The "Camp Rodgers" Story
It was an ordinary day. Mom and Dad were getting me ready for summer camp. I was going to Camp Rodgers which is a Christian camp for boys and girls in elementary and junior high located 18 miles northeast of Lancaster, on the shores of Indian Lake. The camp is administered by St. James Episcopal Church and its purpose is to provide boys and girls with a happy, healthful summer vacation in a religious atmosphere. You know I got that right from the brochure that I had saved for over 50 years. Yikes, 50 years! Camp Rodgers wasn’t always located at its present location. It originally was located in the middle of the Susquehanna River on Shelly Island. Shelly Island was a very small island that only could be reached by boat. Pretty neat place. Once you were there, mom and dad couldn’t come and pick you up if you were homesick unless they had a boat. What were the chances of that? On Saturdays a small barge was loaded with the campers and taken to the dock at Shelly Island. The camp itself had a very large old stone house which served as headquarters with several cabins for the campers. This is where I allegedly learned how to swim. My wife can tell you about that! I went there for two summers and then it burnt to the ground!! All except the stone house. Hey, pretty tough getting the fire engine to the island. About the only things I remember about camp on Shelly Island is the Polar Bear swims every morning (I know it was in the summer!), the large black snake that someone chopped in half and all these baby snakes came out of it and the boy who was shooting arrows with a bow and shot himself in the knee. Pretty gross stuff! Funny what you remember about your youth. The following summer they moved to the current location. The new camp has a headquarters house, six ca
mper’s cabins, dining hall and a covered pavilion for meetings and vesper services. They made sure it was covered so we wouldn’t miss those vesper services if it was raining. Outdoor facilities included a baseball field, volleyball court, archery range (yea, they didn’t learn their lesson), swimming pool, basketball court, assembly area 
with flagpole where Reveille was held EVERY morning at 7:00 AM and the best of all - the lake with a boating dock. A partial list of items to bring included shorts, raincoat, rubbers (the kind for your feet), underwear, toothbrush, blanket, FLANNEL pajamas (this is in summer remember), robe, face cloth and soap. I don’t remember anyone ever using the last item listed. Items we were not supposed to bring were knives, comic books and portable radios. The Cam
p Director was a junior high teacher and coach who was loved by everyone. A local doctor was on call 24 hours a day and he was needed often if I remember correctly! Morning and evening prayers were a daily part of camp as was grace at meals. Camp fees were $22.50 per week!! My favorite activities were eating, boating, leather and plastic hand crafts and my very most favorite - fishi
ng. That wasn’t really an activity, but I brought my own rod and every day, when we had free time (supposed to be used to write hom
e) I would go to the dam and fish. And, the girls at camp! Oh, the memories!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs include main gate, mealtime, lights out (I’m in top bunk in rear), ping pong and camp group photo (I’m the tall, skinny kid in the middle with a baseball cap with an elephant on it and without a camp shirt - I was fishing when they gave them out)
mper’s cabins, dining hall and a covered pavilion for meetings and vesper services. They made sure it was covered so we wouldn’t miss those vesper services if it was raining. Outdoor facilities included a baseball field, volleyball court, archery range (yea, they didn’t learn their lesson), swimming pool, basketball court, assembly area 
p Director was a junior high teacher and coach who was loved by everyone. A local doctor was on call 24 hours a day and he was needed often if I remember correctly! Morning and evening prayers were a daily part of camp as was grace at meals. Camp fees were $22.50 per week!! My favorite activities were eating, boating, leather and plastic hand crafts and my very most favorite - fishi
e) I would go to the dam and fish. And, the girls at camp! Oh, the memories!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs include main gate, mealtime, lights out (I’m in top bunk in rear), ping pong and camp group photo (I’m the tall, skinny kid in the middle with a baseball cap with an elephant on it and without a camp shirt - I was fishing when they gave them out)
It's a pleasure seeing this site and notes about Camp Rogders. I have so many wonderful memories of this experience. I was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church choir in York and attended Camp Rodgers every summer from '54 to '57.
ReplyDeleteYes I do remember the camp when it was located on Shelley's Island. I recall it was run by St. James' and the 2 directors were 'Pop' and 'Mom' Thompson. The cook was 'Aunt' Clara Croft and, boy, could she cook. A real central Pennsylvania Dutch cook.
The experiences by LDub are pleasant memories. I can add a few of my own. The fishing, the daily rowing across to 'Sandy Beach', a small island about 50 yards from our dock, to swim. We really loved that monkey rope swing. Of course, someone always seemed to go underwater and bank rocks, which inflicted pain on your ears of you were swimming underwater yourself.
There were the afternoon softball games, the trips to the old barn for crafts and the weekly hikes to the mainland in Goldsboro. The older kids would hike 5 miles, the younger, 2 miles.
I am on several of these pictures, the one on the left holding the ping pong paddle and in the group picture, the one behind LDub's right shoulder.
Because half of us were from York and the other half from Lancaster, there were the constant 'discussions' which city was better.
Of course, since both cities had pro baseball teams in those days, the arguements usually centered around whether the York White Roses were better than the Lancaster Red Roses, or vice versa.
There were the tournaments with brackets to see who was the best at badminton, quoits, archery and other sports competitions. Ribbons were given to the winners.
I looked forward to camp every summer and was guite disappointed when the main house burned on the island. As LDub said, it was impossible to get fire trucks to an island in the middle of a river.
Thanks Anon for the great comments. I remember all the items you mentioned, but when writing the story they escaped memory. Seems like that is par for me as I age. It's a shame my kids didn't have the chance to have the same experience that I did at Camp Rodgers. Hope you don't mind, but I may do a backup story and include your comments. The reason ...... if you "google" Camp Rodgers you will get my story and it would be nice to have your comments also as part of the history of the island.
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to assist with comments. Please use whatever you need for future writings. JMorningstar.
ReplyDeleteThank you! LDub
ReplyDeleteThat you LDub for this site! I have wonderful memories of attending Camp Rodgers in the 60s. When I attended it was run by Jim Plunkett who was a local pastor. A group of churches rented the camp and called it Indian Lake Christian Service Camp. I had pictures but they were lost at some point. I sometimes think of the people and hope to meet them again. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteLDub and Neil - To which church did you belong? I'm trying to place you but can't recall your names. Neil, you were probably after my time. I only attended the Ephrata site the first year of operation. JMorningstar
ReplyDeleteI was a member of Tioga Heights Christian Church in Philadelphia. Most of the other campers were from Lancaster and places like Maryland. I attended from about 1962 - 1967. I remember Jim Plunkett's son, Paul, and another guy named Bart who was another preacher's kid. Debbie Young was a girl I wrote letters to and looked forward to seeing her every year. I visited the former campsite near Lancaster a few years ago and it's now a farm. It brought back great memories.
DeleteThanks For the memories... st. James church, Lancaster, PA. Reverend Batchelor and reverend Allen. Mr. mc connel was our organist
DeleteI belonged to St. James Episcopal. I went one year to Camp Rodgers when it was in the Susquehanna and two years after it moved to Ephrata, PA site. I just wrote a series of stories about St. James Episcopal in downtown Lancaster and will be posting them in the next month or two (Dec. 2014 and Jan., Feb. 2015). Two of the stories mentions Camp Rodgers and some of the history of the place. Check out my blog for these stories. LDub
ReplyDeleteAwsome.. Many great memories .Reverend Batchcheldor and Reverend Allen..
ReplyDeleteWent there 3 years in a row early 60’s
ReplyDelete