Camp Acadia Left
Visible Reminders of Summers Past
by Roger Amsden News Correspondent
Camp Acadia, a waterfront summer camp
for girls which operated from 1909 until 1956 near the
end of Lucerne Avenue at the Weirs, has left behind
visible reminders of its presence in and around the
Pine Trail Condominiums complex.
Still standing, minus the bell which called campers
to worship at the chapel in the woods, is the Memorial
Arch, about 100 feet away from the entryway to Pine
Trail, where many of the original buildings used by
the campers and staff at Camp Acadia have been converted
into homes, some of which see year-round use.
Among the original buildings still standing are Trail’s
End, with its large porch and commanding view of Spindle
Point in Meredith; the Quimby Lodge, which was the camp’s
recreation center and dining room; and the Tip Top House
and laundry, the latter of which has been converted
to a garage.
There are also fireplaces from the original camp as
well as stonework which once supported the circular
wooden bench where Acadian campers met for morning assemblies
and Saturday night songfests around a large campfire.
A large oak tree, which once was enclosed within the
assembly area, still stands, surrounded today by boat
trailers rather than campers.
And, even though the songs sung by the campers, counselors
and other staff members can no longer be heard wafting
through the woods, the voices of the campers are not
stilled and live on in a remarkable chronicle of the
camp’s many summers in the form of yearly log
books which compile the writings, drawings and even
the most innermost thoughts of each year’s crop
of campers.
The log books, which were recently donated to the Lake
Winnipesaukee Historical Society by Grant and Beth Seaverns
of Hampton, both of whom had ties to the camp, evoke
a wonderful portrait of a simpler era when life moved
at a slower pace but people were more physically active
and attuned to the natural world.
Grant was named for his great-uncle, Dr. J. Grant Quimby,
a Lakeport physician who, along with his wife were pioneers
in the camping movement and started bringing children
to their lakefront property for camping out adventures
in tents. The Quimbys bought additional property on
either side of their original lot and soon started putting
up buildings and running an eight-week long summer camping
program for girls from the Northeast, most of whom were
from Massachusetts and New York. They continued to expand
the camp during the 30 years that they ran it and the
camp enjoyed a fine reputation throughout the Northeast.
Seaverns, a 1945 graduate of Laconia High School, worked
at the camp as a maintenance man for three summers while
attending college. His dad, Earle Seaverns, who served
on the Laconia City Council and was the city’s
civil defense director during World War II, was camp
manager at the time.
And it was there that he met his future wife, Beth,
who was a camp counselor. (His brother had the same
good fortune and also met a counselor there who became
his wife.)
Beth said that the camp had 50 to 60 campers and 10-12
counselors when she worked there and that activities
centered around the waterfront, where there was swimming,
canoeing (the camp had a large war canoe which could
seat 14 paddlers), hiking, horseback riding, arts and
crafts, archery and tennis. There were even ballet lessons,
drama at the Rustic Theatre, and entomology in the Bug
House, where specimens which were found in the woods
were kept. And there were frequent day trips to the
White Mountains for hiking.
For years the camp was run by Havene Q. Ryan, the Quimby’s
daughter, who carried on the traditions of her parents
by instilling a sense of adventure and purpose in the
camping experience.
After the camp closed in 1956 the property was sold
to the Ruscher family from South Carolina, according
to Richard Thornton, who lives in one of the condos
at Pine Trail. He said that from that time on through
1966 the family set aside a portion of the rental income
from the camp cabins and tent platforms and used that
money to build one new cabin each year, eventually phasing
out the tent platforms.
The property was sold to Fred and Lois Rotwitt in 1966
and they operated the Pine Trail Cabins there until
1987 when the buildings were converted to condos.