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 camper’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 Camp 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 - fishing. 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 home) 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)