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Solair Recreation League - |
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Solair Recreation League - |
A Look back in time ...
The Lodge / Roundhouse
Correction - the lightening strike was actually July 4, 1977
The text below was written in 1967, prior to the fire that destroyed the Old Lodge
During the winter of 1938 at a meeting in Worcester, it was decided that a more permanent home was necessary and so the idea for the Lodge was born. Alexander located and purchased a supply of old lumber, strong but full of nails, which he brought to the camp. The pulling of the nails fell largely to Florence and she spent hours at the task. When the timbers were ready, Alexander started the building – 16 by 32 feet, consisting of one large room and a porch on the first floor and a half-second floor. When he was ready to set the foundation posts, after creosoting them, he wanted a certain kind of rock to put into the cement mixture. Again, Florence was pressed into service. The proper rock was found (whole); she splintered it by taking a large rock and continually dropping it on the desired kind. When all was broken up, she carried it to the location for use. Later, her son built the outside stairway to the second floor. Florence, with a wry smile, remarked that the stairway was half an inch off but Alexander never knew it.
After the building was completed, the second floor was used as a dormitory. The main room and porch, as you would expect, was used for gathering to talk, play cards and games and probably on unpleasant days to eat in. The first year, all cooking was done outside on the fireplace. Can’t you just imagine a big coffee pot brewing out there for the gang? I don’t know that it happened that way but it’s a nice thought. I have heard that each family prepared their meals and usually were outside. Maybe as they got acquainted, they began to “Pot-Luck.” Whichever way it was done the word has always been that it was FUN.
However, there were times when there were drawbacks to the outside cooking – the weatherman did not always cooperate and it was tedious to carry utensils and supplies to and from the Lodge, so the next year the summer kitchen was added. This was equipped with an old oil stove so now they could cook and eat outside or under cover. Later Al J. changed the oil stove for a propane gas stove, safer and quicker.
The use of the Lodge continued in this manner until the Canteen was built. The Lodge and surrounds were “The Camp.” People began to set up their own tents, Al brought in a trailer for his use, a small cabin or two were built but the Lodge was the center of activities. According to an item in Doris’ diary, the mode of feeding the group changed in the later years of the use of the Lodge as the community center. She mentioned that Ann had prepared a turkey dinner for all. It was cooked in the summer kitchen, the plates filled and passed through a little door in the walls, someone taking them on that side and placing them on the table.
After the Canteen became the center of activities, the Lodge continued as community living quarters. The dormitory remained as such, the lower floor was divided, making two small rooms and a fair-sized living room. One small room was rented by Alfred and Hazel on a seasonal basis, the other used by Pat, at that time the Secretary, as an office. The next year Pat discovered it was easier to do her work at her trailer while little Jay was napping, so a bed was put in the room and it was rented on weekend or vacation periods. The next year Hazel and Alfred rented both rooms and the living room was gradually transformed into their kitchen and dining room. All continued to use the summer kitchen, stove and refrigerator as community property for some time, but in time this ceased. The dormitory continued as such with little patronage. For two summers in the early 60’s it was used by family groups – then became a storage place. The summer kitchen was converted to a seasonal rental room about the same time and thus the Lodge ceased to exist as a community center.
A correction just came to me by phone from Hazel. I think it is interesting enough to pass along. In connection with the serving of meals, prepared in the summer kitchen and served in the living-dining room, I had said they were passed through a door. I’m wrong; it wasn’t so easy. When the Lodge was built there was a rear window. When the kitchen was added, which incidentally was screened, the window served as a pass-through BUT the kitchen was on a much lower level and Ann is not very tall, so she not only cooked and served but she also STRETCHED as she passed each plate upward to an assistant on the other side of the window. I bet the canteen kitchen was heavenly after the conditions she worked under there.
The canteen, according to Al, had originally been planned for the area near the Lodge, but with the development of the beach that brought the people gathering there, the plan was changed to build on the present site. It was started late in ’54, worked on by members, mostly Al, Leonard and Bill S. during ’55. The first reference I can find of it being used was an account of Ann serving dinners in ’56 but it may have been finished for use late in ’55. It was used much as the Lodge had been, meals prepared and served, parties enjoyed by all on special occasions. Now the canteen is not used as extensively as it was. The members of long-standing regret the fast-growing membership that changed their old, happy ways. Perhaps some day before too long we can have a hall large enough to draw us all together again with the sociability and comradeship of days not too long gone by. That is the dream of many.
Our beginnings... formation (1934-1937 thru 1957)
Water, Lights, Power, Facilities (1967 text)
Return to Solair History Main Page
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