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Dennis Wilkinson
Site Admin
Joined: 20 Jul 2004
Posts: 312
Location: East Freetown, MA
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 Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 10:31 pm
Post subject: Campsite Names |
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I know that prior to the '64 fire, there were two named campsites - "Nob Hill" and "Sleepy Hollow," both of which make sense given where those sites were.
Where did the names for the various post-fire campsites (Acooshnet/Assonet/Sippican/James West/Baden-Powell) come from? I'm not asking about the names themselves - obviously I know who Baden-Powell was, and can recognize the other names as coming from prominent local waterways. But who came up with the naming scheme, and when were they first used?
I remember the site names being on camp maps in the early 1980's, but it wasn't until Dave Goldrick became Program Director (in 1989, I think) that I can remember anyone actually using the names rather than referring to the sites by number.
Can anyone remember those names being around and/or used in the '70s? Earlier?
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Dennis Wilkinson
Site Admin
Joined: 20 Jul 2004
Posts: 312
Location: East Freetown, MA
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 11:14 pm
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Going through various old paperwork this evening, from 1950/1951, and came across references to "Hurricane Point" and "Dog Patch" at Cachalot.
No context was given for Hurricane Point, but it sounded as if another campsite was being referred to. "Dog Patch" was mentioned as being at Abners Pond (which makes sense, given the name.)
As with the other site names, any more information would be great.
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Michael Escobar
Tenderfoot
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Toronto, Canada
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:58 pm
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Where did the names for the various post-fire campsites (Acooshnet/Assonet/Sippican/James West/Baden-Powell) come from? I'm not asking about the names themselves - obviously I know who Baden-Powell was, and can recognize the other names as coming from prominent local waterways. But who came up with the naming scheme, and when were they first used?
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I think we stopped using the names in 1976.
That was my year on staff and there was a major change over in the staff that year. The new camp director was Mike Vieira and Robin Cambra was the program director. I don't think either of them had been on camp staff at Cachalot and both were from the old Massoit council/district (Fall River). They brought in a completely new group of area directors. I think there were maybe only two or three of the junior staff who had been on staff at chachlot. I believe that the returning members were Tom/Gregg Motta, Larry Guilette, and maybe Moe Menard, with Vic Sylvia joining in as the cook in the middle of the second week of camp.
Anyway, with so many of us who did not know so much about the history of the camp, I believe it was just simpler for us to call the campsites 1, 2, 3, etc. This was a habit that we picked up when we were in the OA when we were setting up the camp during the ordeal weekend. Remember, this was not too long after the merger and most of us from Fall River area did not know much about the camp and so when we were sent off to do something in one of the campsites, it was simply easier to tell us to go to site 4 than to say Assonet (or what ever site 4 was suppose to be called.)
Yes, I guess it was a bit barbaric.
Well, that is my theory.
-- Mike |
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Sahasrahla
Tenderfoot
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
Posts: 13
Location: Assonet, Mass.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 3:02 am
Post subject: Re: Campsite Names |
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| Dennis Wilkinson wrote: | | I know that prior to the '64 fire, there were two named campsites - "Nob Hill" and "Sleepy Hollow," both of which make sense given where those sites were. |
"Nob Hill" sounds a little familiar to me, but "Sleepy Hollow" in a Cachalot context doesn't at all. Is there any way to tell now where those were?
Sort of related, I've been looking at this neckerchief on and off (http://www.cachalotalumni.org/history/gallery/images/CampMapNeckerchief.jpg) and trying to figure out where the Wawayontat campsite is. I've been trying to compare that map to this map (http://www.campcachalot.org/PDF_files/Directions%20-%20CAMP%20MAP.pdf) but am not having any luck.
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Michael Escobar
Tenderfoot
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Toronto, Canada
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 8:27 pm
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| Quote: | | Sort of related, I've been looking at this neckerchief on and off (http://www.cachalotalumni.org/history/gallery/images/CampMapNeckerchief.jpg) and trying to figure out where the Wawayontat campsite is. I've been trying to compare that map to this map (http://www.campcachalot.org/PDF_files/Directions%20-%20CAMP%20MAP.pdf) but am not having any luck. |
I recognize the neckerchief map more than the other map. I guess the second map is the current configuration.
It looks like campsites 1, 2, and 3 were split into several campsites. During my day, site 1 was split into and we moved people signed up for one of the far away sites to "1a" or some such thing. (I think the moved site was for people who signed up for site 6 --Dan Beard, since it was so far from everyone else.)
I believe that Wawayontat was what we referred to as campsite "4". Note,that the modern map has no 4's, but the other sites 1, 2,3, 5, 6, 7, 8 all have names (or split names like 1E and 1W). So, if that is the case, then one would find Wawayontat by taking the road thru the 3's (3E, 3W, & 3N). Althought this was all 25-30 years ago, I suspect you would still find the remains of a road/path and if you follow it a bit you would find a large clearing where this site was. (Or at least, the trees should be fairly young if they only grew over in the last 25 years or so.
Sincerely,
Mike Escobar
PS: appologies for not calling each site by its full name and only giving it a number.... I would have taken me a while to map all those names to the various numbers.  |
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Dennis Wilkinson
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Joined: 20 Jul 2004
Posts: 312
Location: East Freetown, MA
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Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 8:04 pm
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Mike E. is absolutely right-there is still a trail (I walked it just this spring) out the "back side" of the sites that the original Sconticut (Site 3) was split into that leads into what was Wawayontat (Site 4), which is now pretty overgrown, then down to the fire break (also so overgrown it won't really function as one). The site isn't really recognizable any more, although it was at least as late as '88-'89. Trees have grown a lot since then all over camp.
I have yet to find anyone who remembers the site actually being used for summer camp, though.
The site did have a dry pit latrine, which came down in '85 (somewhere there is a picture of the Scoutcraft director in '85, Mickey Ingles, sitting at the wheel of the "Ammo Carrier", which is sitting atop the remains of the latrine.) The hole has been filled, but I believe the concrete slab that the structure sat on is still out there. I might have to take a little walk at the Klondike to check.
Vic Sylvia, who was a staffer in '76, thought that the numbers were the originals and the names came later, but the neckerchief and a few other maps show that the names existed late-'60s, fell out of use in the '70s, and were revived by Dave Goldrick when he became program director in '88. That all jibes with Mike's recollection. I remember both numbers and names on maps from my first year on staff, '85, so they hadn't been dropped completely, but they certainly weren't used anywhere near as often as the site numbers. Wish I still had a copy of maps from that era to document it, though.
On the Nob Hill/Sleepy Hollow front, I just uploaded a map from an undated-but-1950's-era summer camp program guide (click here to see the map). This map has only slight correspondance with actual geography, but it matches with people's memory that "Nob Hill" were the sites on the southern/southwest side of Five Mile Pond (where sites 1-5 are), and "Sleepy Hollow" was on the northern/northeastern side of Five Mile (where sites 6 & 7 arre today). The Adirondacks were built in the early '70s and wouldn't be shown on this map.
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Dennis
Minister of Propaganda, Webmaestro, and Chief Bottle Washer
"Everything that passes unattempted is impossible." - Stephen R. Donaldson |
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Michael Escobar
Tenderfoot
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Toronto, Canada
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:25 am
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I have yet to find anyone who remembers the site actually being used for summer camp, though.
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I'm fairly sure that we used this site during my time on staff ('76-'82). Basically, we preferred to keep all the troops in the sites 1-4 (including moving site 6 people to a site near site 1). Also, we did use the adirondaks. I don't remember ever using site 5. (I don't even remember setting up tents up there near the chapel in all my time there on staff or during OA ordeal weekends.)
Anyway, at one point I was doing the campsite inspections, and I seem to recall going up to site 4.
I also remember that there was a path that went from the road between sites 3 and 4 that ran to the top of the hill (the high point in camp between the campsites 1-4 and stream) and then the trail went to a foot bridge that was where scout craft was and near the trading post. (That route was so popular, that one year a put charge a "knot-toll". They had to do the "knot of the day" to use the bridge.) Anyway, I use to use the trail at night to check on the different campsites and to access site 4 without going through/bothering site 3.
(Of course it is completely impossible of me to remember which troops used what sites in the seven years that I was on staff.)
-- Mike |
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Sahasrahla
Tenderfoot
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
Posts: 13
Location: Assonet, Mass.
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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 2:51 am
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Mike E's got a great point - I never noticed that the numbers skipped over 4. I was always more focused on trying to figure out the norths, souths, easts, and wests of the other numbers!
Dennis - I think you might be right about the concrete slab. I can remember aerial pictures on Google Earth or a like program showing something that I always thought was a large rock in the area of where it sounds like Site 4 used to be. The next time I'm up at camp, I'll have to take a walk out there and see what I can see. It should make for a good adventure.
Almost sounds like the Dan Beard site. The last couple of years when we've taken new boys or leaders on hikes around camp, we've gone to Dan Beard to show how far some sites actually could be from the dining hall if they were used more. The last few trips out there, it's looked like a ghost town.
Thank you both for all the info!
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