The Old Fresh Air Camp Chapel Nook

Takes up about the space of a walk-in closet. Looks interdenominational to me. No youth summer-camping experience was complete without some compulsory reverence. Camp is where I learned I was going to hell because I wasn't Catholic, along with the Lutherans, "Piscopalians," Jews and whatnot; most of the people in the world. And praying with your hands folded in front of you means you're really praying to the devil. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

The Old Fresh Air Camp Furnishings

The few remaining dorm furnishings were all pushed into this corner, where they are rank with dust and mouse droppings. There is no question that the couch (or was it a daybed?) is from the 1970s, because I used to own one much like it.

The Old Fresh Air Camp Dorm

Taken inside the dorm where the Fresh Air campers bunked from 1957, when the dorm was built, to 1971, when the camp closed. This was the emergency exit. The counselors bunked in dreary small rooms (with private toilets) right next to this one.

The Old Fresh-Air Camp

This property was once a summer camp for city children, and the cabin I live in was the gatekeeper's house. The camp, half a mile up the lane, closed in 1971. The lane ends in this circle at the camp building, consisting of dining hall and dormitory. The tree in the raised bed is a gorgeous redbud when it's in bloom. The gates, for which I had keys, persisted until road widening in 2002.

I was able to enter the ruins and take photographs, and I'll be showing them here over the next few posts. No surprise that the building was closed in part because of asbestos issues.