Anyone remember Camp Wampatuck in South Hanson? (Milford, Bridgewater: how much, house)

[Newdaawn]

I came across a thread in the NH message boards that talked about a camp that many had attended when they were young. I think it was Camp Holiday in Milford, NH. It got me to thinking about my overnight camp in South Hanson MA, Camp Wampatuck. I think I went there for at least 5 or 6 summers. Many years I stayed for a month. This was decades ago. I was wondering if anyone remembers going there and when it closed. I remember being friends with a girl Kathy Shaw and her older sister was a councilor. I think her name was Ariana. They were such great people. There was also a Natalie that was a swim instructor. If anyone has any connection I would love to hear about it.

[sandiandi2003]

I lived there back in the early 70's while our house was being built. It was one COLD winter! Small world!! I loved it there. There was a puppy named Wampy. I lost my first tooth there and it bounced off his back and was never found. I was so upset that I wouldn't get a visit from the tooth fairy (she did come)! LOL. There was a very nice lady (can't recall her name) who cut out dough into the shape of our hands and made donuts out of it which blew our minds. There were labels on the drawers too ie: wampy shirts, etc. Great memories. I remember a swing tied way up high to a tree so you could swing WAY out.

[ladyalicemore]

Hi, Newdawwn, I don't think we were there at the same time, but I loved Camp Wampatuck. I was a camper there for three years, I think 60-62? 59-61?

Mrs Carlson, who headed the camp when I attended, was a lovely person and I remember so many nice girls at this gentle camp. I had been at a Girl Scout camp in nearby Bridgewater and it was too competitive and spartan. We even had to sing to the sad TB patients at the sanitorium on the campgrounds. Not that I minded that, but it was a little sad to see them looking out at us.

Wampatuck: I still remember how nice the piney air smelled, and how much fun I had reading comic books in the early afternoon rest break. Some of the lessons in cooperation and tolerance that I learned there really helped me through tougher times when I was a teen. Some of the nicest children I ever met were campers there.

So thanks to anyone who might have been associated with the camp.

My brother has lived nearby in Duxbury while raising his kids and he took me there, probably in the 1990s when his own kids sometimes had overnighted there as part of a day camp. He remembered driving there to pick me up.

It looked exactly the same in the 1990s, I am so glad I got to see it again. I guess it has been sold and developed since then.

I remember Ann MArie Carlson, a crafts counselor who became a nun; Elaine Carlson, my first counselor, and Priscilla (don't know her last name) who was my second counselor. They were lovely. It was a multicultural camp before people talked about such things, and I felt very safe and happy there.

[Newdaawn]

I'm glad to know there are others that remember happy times a good friends at Camp Wampatuck.. When I was an overnight camper - as at the time that was all there was and no day campers - we would have a Wednesday night council fire and all of us wore white and came into the bowl area with lit candles and singing "Lead on O King Eternal". At the close of the ceremony we marched back up the hills singing "Onward Christian Soldiers". Guests and parents were invited at that time and it was dark but the time it was over. My parents always attended and sometimes my grandmother would be there too, as she lived in Cohasset. It was a very pretty ceremony. Only thing I didn't like very much was cold showers. There was no hot water piped to the showers. Once every week they would bus us to either a saltwater beach for the day which we brought our lunch with us, or we would go see a live play at the Cohasset Music Circus. I vividly remember seeing the musical "Kiss Me Kate". Those were such wonderful days.

[ladyalicemore]

Hi, Newdaawn, I remember 'Onward Christian Soldiers" around the campfire and hadn't thought about the ceremony for years. I am Catholic and the camp was punctilious about delivering campers to the appropriate places of worship: the church I attended was in easy walking distance from camp.

I remember the Music Circus theatre in the round, great shows, and the beach excursions to Duxbury and Wareham. I remember a dance with the boy's camp that was a lot of fun and the talent show was another special event. Tetherball with friends, the candy purchase allowed once a day at a little store near the main lodge. I remember that vanilla ice cream was served at Camp Wampatuck with maple syrup on top. The flag raising and lowering ceremonies reminded me of scouting; I really enjoyed them. A broadcast recording of Reveille (sp?) in the morning.

I also remember that each two-week period had a hayride, which was so much fun. My vision being a little compromised I was not good at most sports, hopeless at tennis especially. But I loved the horseback riding, which I think was scheduled once a week.

I don't remember the cold showers! I remember where the showers were on the hill, but not that they were cold.

I think it must have been just two years, as I can only remember two counsellors. I was in Iroquis and. . . not sure of the other name, kitty-corner to the right. Algonquin?

Anyhow, I am not on facebook and saw this posted and it is a pleasure to think about those pleasant summers so long ago.

[Stevepippi]

I have my grandmothers autograph book dated 1928, with all the names of her friends from camp Wampatuck. Makes me wonder what those days were like!

Steve

[mangosalsa]

This thread caught my eye because I attended both Holiday House in Milford NH, which I think is
Camp Holiday and Camp Wampatuck from the late forties thru the mid fifties. What I remembered
about Holiday House (which was a converted farmhouse on one side of the road and the barn
which we used to put on plays, on the other side of the road) was having to put bags of salt in
the part of the lake where we swam to discourage leeches. They were not always discouraged.

I remember Ariana Shaw and her sister Kathy, also Natalie Vincola and many others. I believe the
camp closed in 1986. What a loss. It was a wonderful place to be for kids.

[ladyalicemore]

Hi, mangalosa, The OP's Camp Wampatuck used to be in Hanson, MA, near Pembroke and Duxbury.

I loved the Hanson Camp Wampatuck, where there was a lot of grass and muck in the lake (still is!) after about four feet, but no leeches! The New Hampshire campers are clearly made of sterner stuff. I would have freaked out as a kid. The MA Camp Wampatuck did have killer mosquitoes, though. I was bitten by a mosquito on our outdoor sleep-out and woke up with lips that looked like a Hollywood starlet's--except lopsided.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by ladyalicemore

Hi, mangalosa, The OP's Camp Wampatuck used to be in Hanson, MA, near Pembroke and Duxbury.

The New Hampshire campers are clearly made of sterner stuff. I would have freaked out as a kid.

I went to Camp Holiday. There was no lake that I ever saw (and no leeches). We had a swimming pool.

[PollyD]

Polly D.
I went to Camp Wampatuck for years, in fact I started when I was 5, when my parents sent me for the whole summer. I think I was the youngest one at camp, and suffered from terrible home sickness, but luckily the adolescent girl cabin adopted me as their mascot and I got a lot of love and attention. I remember they developed a gymnastics routine in which they threw me up in the air and flung me between their legs.
I was particularly fond of Ms. White, the nurse in the infirmary who I thought was as old as a dinosaur, but who was perhaps 50. I seem to have developed many "illnesses" that necessitated my staying in the little cabin with her and I am forever grateful for her sensitivity.
The pond was sort of yucky. I saw my first water snake there. The bottom was awful soft and I once dove in too steeply and literally hit bottom, but it was so boggy that I had difficulty gaining leverage to rise up. It was frightening.
The camp did not apologize for its Christian orientation but I believe my good friend there, Lizzie Brat was Jewish and I was uncomfortable for her. We were rather blind in those days to institutionalized prejudice.