home to Camp Maqua. I thought it would be nice to hear a little history on the current owners and find out how they came to find their little piece of heaven in Hale. The lodge and the story behind the William and Kathryn Baker and Aaron and Blanche Starks families purchase was featured on June 18, 2018, entitled “In The Right Place At The Right Time”. https://www.girlsofcampmaqua.com/in-the-right-pla…t-the-right-time/

We celebrated our Independence Day, as we usually do, with a boat parade and this year my youngest son and family were here to enjoy the decoration of our boat  with the theme “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic”. We were among about 18 boats who participated and won the coveted boat flag for 2018!

Charlie and Jane Johnson decided, they would like their three children to enjoy the same experiences they had as youngsters with cabins in the woods. “I searched the Free Press ads and found the ad for the Maqua land almost as soon as it started running in 1985, so we came up and selected our lot—Chapel Hill,” said Jane, who built their log cabin three years later.

“We had so much fun with the kids on the lake—tubing, waterskiing and just floating. When our kids were in cross country in high school, we had both the boys and girls teams up for 3-4 days of running camp. The boys slept in the loft and the girls in the basement with the coaches on the couches in between. They would run three times daily and play on the lake in between. Charlie was exhausted, because he ran with them and was also the boat driver, but it was a wonderful experience. Now as we are older, we don’t spend as much time up here, but I still love the peace and quiet and just the “aaahhh” moments when I sit on my deck.”

Neighbor Rick Baker, at the bottom of Chapel Hill, bought in the early eighties and his cedar home was built by his uncle (Al Baker) in the early nineties. His early years, as a single male, was spent camping on the property. After his first marriage to Aimee, he and wife and two children spent every summer weekend on the lake, next to his best friend from college, who built next door.

Kim and Laura Gorman’s cedar home, also built by Al Baker, utilized the senior brownie as their garage by turning the roof around and adding a home to the lakefront side of the building. Kim bought his property in 1984 and camped from one of the huts on the property until his home was built in 1994. Their only son grew up on the lake on the weekends and they now spend more time up here in their retirement.

The property with another lakeside hut belongs to Jim and Pat Fidler and (now deceased) brother John McConnell. While deer hunting in the area in 1987 or 1988, they spent many hours looking for a place to buy. Somewhere around 1989 they purchased their lot and built a log home in 2005, after camping many summers with their two daughters in the hut.

The farmhouse called Dutton was home to the Farmer family. The Dutton house became a haven for Carl, Marilyn and family, and their kids, grandkids and friends.“When we first became aware of the old YWCA camp in 1979, we were visiting friends on Loon Lake. While out for a boat ride, we spotted Dutton house, which was in pretty shabby condition, but we fell in love with it and the location was great! We checked with the realtors and found out the land was in the process of being divided, so we made a deposit on it and the rest is history.”

”It needed a lot of hard work. The upper porch was leaning out toward the lake, so it had to be pulled in and secured, painted. We added a new side porch, windows, doors, and a fireplace was added to keep us warm in the winter and a well was drilled by hand. Oh, if these walls could talk, what a story they would tell! Writings and signatures everywhere, cracks in the wood, so you could see outside, and the old metal bunks. And don’t forget all God’s little creatures! We had a lot of great times and memories in that place!”

“But, in 1993, with mixed emotions, we decided to build a new place. What a sad day when the old Dutton house had to come down, but now in its place stands a beautiful log home, where we still share and enjoy all the fun things. Swimming, fishing, tubing, boating, water play, waterskiing, and looking for mushrooms on rainy days, or board games, cards, arts and crafts or just enjoying the great outdoors or being lazy. These are memories we will cherish forever.”

The Farmers sold their log home to Steve and Julia Sigg, from Chicago, in 2017. Although not yet retired, they had purchased a small cottage on Long Lake in 2008, with no real intention of retiring there. They began looking for another place in the area, with the help of realtor Carole Wilson and began their search with a place near the Long Lake Bar, a second duplex near the same area and third choice on the Loon Lake property. A friend helped them with their “HGTV experience” by giving advice on their three choices and pushed for the log cabin in Maqua. With a grown son and retirement on the horizon, they hope to spend more time at their new home.

The property next to the campfire pit was bought by Bill and Sandy (now deceased) West. They bought their property in the early eighties with the intent of building a house in five years. They wandered down for a picnic with their two young children overlooking the lake. My husband and I happened to see them, (meeting them for the first time) and wondered who were these strangers who just showed up on Maqua property? We talked them into building right away, so our children could have playmates and within six weeks of starting construction, their beautiful log home was completed! (I might add that Bill West has a construction company and their crew, fed daily by wife Sandy, were up full time from suburban Detroit to complete the project.)

Thom and Lydia Engel own the property that housed the Infirmary and the nature hut. Purchased from someone they actually knew (the Haney family), they had no idea the Haneys owned the property! The Engels, along with their daughter, summered on Mullet Lake for three years, while looking for a cabin within a three hour radius of their home. A fellow employee suggested they try looking in the Tawas area, so they contacted realtor Carole Wilson in Hale and stayed in West Branch with plans to look in Cadillac the following day. They began their search on Long Lake, but Lydia had a vision of a summer home down a trail lined with tall trees and they found it in Maqua! Their search ended.

“I loved the lake access and it felt safe. When we walked to the beach, future neighbor Bill West was washing his windows on his new house and told us what a great community Maqua was and we had to buy here! We put in an offer that day,” said Lydia. “ The happy vibe of the place and the history just made it even more special!”

Year round residents Ric and Denise Braun bought their ten acres of Putnam roadside property in 1985 just as the Jim Sukenik family was dividing the Maqua property into ten parcels. They built their home in 1987 and raised two sons. “The reason I picked the road frontage and not lakeside was not only the price, but I knew I had lake access and I wouldn’t have to plow that long road in the winter,” laughed Ric.

The cabin that sat beside the fence along the Camp Maqua property belonged to the Williams family since 1957. They raised their two daughters summering on the lake, overlooking the activity of girl campers next to them. Their oldest daughter, Sharon Williams, was also a counselor in the sixties! The second daughter Denise, husband Joe and three daughters from Cincinatti, have summered here their whole lives, and purchased the Maqua property once owned by Dick and Judy Pfahl that bordered their cabin last year. The Clancy family recently remodeled the little cabin into a stunning lakeside home with two of the huts from camp being utilized for storage and for grandchildren’s campouts. They have come full circle!