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.
Yes 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 if 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 arguments 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 quite 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.
Yes 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 if 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 arguments 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 quite 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.
If you want to read the original story, click on The "Camp Rodgers" Story. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - In the group photo I am the one standing in the middle of the photo without a Camp Rodgers shirt on. I happened to be fishing when they handed the shirts out.
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