Blast from the Past: Deerwoode in the 50s!
Carol Cowan Kussmaul recently came back to visit Deerwoode with her children and grandchildren. Carol attended Camp Deerwoode from 1951-1956, which at that time was an all-girls camp. During those six years, Carol has special memories of the activities they participated in, especially the craft room, and many stories to share including the skits they performed, old camp cabins, visits to the infirmary, hiking up the mountain, diving into the swim lake (which she wasn’t a fan of), and reminisced about the uniforms the girls wore.
Carol remembers, “Back in the day, we were told to have two red Deerwoode neckties with “C.D.” on them. We had to wear them every day so you can imagine how often spills (spaghetti sauce, mustard, you name it) happened! So you took the dirty one to the “john” and washed it with your bath soap. You rolled it in a towel to get most of the water out and then you folded it VERY NEATLY in your towel and placed the towel-envelope between your mattress and springs. The next morning it would be dry AND pressed! Ready for the next day (and the next spill)!”
During Carol’s visit in June, we took her for a ride along the trails and into the mountain, where she pointed out the locations where old structures would have been. Unfortunately, the cabins and other buildings had fallen in such disrepair, they were taken down. Some of the fireplaces were salvaged along with the old wood and have been re-build into new structures. Carol stated, “I loved seeing the fireplace in the lodge formerly known as “The Big Room” and Wolf Cottage formerly known as “Dames Den.” For future visits to Deerwoode, “I am excited to come back to see how they restore the lake.”
Carol we are excited for you to continue to come back and visit Deerwoode with your family and next year we will hopefully have the swim lake all restored and ready for you to jump off the diving platform, or watch your grandkids jump off!
