Early in the morning on Sept. 4, 2016, I walked the trail down to the lakefront at Camp Merrie-Woode. During the summer, most hours of the day, the sounds of others at play abound… but at 7:40 a.m., it’s just me and the insects, birds and fish. It’s second nature to imagine the history of this magical place.
Going back in time, for the previous 16 years, we had usually made the trip in late summer, with other dear friends, to savor a couple of days and nights together in the camp’s lodge, High Heaven. The picture-perfect camp set on Lake Fairfield has hosted young lady campers for the past century. Until 1986, it neighbored the famed attraction known as The Fairfield Inn. From the Inn’s brochure soon after opening in 1896: “This Inn is in the heart of the sapphire country, beautified with numerous waterfalls, excess vegetation, with many varieties of wild flowers, that make these mountains the most picturesque in the world, and geologists will tell you – the oldest.
“The Inn itself faces Fairfield Lake, around the edges of which grow flowering water lilies, which makes it a most beautiful spot, where you may enjoy rowing, black bass fishing and swimming in water that is clear, clean and invigorating.”
Deepening the romantic lore, the Inn was reportedly located near the site of a former gold mine. With that tidbit to further fuel imaginings fully primed by glorious nature herself, I am rapt in awe for the good luck that brought us here. Memory Lane gave us, our kids, our friends and loved ones everything one can hope for from this place – including an open promise for the future. Maybe someday, together, we’ll swim these waters again.
