belgrades lakes, maine january 2004

� PRESERVATION FOR PINE ISLAND S �

SECOND CENTURYGifts and Ongoing Efforts Are Preserving Pine Island s Surroundings

As every Pine Islander knows, Mt.Philip lies at the north end of GreatPond and has been the home of KingKababa, his helpers, and his sacred animals ever since the King struck anagreement with Pine Island’s founderClarence Colby. The agreement was asimple one: King Kababa would movehis residence to a spacious and comfort-able cave on Mt. Philip, leaving PineIsland free for the establishment of aboys’ camp. The camp would be allowedto continue using the island as long asthe boys and staff continued to believein the King, to be good to each other,and to adhere to the principles PineIsland Camp holds most dear.

The agreement has held for 101 years,and during that time King Kababa haskept an eye on Pine Island’s activities.He has sent many of his sacred animalsto the island, and has sent the boys andcounselors birch bark signs during thesummers to comment on how attentivethey are being to the terms of the agree-ment. At least once each summer thecamp Kababalogist and a group ofcampers embark on the Sacred Journey,a mystery-filled day trip during whichthey climb to the summit of Mt. Philipto visit the home of the King. The King’scave must be extremely well camou-flaged because, though they always findevidence of the King’s living there, theyhave never found the actual cave.

And so it is a real shock to genera-tions of Pine Islanders to hear thatrather suddenly last fall Mt. Philip wasfor sale. As it turns out, King Kababanever actually held a deed to the moun-tain, apparently (and who could blamehim) feeling that his claims to the lands

surrounding Pine Island were so ancientthat he needn’t express them on paper.Mt. Philip, according to the modern lawof the land, was split into two parcels —one owned by the Mead Paper Compa-ny and the other by a local citizen. TheFor Sale sign went up when Mead Papermade the decision to sell all of its land inMaine. Since the 200-acre parcel was tobe sold with the rest of Mead’s vast hold-ings in Maine, it would not be an optionfor the Belgrade Regional ConservationAlliance (BRCA), a local land trust, tobuy just the Mead land on Mt. Philip.

Enter Jack Schultz, local resident andPine Island parent. Jack has long beenactive in the joint efforts of the BRCAand the Belgrade Lakes Association(BLA) to conserve open land and toprotect the watershed of the entire Bel-grade Lakes area. On hearing that thehome of King Kababa was up for sale,Jack swung into action and began tolook for a way to secure at least the topof Mt. Philip for the King and for futuregenerations of both Pine Islanders andlocal residents. As it turned out, most ofthe top of Mt. Philip was owned not byMead Paper but by a local resident who also owned the north side of themountain. Jack approached the locallandowner and he agreed to sell tenacres atop Mt. Philip to Jack. Jack thencalled Pine Island director Ben Swan togive him the astounding news that hewould be giving the land to Pine IslandCamp with a conservation easement tobe held by the BRCA to ensure that theland is never developed.

Sadly, this happy story has within it adeep element of tragedy. The Mt. Philipland will be given to Pine Island in

memory of both of Jack’s sons, ThomasBritton Schultz and Andrew GraysonSchultz, the only two children of Jackand Jane Schultz. Andrew died in 1978when he was eight after accidentally det-onating a Korean War era phosphorushand grenade he found that had beenleft in the basement of the Schultzes’new house in Ridgefield, Connecticut.His older brother Tom was killed in thebombing of Pan Am Flight 103 ten yearslater. “Both our boys died by instru-ments of war, and I think the preserva-tion of this peaceful and beautiful placeso many people will enjoy will be a last-ing and fitting memorial to them.”While Andrew never reached camp age,Tom was both a camper and a counselorin the late 70s and early 80s.

Jack’s purchase and gift pave the wayfor the eventual preservation of all of

Mt. Philip. The BRCA has secured anoption to buy the north slope of themountain from the local landowner andis “first in line” to purchase the southslope from its new owners, WagnerWoodlot, a timber company that boughtall of the 6,000,000 acres of land MeadPaper owned in Maine. “My hope is thatmy gift of this land to Pine Island willget the ball rolling to that over the nextfew years, and that Pine Islanders andlocal residents will rally to help purchasethe final two parcels of land, thus pre-serving the entire mountain forever.”

Pine Island thanks Jack Schultz forhis dedication to the preservation of thepristine surroundings of the place we alllove so much. We look forward to play-ing our part as it becomes possible topurchase and preserve the rest of theKing’s home. Stay tuned!

A grand vision and years of tirelesseffort on the part of a small group ofvery determined people have resulted inthe preservation of 6000 acres of land,including an entire range of mountainsjust minutes from Pine Island. Knownas the Kennebec Highlands, the land waspurchased over a period of three yearsfrom twenty separate landowners withfunds raised locally and from the Landfor Maine’s Future Fund, a fund estab-lished by the State of Maine to aid in thepurchase of land in the state for preserv-tion. The driving force behind the cam-

paign to save this pristine land, which isjust minutes from August, Waterville,and the Maine Turnpike, was the Bel-grade Regional Conservation Alliance(BRCA). BRCA is an umbrella organiza-tion that draws its members from theseveral organizations that have beenestablished over the last 75 years to carefor various lakes in the area. The Bel-grade Lakes Association, founded byPine Islanders Wilson Parkhill and JunSwan, is the oldest of the lakes organiza-tions and took the lead in the formationof the BRCA, whose first land preserva-

tion effort was the purchase of “TheMountain,” a 100-acre tract of undevel-oped land overlooking both Great andLong Ponds.

The Kennebec Highlands has onlyone dwelling on the entire property andincludes waterfalls, trout ponds, maturehemlock forests, blueberry fields, andthousands of acres of hardwood forests.The BRCA has begun creating new hik-ing trails and improving old ones so thatthe public will be able to enjoy the areaand also to care for it. Pine Island Camp,maintainers of a section of the Appa-

lachian Trail for over 50 years, hasalready agreed to be responsible for themaintenance of one or more of the newtrails. One PIC trip has already made itsway into the Kennebec Highlands, andmore are planned for next summer.

The BRCA is now at work finalizingthe purchase of the last 200-acre parceland is already at work on arranging topreserve more land in the BelgradeLakes region and thus to further theirgoal to protect the entire watershed.

MT. PHILIP FOR SALE!

6000 ACRES IN PINE ISLAND S BACK YARD PRESERVED FOREVER

A typical view in the Kennebec Highlands

WILD WHITEHEAD NEIGHBOR SAVEDNorton’s Island Has Conservation Easement

A BENCH WITH A VIEW, A GIFT FROM A FRIEND

2003 LIGHTKEEPERS FOGBOUND BUT ACCOMPLISH MUCH

On the front page of its most recentnewsletter the Maine Coast HeritageTrust proudly announced that theFaulkner family, owners of Norton’sIsland, Whitehead’s nearest neighboringisland, have donated a conservationeasement on the entire island. The ease-ment allows for tent sites only on the 75-acre island, which has mature spruceforests, open fields, stone walls, a bold“head” of granite facing out to sea and atleast two lovely beaches.

It was only a few years ago that theview from the loveliest beach on Nor-ton’s was spoiled by heavy developmenton Rackliff Island, serving as a dramaticillustration of how valuable the preser-vation of Norton’s Island is to those whoenjoy Whitehead’s peace and quiet. Onemerely has to sit on the formerly seclud-ed northernmost beach on Norton’s andstare across barely fifty yards of waterdirectly into the windows and porchesof houses that look like they belong inthe Hamptons to see what development

can do to a pristine island, and to itsneighbors. Rackliff Island’s fate wassealed over fifteen years ago when itsowner had a causeway built across thenarrow waterway that separated it fromthe mainland and then built a series ofroads throughout the island. Small lotshave been selling at high prices eversince.

With the easement completed onNorton’s, most of the views from White-head’s west shore and from the shores ofthe three Brown’s Islands are now pro-tected in perpetuity and Norton’s joinsWhitehead as one of the over 300 Maineislands preserved forever by MCHT. ThePine Island community is grateful to theFaulkner family for their foresight andto the Maine Coast Heritage Trust(www.mcht.org) for their continuingwork “to conserve coastal and otherlands to protect Maine’s environment,sustain its outdoor traditions and pro-mote the well-being of its people.”

Wanting to do something to honor alifetime of friendship with Tats Swanand the many visits she had with Tats atWhitehead Island, Pine Island parentand grandparent Kimme Sloane sentBen Swan a lovely teak bench to be putin some spot where future generationscould stop, rest, admire the view, and be

grateful to Tats for her generosity withand love for Whitehead Island. Thebench sits near the Keeper’s House andlooks down across the lawn and wildrose bushes and out over the bold rocksinto the North Atlantic. “TATS” iscarved into the back. Many have restedthere already. Thank you, Kimme.

Though work for members of theWhitehead Lightkeepers Program canbe tedious and gritty, it would be diffi-cult to find a workplace with a betterview. Painting trim and scraping layersof paint off a door is made a good dealmore palatable by being able to look upfrom your work and gaze out across thesparkling, bold, Atlantic. Ask any of the10 members of the 2003 WhiteheadLightkeepers about that view and theresponse might be, “View? What view?”

The Lightkeepers are told each sum-mer at the beginning of their three-weekprogram that they are part of a 200-year-old tradition of keeping the light atWhitehead Island. This past summer,the bicentennial of Thomas Jefferson’scommissioning of the first lighthouse atWhitehead, the current Lightkeeperslearned first-hand why the lighthouseand various fog signals were put there solong ago, as dense fog enveloped theisland for 11 straight days. It was nearlyimpossible to dry fully their clothes andshoes, paint took forever to dry, andtrips ashore became a challenge, but theconstant presence of the fog for such along stretch took its toll in other ways aswell, as it must have for island residentsback in the early 1800s. The view wasgone, but so were all the subtle andsometimes not so subtle markers of thepassage of time in a day. No sunrises. Nosunsets. No shortening and lengtheningof the shadows. No shadows! Little

change in temperature as the sun roseand fell unnoticed.

Lightkeepers have always been aresilient and energetic crew, and thisyear’s six young men and five youngwomen were no exception But all theirreserves of imagination, good will, andbasic interpersonal skills were taxedseverely by the blanket thrown overthem for over half their stay on theisland. Cook Elise Voigt and assistantdirector Tyler Pope pitched in to keepspirits up, Director Peter Ward drew onhis many summers as a Pine Islandcounselor to keep the work interestingand the company congenial, and the 11Lightkeepers found ways of making themost of the situation, but all agreed thatit was a tough slog. And so it was, withfive days left in the program, that theLightkeepers greeted the sun, the bluesky, and most of all the glittering viewfrom their workplace with a joyunmatched, unless it was by that of thehundreds of sailors who had been har-borbound all over Penobscot Bay.

In spite of it all the Lightkeepersaccomplished a great deal during thethree-week program. They completedvirtually all of the scraping and paintingon the interior of the Keeper’s House.They finished cleaning out the WhistleHouse, which is now ready for structur-al work by professionals. They repairedthe boathouse ramp and built a verynifty platform for hauling all manner of

stuff up the ramp. As is always true ofany Pine Island enterprise, camaraderieand good cheer triumphed over the dif-ficult conditions, and for the 200thsummer a stalwart crew kept the light.

Peter Ward will direct the 2004Whitehead Lightkeepers Programagain. The program is now in search of afew good young women to join the crew,who surely will see nothing but clearskies and that sparkling view.

Norton’s Island with the heavily developed Rackliff Island in the background (photo: MCHT)

Tats’s bench

(right) Katie and Mallory dressed for theweather

(below) Director Peter Ward directs low-ering of new platform. Alex K. and Katielook on

Ever since 1996 when Pine IslandCamp, a nonprofit institution, becameowner of the historic Whitehead LightStation, Pine Islanders have been won-dering how the camp would use the dra-matically beautiful site that commandsan extraordinary 200-degree view ofPenobscot Bay and the open Atlantic.The 11.1-acre parcel, which includes thegranite light tower, a boathouse, a tum-bled-down pier, a 40’x 40’ brick utilitybuilding, a 19th-century school house,and a six-bedroom Keeper’s House, hasposed one distinct problem: it bogglesthe mind with possibilities. Determinedthat any use of this extraordinary facili-ty would both adhere to Pine Island’smission and preserve the uniquelypeaceful atmosphere of WhiteheadIsland, Pine Island’s Board of Directorsreached back nearly 100 years, longbefore the phrase “mission statement”had been coined, to a single elegant sen-tence written by Pine Island’s founderClarence Colby:

“To give boys a healthful and beneficialsummer outing, to clarify their minds andreinvigorate their bodies, to give themnew life and new strength — in a word, toafford them an opportunity for re-cre-ation, not merely recreation — is the pur-pose of Pine Island Camp.”

Changing only one word (“boys”becomes “participants”) of this state-ment, written in 1904, gave the Board allthey needed to guide the developmentof new programs at the Whitehead LightStation. At present Pine Island Camp’ssummer trips to the island for campersand counselors continue to use thebuildings and land owned by the Swanfamily, leaving the Light Station at thenortheast corner of the island availablefor other programs. While there hasbeen some discussion of additional pro-grams for children at the Light Station,the main focus has been on creatingshort programs for adults. These pro-grams will seek to offer more than mererecreation, each having an instructorand a subject of interest. Programs offive to ten days in length might focus onareas of literature, art, spiritual develop-ment, or craftsmanship. The Board iscurrently studying programs offeredtoday in a variety of venues and formatsto gather ideas and guidance. It is theirhope that Pine Island will be able tooffer one or two pilot programs duringthe summer or fall of 2005.

Though a great deal of work has beendone at the Light Station since 1996,both by the Whitehead LightkeepersProgram and by professional contrac-tors, there is a great deal left to be done.Funded by over $200,000 in donations,including another major gift of$100,000, Pine Island has focused on therepair and restoration of the Keeper’sHouse and the brick building known asthe Whistle House. The work hasincluded cleaning out both buildingsand repairing the extensive damageyears of neglect had caused to the wallsand ceilings of the Keeper’s House,priming and painting all walls, ceilings,and trim in the Keeper’s House, replac-ing the roofs of both buildings, restoringinterior trim in the Keeper’s House,cleaning out the Whistle House, liningthe Keeper’s House chimneys, working

on the grounds, and repairing the boat-house ramp.

Projects slated for completion in thenext 18 months include completing thekitchen and bathrooms in the Keeper’sHouse, furnishing the Keeper’s House,installing a septic system, resuscitatingthe old well, restoring the School Houseas a dwelling, installing additional bath-rooms, repairing the pier, repairing theexterior of the Whistle House, replacingthe Whistle House windows, preparingthe Whistle House interior as a multi-use meeting and work space, and repair-ing the metal housing atop the lighttower.

* * *Second Major Gift to Light Station

Project Keeps the Work Moving* * *

A second major gift of $100,000 toPine Island for use on capital projects atthe Whitehead Light Station wasreceived recently from Lise Aubry, PineIslander, lifelong friend of Tats and JunSwan, and long-time summer residentof Whitehead Island. Lise, well known togenerations of Pine Islanders and otherswho have spent time on Whitehead,began her Pine Island career at age 19,when she became a babysitter for theSwan children. Based in the “Rink” onGreat Pond, Lise, helped by other youngwomen including Cyndi Jepson Far-quhar, cared for the Swan children andthe children of Assistant Director ChipHandy and his wife Ethel for 8 summersand for 3 summers helped to run a daycamp in what is now the “Third Cabin.”Lise was with Tats and Jun Swan on justtheir second trip to Whitehead Island inthe summer of 1957, and would accom-pany them to the island for the next 45years. In the early days of Pine Islandtrips to Whitehead Lise lived in a smallroom behind the kitchen in the cabinknown as Starboard. Any Pine Islanderswho have visited Whitehead since 1970,when the Barracks was first used forcooking, dining, and sleeping, will beastonished to learn that up until then allthe cooking for the Pine Island groupswas done by Tats Swan and Lise Aubryin the tiny Starboard kitchen and thateveryone ate in the two small rooms offthe kitchen. In recalling those days Liserecently wrote,

“In early days Starboard was thekitchen/dining area and Port was the dor-mitory. Before the arrival of a gas refriger-ator, we kept perishables in a pail downthe well and we attempted to cook on athree-burner kerosene stove that smelledterrible, was very difficult to regulate, andturned all pots and pans (and the cooks!)a sooty black. Meals were extremely sim-ple…One dinner I remember was a one-pot concoction composed of #10 tins ofcorned beef hash, tomatoes, and corn, allmixed together and heated on thatwretched stove.”

Since 1970 Lise has made the cabinknown as Port her Whitehead home,and has done a great deal of work bothto the inside and the outside of thebuilding to make what was once a bat-infested shack one of the most comfort-able cabins on the island.

In response to inquiries from theNeedle, Lise Aubry wrote about her longrelationship with Whitehead and why

she is so eager to give this generous sup-port to Pine Island’s new efforts at theLight Station.

“The beauty of the island is beyondwords — at least my words. The darkgreen of the spruce trees, the scent of thefallen needles in the woods on a warmday, the songs of birds, the surprise of pinkLady’s Slippers in the woods in spring, thedrifts of little lavender and white violetsalong the paths and roadways in earlysummer. After a rain the delight of stum-bling across a golden patch of chanterellemushrooms.

Walking the rocks of many colors andtextures always makes one feel in touch,grounded, as if you are walking on thebackbone of our earth. The ever-changingsea, the life upon it and below its surfacedemands attention, as do the sounds ofthe water as it roars and sighs in its move-ment, sometimes sounding like a freighttrain passing by. All these sounds changewhen blanketed by fog.

Most remarkable is the peace oneencounters on Whitehead. Time hereaway from the hurly-burly, hustle-bustleof today’s world allows one to be still,relax, listen, and hear the ‘still small voice’all around and indeed inside one’s self.One is able to reclaim one’s self, to getreacquainted with nature, to be attunedto the seasons and the rhythm of each day.One can let the weather decide what theactivities for the day will be.

Whitehead is, can be and should be asanctuary for those who seek and long forpeace, beauty, and a rapprochement withwhat may be lost in the way we run ourlives. It would be such a gift to see theexcellent facilities at the Light Stationused in such a way that they would pro-vide visitors with some of what I havebeen blessed with at Whitehead over thesemany years and for those visitors to love,respect and preserve something that is sospecial and rare in this busy world. Writ-ers, artists, musicians, students and folkswho just need renewal could find so muchin programs run in this special place.

To use is to preserve.I hope others will join me in support-

ing this exciting project that will bring thegreat gifts of Whitehead Island to manymore generations of wonderful people.”

Pine Islanders and other friends ofWhitehead, past, present, and future

wish to thank Lise Aubry for herthoughtful and generous gift and for allher generous wisdom that has helpedmake Whitehead the unique place it istoday.

Our estimates are that we will need toraise an additional $100,000 to com-plete the capital improvements and topurchase furnishings and equipment,including a bigger boat, to be ready toopen the doors for participants of thenew programs. If you would like tomake a tax-deductible contribution tothe Whitehead Light Station Project,you can send a check, made out to PineIsland Camp, to: Pine Island Camp, P.O.Box 242, Brunswick, Maine 04011.

If you would like to find out moreabout our plans for the Whitehead LightStation, you can email Ben Swan atbenswan@pineisland.org. or call him at207-729-7714.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

NEW PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS PLANNED FOR WHITEHEADLIGHT STATION

Major Gift Paves Way For Completion of Facility Renovations

Lise Aubry works with Rippy Swan prepring a salad at Whitehead Island in 1996

The 2004 Whitehead LightkeepersProgram has a few spaces open for 15and 16-year-old young women. PeterWard will be running the three-weeksession this summer to continue the

work on Whitehead Lightstation. It isthe chance of a lifetime to be part of

the 175-year tradition of keepingWhitehead Light.

NEEDED: AFEW GOOD

YOUNGWOMEN!

July 21 — August 11Build friendships

and skills this summer.Preserve a piece of history.

Call Ben Swan at 207-729-7714 or e-mail him at

benswan@pineisland.org

Two weeks before the end of camp inthe summer of 2003, LTIP Will Durkinfound two baby cedar waxwings thathad just fallen out of their nest. He tookthem to Dave Olsen, a counselor whohad previously rescued a hummingbirdfrom the cobwebs in the skylights ofHonk Hall. Dave took the birds to histent and began to care for them. One ofthe birds died very shortly after but theother survived and became a camp pet.Dave named him Petey. There have beenseveral adopted baby birds at camp thatI can remember, including a barn swal-low and a kingfisher, but none were asawesome as Petey. He ate blueberries,which were a lot easier to lay hands onthan the meal worms we had to get forthe barn swallow. At first, we had tosquish the berries before he could swal-low them. Then we could simply dropthe berries down his throat. Petey hadan interesting way of eating. He couldeat five or six blueberries remarkably

fast and store them in his gullet, whichwould swell to twice its normal size.Then he would digest them one by oneand his gullet would gradually shrinkback down to its normal size. Eventuallyhe got good enough so that we couldsimply drop the berries onto the tableand he could reach down and grab themwith his beak. When the time came tostart teaching him to feed for himself,one would break a branch with a lot ofberries off a bush and put it in front ofhim. Once he realized this was where theberries came from and that we weren’tgoing to pick them for him he began topluck them from the branch. In the endwe were able to place him on a blueber-ry bush and let him find his own food.

Pretty soon, Petey was learning to fly.In the beginning, what with beingunused to flying and fat from overfeed-ing, he would half-fly, half-fall to thenearest landing place and crash-land.He eventually learned to aim at his

TRIP REPORT: FLAG BIG FLAGby Rippy Swan, camper

MORE GREAT THEATER: THE 2004 S.N.S. SEASONby Michael Robertson

OUR FRIEND PETEYby Harry Swan, camper

This past summer I went out on a tripcalled Flag Big Flag, and it was one of thebest I’ve been on during my three yearsas a camper at P.I.C. In fact, I think it wasone of the best trips sent out all summer.I had two great counselors, Dave Olsenand Jason Fischer, and the campers weregreat too. On this four-day, three-nighttrip the group paddles the War Yachtdown a large section of Flagstaff Lake,climbs Mt. Bigelow, and then paddlesthe rest of the lake to the pick-up point.

On the first day of the trip, we wereplanning to paddle about nine miles to acampsite on a small island. We got luckyand had a very strong tailwind. Insteadof paddling nine miles after launchingour boat, we hoisted the square sail andbarely dipped our paddles as we sailed

nearly 18 miles in just over five hours!The campsite we used that night wasright at the foot of Mt. Bigelow. It was avery beautiful spot and we all enjoyedour stay there.

The second day was sunny and warm,and we set out early and got some greatviews on the way up to Avery Peak. Thatnight we were meant to camp at Horn’sPond, but we decided to stay in AveryCol, where we had a great view of Sugar-loaf Mountain from the campsite. Dur-ing that day we had time to hike over toWest Peak and got great views downonto the lake from there.

On the third day we hiked back overAvery Peak and back to our first camp-site, where we had chained the WarYacht to a tree for safekeeping. The Yacht

and all our paddles and lifejackets werethere and after a short rest we launchedour boat and headed out onto the lake.We ate lunch in the boat and were ableto sail again after we got out of the cove.We spent about an hour looking for agood campsite near the pick-up point.We went by a dam and thought aboutcamping near it, but we decided to keeplooking. Finally we decided to camp on

an island we had seen earlier. It turnedout to be a great campsite and we had areally fun last night.

On the last day of the trip we wereable to sleep late (7:30 is late for JasonFisher!) and had an awesome breakfastbefore packing our gear and paddlingonly about ten minutes to the placewhere Chris Newlin met us in the vanand took us back to P.I.C.

The 2004 Saturday Night Show sea-son will no doubt be remembered as oneof the finest of the decade, if not of thenew century. Every show brought cheersand laughter from the audience, andelicited intense excitement from theshow’s participants at the show’s end.Late Saturday nights, on their way to acelebratory dip, campers who had justspent the whole day working on theshow would recount their memories ofwhat was, to them, the greatest theatri-cal achievement—ever.

These shows may have been just that.The first of the season, Red Pine, chron-icled the heroic efforts of the Naglers tosave Pine Island from the Communistinfluences of counselor Dave Olsen.Infuriated by the patriotism of July 4thon the island, Davey O constructs amind control device, and a timemachine. He recruits counselor SamWeeks to help him convince thecampers to revolt and redistribute thecamp’s resources equally. Before he cansucceed, however, Bill Nagler confrontsDave, and his ferocious patriotism

destroys Dave’s mind control device.The camp is saved.

Red Pine received modest praise, butmany seemed to have expected morefrom the veteran directing team of TylerCoffey and Michael Robertson. So thepair returned two weeks later, enlisting alarge cast to create Pirates of Great Pond.In this show, the women of the islanddecide to leave and become, well,pirates, preying on the wealthy summerfolk who inhabit the shores of GreatPond. Based on Oak Island, the femaleraiders acquire a fearsome reputation,and eventually grow to such power thatthey threaten Pine Island itself. Thesecret that leads to their anger, however,also provides a solution to the conflict:the pirate leader believes a counselor hasspurned her love. Yet when she returns,she finds him still there, now an Assis-tant Director, and they resolve their dif-ferences. Pirates of Great Pond is, I amfairly sure, the only show ever to use anactual dory as a prop in Honk Hall.

The season’s second show, Sour Milk,was directed by Tyler Coffey, Phoebe

Sanborn, and Whit Cheever. The plotinvolved the CEO of Oakhurst Milk,who envisions expanding his company.He and his henchmen have developed anew milk producer, the Cow Fish. Heneeds to buy PIC so he can test themout. He calls Emily Swan, played bril-liantly by Myles Alderman, and after abattle with her conscience, she agrees totalk Ben into it. Meanwhile, theOakhurst CEO’s henchmen are busykidnapping loyal Pine Islanders. Bendecides to sell PIC and moves down tothe tropics where he can open a new lux-ury camp on a beautiful island with allsorts of powerboats and other modernequipment. At this point a bit of avantguard theater came into the act, and oneof the technicians actually aided indefeating the evil plans. Ben realizes hewas only disappointing the campers andhimself, and everyone was happy again.Whew!

The next show of the season, Catch,brought a new genre of show to theisland. The show, inspired by Britishheist movies, offered a varied and color-

ful array of characters, each trying todupe the other out of some valuablerelics of King Kababa. Narrated expertlyby Marc Lombardo, Catch gave manycampers a chance to shine in hilariousroles.

This already brilliant season con-cluded with one of the finest shows inrecent memory: James Pond in Pinefin-ger. Directed by Erik Lombardo andJohn Nagler, this show featured brilliantdialogue, hilarious jokes, compellingstory, and all-around fun. Stephen Rothportrayed the title character quite well,and the ensemble in general seemed tohave rehearsed the show for days, notmerely hours. Henry Gabriel shone asthe Bond girl.

Taken together, these shows clearlyrepresent an unusually impressiveachievement for the camp. I have nodoubt that the renaissance will continueinto next summer, and I look forward tobeing in the audience.

Mt. Bigelow from aboard the War Yacht on Flagstaff Lake (photo: Rippy Swan)

selected landing place and even to gainelevation a little bit, but he still couldn’tstop the momentum his fat little bodygained in the air. He often tried to landon very hard places like protruding nailsand pegs. He tended to skim right overthem and crash-land somewhere else.

Just as he was beginning to reallylearn to fly, Petey suddenly stopped eat-

ing and flying well. Sadly, we foundPetey dead the next morning in his boxin the Shop. It was a great shock toeveryone. We had really thought Peteywas going to make it. We’re not sure whyhe died, but we all learned how hard it isto care for a wild creature. Akka Lakka,Petey.

ICE HOUSE COMPLETED!

BIRTH OF THE SCRAMBLERSalvaged Boat Joins PIC Fleet

TINY YACHT DONATED TO PIC FLEET

KING RETURNS LOLLA-PALOOZA LOBSTER IN

GIANT CAULDRONby Michael Robertson, (MK, Yale)

It is ironic that the modernization ofthe Pine Island kitchen years ago madeiced drinks a rarity at camp. Up until thelate 1950s ice boxes cooled by blocks ofice stored in an ice house were PineIsland’s only refrigeration. The cumber-some, damp, and difficult to clean ice-boxes were replaced by cumbersome,damp, and difficult to clean gas refriger-ators. The old ice house at the head ofthe road, which had replaced the ice-house that stood where Northamptonnow stands, slowly sank into the soil andice on the island became a distant mem-ory. Occasionally the cook would takepity on the campers and staff during ahot spell in July and buy bags of ice fromthe local convenience store to treateveryone to iced drinks, but ice wassomething everyone missed. With a bitof luck and some hard labor early thisspring, we should have ice any time wewant it starting next summer. One willsimply have to head down to the cove,open the new icehouse, pull out a block,clean off the sawdust, and chip away.

Pine Island’s new icehouse was builtthis past July because of the generosityof PIC alumni Earl Smith and Randyand Joel Taplin. Earl paid for the mate-rials, and Randy and his son Joel spenta week at Pine Island this past Julyworking with various campers to com-plete the project. The sturdy and ele-gant little structure now stands ready toreceive ice blocks that, we hope, will becut late this winter down in the cove.The uncertainty about whether or notwe will be able to fill the ice house isthe same felt for over 100 years byMainers who had to wait for the ice tothicken sufficiently both to travel acrossit and to create thick enough blocks toharvest.

In this case there is also some uncer-tainty because none of us has ever cut icebefore.At the suggestion of alumnus andBlue Hill, Maine librarian Rich Boulet,Director Ben Swan bought a video show-ing ice harvesting in days gone by.Though Swan owns an ice saw and sever-al pairs of tongs, he noticed some pretty

hefty equipment in the videos that hedoes not have and isn’t likely to find, likehuge gasoline-powered scoring saws.However, since the ice house is verysmall, it is likely we will be able to cut theice we need by hand. The ice will then bestacked in the ice house and covered withsawdust and should easily last through

the summer. Ben will be doing moreresearch soon in South Bristol, Mainewhere there is a large ice house and anannual ice-cutting event. The ice-cuttingon Great Pond will probably take place inFebruary, so get in touch with Ben Swanat benswan@pineisland.org if you wouldlike to be notified of the excursion.

During the summer of 2002 coun-selor Bill Nagler discovered a 17' skiffadrift on Great Pond. He towed it to thecove where it sat for the rest of the sum-mer while Ben Swan attempted to findout who owned it. Once the owner waslocated, Ben tried a number of times toget in touch with him, but his calls werenot returned while his letters were.

Having decided that the boat’s ownerhad abandoned the old craft, Bill setabout refitting the dented but dry Star-craft for use in the cove. Using an out-

board and steering gear given to PineIsland with another boat, Bill created asleek and serviceable craft and named itThe Scrambler. It soon became a favoriteand “to scramble” soon became part ofthe PIC lexicon, as did the expression“Scramble On.”

The Scrambler is now in Brunswickwhere it will receive a refit in the springso that she and her passengers canscramble on through the summer of2004 and beyond.

The fifth boat in three years has beendonated to Pine Island Camp, this oneby alumnus Joe Crary of Prospect Har-bor, Maine. Joe is a collector of boats,mostly kayaks, and has spent a lot oftime plying the waters of the NorthAtlantic, both aboard boats and on oneof his several surfboards. Yes, he surfs allwinter in Maine, but you’ll have to askhim about how that is possible and whyit is done!

Several years ago Joe bought a nifty16' sailboat made by the Hutchins Com-pany of Clearwater, Florida. Joe hasmoved on in his boat journey, and hehas generously donated this miniatureyacht to Pine Island. Measuring just 14'on the waterline and 16', 11" overall,including the tiny bowsprit, the boatincludes a cabin with two 8' berths, teakpaneling, bronze hardware, a small out-board, and its own trailer. It is easy to rigand seats four comfortably in the cock-pit. The boat has a small fixed keel with450 lbs of ballast and draws only 18".

This little cruising boat should begreat fun for sailing classes and will be afine flagship for the Yacht Club Cruise. Itwill also undoubtedly be much in

demand by counselors for days off. Aswith all donated boats, we will deter-mine after a summer if she fits well intothe fleet and decide then whether tomake her a permanent additon to thefleet, to see if she might be useful atWhitehead, or to offer her for sale.

Many thanks, Joe!

King Kababa expects a great dealfrom the boys of Pine Island Camp. Hedemands that they be good to oneanother, that they be good to them-selves, that they be honest and compas-sionate, and that they acknowledge hisgift to them, the gift of the island, byhonoring those expectations. This sum-mer the King sent many messages askingthe campers to follow his guidelines,and it took a few weeks for the messageto get through.

Perhaps the King’s many gifts duringthe previous year’s centennial summercreated a sense of entitlement. After all,the Camp received six sacred animalsthat year, including Centissimo, theHigh-Strung Steinwhale, one of themost spectacular animals we have everseen. After this success, it took a while toremember that we had to do our part forthe King as well.

As the summer progressed, the moodshifted. More chants occurred at meals,and the King’s messages became moreencouraging. When, during the lastweek of camp, the King called for a

Sacred Journey, the Camp came alivewith excitement. The Journey includeda KWS ride to Belgrade, miniature golf,and of course a hike to the summit ofMt. Philip, where the campers found anelaborate message telling them that theKing was pleased with them.

The Sacred Ceremony came withoutwarning and featured a huge fire andmany henchmen. The Head Henchmanexplained that the King was very happywith the progress of the summer, eventhough it had taken some time to get ontrack. To illustrate the King’s pleasure,he sent a magnificent animal, Potwarp,the Lollapalooza Lobster, which rosefrom a giant cauldron at the ceremonyon the mainland. The animal’s size andbrilliance left the campers breathless,and after doing a chant of thanks thecampers returned to the island.

Such an amazing animal conveyedthe great pleasure the King felt at seeinga group find the way to live together inaccordance with his commands, despitethe challenges of doing so.

Tom Rielly and Owen Myers with the basic structure completed

Bill Nagler and William Gilman in the Scramber

Charlie Krause

Steve FisherJay Gurney

Matt Clarke

George Robinson, Rippy Swan, Max McKendry,and Ian Swain

Henry Towbin

Eric Clemmenson

Keefer Blum and Eric Hanss on Regatta Day

Charlie Krause and Nicky Isles

Gabe Killhour and Aaron Day

Mike Robertson and Russel Thompson—Men of O.A.R.Head Chef Bria Sanborn

Alex ShilenNed Pressman

Nick GoodhueHappy soapswimmers

Chris Newlin

Turner Bohlen, Sam Winans, Jack Walsh and a fine catch

Eric Zwiener, Mat Degan, and Will Morrison

Kent Shelp

Mac Scarritt

Ben Schachner

Sumner Ford

Todd Becker and Paul Malle

Stephen Manker and Bill Nagler

Andrew Hathaway

David Lombardo

Jordana and Nikki Pickman with Katie Swan

Tommy Nagler, Ian Swain, and Nicky Jones

Woddy Hoyt on Regatta Day

Phoebe Sanborn

Jack LaRochelleO.D. Sam Weeks

Waiting for lunch and clowning around

Marc “The Dragon” Lombardo

Stephen Roth and Scott Phillips

Own a beautiful print of Pine Islander John Alsop’s original watercolor “Rest Hour,”celebrating the quiet moments in Pine Island’s beautiful surroundings. Available

unframed, or framed in Pine Island pine, cut after the Great Fire of 1995.

Framed $90.00Unframed $25.00

OTHER CENTENNIAL ITEMS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE!

Centennial t-shirtsWhite short-sleeved shirts in high quality cotton, with PIC Centennial logo onfront and photo of early Pine Islanders on backSizes youth L, adult M, L & XL $ 8.00

Centennial mugsTwo styles: chowder mugs in thick, pebbled navy ceramic and traditional coffeemugs in navy, both with Centennial log. $ 8.00

Centennial zip fleeceGray lined zip-up fleece with Centennial logo on right front chest. $ 60.00

Centennial baseball capOne size fits all, high-quality gray cap with Centennial logo in navy. $ 8.00

Pine Island Camp history videoA wonderful and moving professionally-produced video presentation of PineIsland’s 100-year history. In VHS. $ 5.00

Classic PIC t-shirtsNavy short-sleeved cotton t-shirts with PIC logo on front in light gray.Sizes: youth L, adult S, M, L & XL $ 15.00

All prices include shipping.Please mail order with your check to:

Pine Island CampPO Box 242

Brunswick, Maine 04011

ORDER FORM

Item _________________ Size ______ Qty. ______ Amount $_____________

Item _________________ Size ______ Qty. ______ Amount $_____________

TOTAL$__________(Checks payable to Pine Island Camp)

Name _________________________________________________________

Address ________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip___________________________________________________

Phone # and/or e-mail address ______________________________________

When former camper, counselor, andmember of the Pine Island board ofdirectors Andrew Chapman headed outacross Long Island Sound late last springin his new 21' inboard with his ten-year-old son Henry, he fully expected to havesome adventures, but by the time heentered the Hudson River he found hehad underestimated just how excitinghis trip might be. Andrew and Henryleft their home port of Shelter Island,located between Long Island’s Montaukand Orient Points, early in the morningand took a full day to cross a choppyLong Island Sound, the first leg of a 350-mile journey that would end seven dayslater at Fort Ticonderoga, New York onLake Champlain. They spent their firstnight aboard tied to a pier at Port Wash-ington and set off early the next morn-ing down the East River, around thesouthern tip of Manhattan Island, stop-ping for a visit to the Statue of Liberty.They stopped for pancakes at Jersey Cityat the mouth of the Hudson and set offfor West Point.

Henry Chapman is a young studentof military history, and the theme of thejourney was to be a water-level view ofthe many places along the way signifi-cant to campaigns of the past, particu-larly those in the early part of the Revo-lutionary War. It was on day two thatHenry’s interest in the U.S. military’spast would bring him suddenly face toface with the U.S. military present. Hav-ing been trained as a trip leader at PineIsland, Andrew, always mindful of the“Six P’s,” timed their passage through“Hell’s Gate” for slack tide, and finding astiff north wind whipping up the busylower Hudson, headed across the riverto move into the lee of Manhattan.Cruising up the West Side, Henry spiedthe USS Intrepid, a mothballed aircraftcarrier now serving as a popular muse-

um, docked just above 42nd Street.What an opportunity! They could visitthis 900' long, 40,000-ton ship by water!

As they approached the carrier, theywere suddenly aware of alarms sound-ing and turned to see a sight neither willever forget: a large Coast Guard inflat-able hurtling toward them, with amachine gun mounted on the bow,manned and pointing at them. “BLUEYACHT CEASE ALL FORWARD WAY!”came the command over a loudspeaker.They ceased all forward way. Withinmoments the Coast Guard boat wasalongside, and without waiting to dis-cuss the situation two uniformed men,each wearing two pistols, leapt into theboat. They looked at what must havebeen two truly wide-eyed mariners andasked, “Where are you going!?” Henry,having nothing to hide, answered, “Ver-mont!” Having satisfied themselves thatthese were not terrorists, the CoastGuard performed an inspection of theirsafety equipment and general seawor-thiness, readily agreed to a hasty photoop, and went on with the business ofpatrolling New York Harbor. Shaken butthrilled nonetheless, Andrew and Henryheaded up the Hudson for West Point.

The rest of the journey was less excit-ing but full of interesting sights and vis-its. They slept aboard each night andvisited the U.S. Military Academy, theSaratoga Battlefield, and other historicsites. In Whitehall, New York theyentered the Champlain Canal, whichtook them through nine locks to LakeChamplain. Next spring Andrew andHenry plan to continue their voyage andgo from Ft. Ticonderoga to Quebec Cityvia the Richelieu River and the ChamblyCanal. They will be working on theirFrench in case of any encounters withthe Canadian Coast Guard!

PINE ISLANDER BOARDED BYARMED COAST GUARDSMEN

IN NEW YORK

BLUES VICTORIOUS by Michael Robertson

At first, history seemed to be repeat-ing itself. The first day of War saw theBlues in a commanding position thanksto excellent defense and serviceableoffense. Most people remembered theprevious year’s game, when General BillNagler led the Blues to just such a lead,under similar circumstances, only toend up scrambling for enough points towin at the end.

Niel Kasper, Gray general for the sec-ond year in a row, remembered the pre-vious game as well. He knew it wouldtake innovative strategy to overcome thenigh-invincible Blue defensive pattern,and so threw a bewildering assortmentof attacks, distractions, and feints meantto unbalance the squadron system. TheGrays scored well on day one. The Graydefense also reflected Niel’s now leg-endary proclivity for unusual maneu-vers, featuring flying gates, supergates,and of course challenge traps.

Blue general Matt Clarke, however,had memories of his own. Two yearsprevious, he had led the Blue army to aclose defeat, a defeat that some blamedon him. These baseless accusations hadbeen hanging on Matt’s heart for twoyears. Clarke was the XO for the Bluevictory in 2002, but he hungered toprove he could lead the army to victory.

At the end of day one, the score wasclose. The second day of War opened

with Blues defending, and their defenseproved too powerful for the Grays.Attack after attack broke harmlessly onthe poles of the Blue gate leaders. Thesquadrons seemed to be everywhere atonce. It appeared that victory was forthe Blues to take fairly easily during thefinal offensive period. This too remind-ed the armies of the previous year, whenthe Blue offense could not score on daytwo and so barely accumulated enoughpoints for the win. The first hour of thefinal period was uneventful. A few Bluesscored, but then the woods went silent.For almost twenty minutes, nothinghappened. Had the Blues miscalculated,thinking they had the lead after thosefew scores? Then the remainder of theBlues emerged from the woods allaround, at once, and the surprised Grayscould not summon their defensesquickly enough, and many Blues scored.The Grays were in disarray, and oneBlue party stepped on an empty NorthGate near the end of play.

The armies gathered in the center oftown as head umpire Sandy Crane readout the final score: Blue 126, Gray 108.The cheering and exultation explodedfrom both sides, and soon everyone,umpires and players alike, were boom-ing out an “Akka Lakka,” the agelesschant that brought everyone togetheragain.

Henry Chapman with twoCoast Guardsmen in NewYork Harbor

PROFILE: WILL DANA GATHERED NO MOSS ON LONG ROAD TO ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE

PINE ISLAND S LEADERSHIP TRAINING INTERNSHIP PROGRAMYoung Counselor Candidates Undergo Comprehensive Training

Pine Islander Will Dana says he cameto New York fresh out of MiddleburyCollege in the summer of 1985 wantingmore than anything to land a job atRolling Stone Magazine. He is nowRolling Stone’s Deputy Managing Editorand has been with the magazine for sev-en years. However, Will’s route to thisjob that he loves just as much as hethought he would was far longer andmore convoluted than the bright andeager Middlebury grad could haveimagined it would be. Will worked atseven different magazines in ten years,including one in Chicago, before land-ing a job with the hip and durablechronicle of rock and roll, an organiza-tion that he believes has a great deal incommon with Pine Island, where he wasa camper from 1974-1976 and a coun-selor from 1980-1983.

“Like Pine Island, Rolling Stone wasfounded by someone with a vision, “the40-year-old Dana said in a recent inter-

view with The Needle. “Like Pine Island,it’s the kind of organization that has akind of internal engine and you eitherget it or you don’t. Above all the maga-zine has real values to which founderJann Wenner has always stuck, evenwhen they dictated decisions thatseemed like financial suicide. RollingStone does what it wants and has alwaysknown what it wants to be, and it is pret-ty thoroughly crazy here.” Sound famil-iar? In fact, like Pine Island Camp,Rolling Stone is a venerable survivor.During its 35-year run (making it near-ly as old as Pine Island in magazineyears) hundreds of magazines havecome and gone. Will Dana worked forseveral of them.

The fall after he graduated from Mid-dlebury, where he majored in English,Will took an unpaid three-monthinternship at Harper’s in New York City.Will says the internship was extremelyvaluable and remains one of the bestportals to the industry for young people.From Harper’s Will was hired by EsquireMagazine as an editorial assistant, a jobhe held for eighteen months beforebecoming Deputy Editor of a weeklymagazine called 7 Days. Will says that hehad a blast working for Esquire and thathe learned a tremendous amount bothabout how a magazine article is puttogether and how to deal with tempera-mental writers like Martin Amis and JimHarrison. 7 Days was a new venturefunded by the then-owner of The VillageVoice. Will described it as an insanestruggle nearly every day. After twoyears, the magazine folded. And thentwo weeks later, it won the NationalMagazine Award for General Excellence.

Will needed a job and soon joined theeditorial staff of Manhattan Inc. maga-

zine. Three weeks after he started, themagazine merged with M Magazine andbecame MINC, a publication Will saidwas, “. . . such a nightmare that it droveme out of New York altogether.” Willlanded very much on his feet as an edi-tor at Outside Magazine in Chicago,where he was occasionally in touch withTom Yoder, another Pine Islander mak-ing his mark in the alternative newsbusiness as co-founder of the ChicagoReader. Will was glad to be working fora solid publication with a future andworked on some exciting stories at Out-side, including the feature by climberJon Krakauer that later became thebook, Into The Wild, perhaps the bestand most gruesome illustration of thedanger of ignoring the 6 P’s ever writ-ten.

Will and his soon-to-be fiancée EllenTien, a writer for the New York Times,liked Chicago but missed home andafter two years at Outside Will was onceagain looking for a position at a maga-zine in New York. He was hired by WorthMagazine as it made the move fromBoston to New York, and he and Ellenwere married shortly after they movedback east in 1994. Their son Jack wasborn in 1998 and looks forward to fol-lowing in the footsteps of his father anduncles and his cousin Charlie Krause toPIC in a couple of years. After 18months at Worth, Will was finding itincreasingly difficult to sustain a highlevel of interest in the intricacies andnuances of the financial world and so hemoved to the editorial staff of Detailsmagazine, a Conde Nast publication foryoung men. This move brought Will to amagazine with a less conventional out-look and a younger readership.

Just two years later, in 1996 a job

opened up at Rolling Stone, and by thistime Will had a solid track record at avariety of magazines. He was hired tohandle all the non-entertainment con-tent of the magazine, and as DeputyManaging Editor Will has written manyof his own articles and developed manymore by a variety of writers. The bestselling book Fast Food Nation by EricSchlosser began as two long RollingStone feature pieces encouraged andchampioned by Will. Most recently Willhas been interviewing the numerousDemocratic presidential hopefuls andhas written articles on Wesley Clark,Dennis Kucinich, John Kerry, Al Sharp-ton, Howard Dean, and Al Gore. Willreports that he is glad to be involved inthis side of the magazine instead ofspending his time stroking the egos andtrying to keep up with the up and com-ing future legends of rock and roll.

This is not to say that Will does noton occasion rub shoulders with thesuper-famous subjects of Rolling Stone’sother side. He’s chatted with KeithRichards and Mick Jagger, sat backstageat the Garden with Bob Dylan and hasbecome friendly with Phish lead singerTrey Anastasio.

Will loves his job, and he feels RollingStone has a bright future in spite of theway in which the world is changingaround it. “They have strong valuesbecause they know what they want tobe, what they want to say, and how theywant to say it. Not many magazinestoday can say that. I think it is thatintegrity that attracted me to RollingStone in the first place, when I was just afew years away from my many summersat Pine Island. I’d say I was probablylooking for the combination of crazi-ness and integrity I found at P.I.C.”

About five years ago director BenSwan and assistant director Chris Newl-in reached a sobering conclusion: theywere the only two people on the islandwho knew how to do many essentialtasks. They were the only trained back-up skippers for the K.W.S. They aloneknew the location of the dump, how tohook up a trailer, how to care for theperches, what it meant to clean up theMaintenance Shed, Honk Hall, and theTrip Locker. At the same time they werereviewing the performance and successof the staff and realized that almost with-out exception the youngest staff, the 17-year-old rising high school seniors, hadover the years had a very tough time.

Swan and Newlin realized that foronce they might be able to kill two birds,maybe even three or four, with onestone. By instituting a training programfor a limited number of rising seniors,they could give the LTIPs the time theyneeded to learn the challenging job ofbeing a good counselor, they could teachthem to do all the tasks no one but thetop brass knew how to do, and theycould get a good look at the next year’scounselor candidates without hiringthem as full-time counselors. The four

trainees are known at camp as the LTIPsand of course have become a specialentity unto themselves, a special band ofbrothers, battling for respect and alwaysready for a new challenge. Unlike CITs atmost camps, the LTIPs are paid a salaryand are far more than a hybrid ofcamper and counselor. Each day theLTIPs have a different set of responsibil-ities, usually working in teams of two.Every day two of the LTIPs are responsi-ble for cleaning and performing othermaintenance on the perches and forcleaning up Honk Hall. This usuallytakes two LTIPs the bulk of the morn-ing. While a team of two are performingthose essential tasks, the other two areengaged in training in a number of spe-cific areas, learning to teach activitieseffectively, run the outboards andK.W.S., and maintain the trip locker andtrip kitchen.

After about ten days of training incamp, all four LTIPs prepare for andthen head out on a nine-day tripleadertraining trip with a senior member ofthe PIC staff. In the past the LTIPs havespent half the trip hiking and the otherhalf either canoeing or kayaking. Dur-ing the trip they focus on all aspects of

being a safe and effective trip leader.LTIPs live on the island in their own tenton a new platform built between Tent 19and Magoon. While they are in campthey are available to substitute for tentcounselors who are out on trips or ondays off. This allows the LTIPs to experi-ence the challenges of tent cleanup, resthour, and bedtime in small doses and,especially for the younger campers,reduces dramatically the number ofdays and nights the boys are without acounselor.

This coming summer we will wel-

come the fourth class of LTIPs to PineIsland. Already we have more applicantsthan we have places, so competition forthe four positions will be fierce.Four for-mer LTIPs were on the staff in 2003 andwe may have as many as seven on the staffin 2004. Each will be fully trained andready to hit the ground running. Andthey will all know the location of thedump, how to hook up a trailer, how tocare for the perches, what it means toclean up the Maintenance Shed, HonkHall, and the Trip Locker,and how to runthe outboards and the K.W.S.!

LTIPs 2003: Mal Webb, Sam Hoyt (back), Will Durkin, Jesse Dann (front)

Will Dana with Vice President AlGore in February 2000 on the tarmac

in front of Air Force 2

EMILY SWAN PLANS SECONDEDITION OF PINE ISLANDERS

STORIES

From “Sailing the Maine” by Max Exner

During the Centennial celebrationsin 2002, many Pine Islanders told theirstories at one of three tape recorder sta-tions set up around the island. We havehad these tape recordings transcribedand published several of them last yearin a special Centennial Edition of thePine Needle. We were unable to includeas many stories as we would have liked

to, and since the Centennial we havereceived many written memories of lifeat Pine Island as well. Emily Swan is nowat work editing another group of storiesto be published later this year. Below areexcerpts from a wonderful account oflife aboard Dr. Swan’s yachts in the1930s written by alumnus Max Exner.

Dr. Eugene Swan, owner and directorof the camp, was, in spirit and in fact, ayachtsman. He dressed the part—whiteslacks, blue jacket and the commodore’scap. He preferred to be addressed as“Skipper,” and “aye, aye, sir” was the pro-tocol. He owned a beautiful boat, for-merly a racing sloop, that he had con-verted into a schooner by shortening themast and adding another, creating amuch safer craft. But, with its spoonbow and the sleek lines of its 54-footlength, the White Heather was a prettylittle schooner. It was skippered by adowneasterner who’d run away to sea atage 14 and spent his life on the bluewater, Freeman Closson.

The White Heather was the second oftwo schooner yachts that Dr. Swanowned and on which I had cruises. TheCygnus burned down in its winter stor-age in a great fire in Ellsworth in 1933. Ittoo was a lovely schooner yacht and wasskippered by Captain Frank Pratt, asprightly and colorful old seamanwhose main feature in my memory wasa nose as prominent as the prow of afrigate, and which, to my mind out-shone the mighty beak of comedianJimmy “The Schnozz” Durante! I hadthree cruises under Pratt and threeunder Closson, and both men tutoredme and enriched my life, and they havemy lasting gratitude.

The home port was Camden, with aharbor teeming with sail yachts andmotor yachts, and the streets teemingwith yacht owners, wealthy vacationersand all the people of the toiling classrequired to support such a society intheir elegant lifestyle. As we tumbled outof our bus — seven or eight boys andtwo counselors — there she rode, ourlittle Cygnus, showing up very wellamong the luxurious craft surroundingit. And there stood Captain Pratt, with awelcoming grin on his weather-beatenface. Skipper Swan usually met us there,and the boys had to pass his criticalinspection before they boarded. Coun-selors had to sport white slacks and darkjackets. After casting off, the first orderof business was to sail south around thepoint to the fisherman’s town of Rock-port to lay in supplies at a fraction of theprices we would have paid in Camden.The second order was, as soon as werounded the point and were out of sightof the harbor, for counselors to ditch thedressy duds for shorts and t-shirts.

Every day of the cruise had new andexciting turns. The captain assignedduties in the handling of the ship inaccordance with his assessment of eachboy’s abilities. I can hear Captain Prattnow, when a sail was hauled up and thehalyard lay out on the deck: “Coil ’er

down and make ’er fa-ast!” And everyboy had to learn how to make a neat coilon the deckhouse or the foredeck insuch a way that it could be whipped outwithout tangling. And just watchingCap’n handle the ship, as in easing intoan anchorage, was an education. Oneimpressive demonstration of CaptainPratt’s skill was when, on the last day ofa cruise, we were caught in a dense fog inthe harbor of North Haven Island. Heguided that ship across the 12 miles ofopen water (with our little foghornsounding all the way) and passed thebuoy in the outer harbor of Camdenjust a few yards on our starboard side—clearly visible in the fog!” “Dead Reck-oning,“ it’s called. And I’m dead sure I’dbe a dead duck if I ever had to try it!

Captain Pratt, ebullient, loquaciousand full of wonderful yarns, was a sharpcontrast to Captain Closson, who wasmore like my idea of a downeasterner—rather silent and self-contained. Notthat he was at all unfriendly. He just did-n’t initiate useless conversations, butwhen he became involved in one hewould carry it on until he thought thematter was covered and then gentlydrop it. His steady gray eyes didn’t missmuch. He was a big man, but he movedabout the boat with smooth precisionand economy of motion, and he correct-ed the boys’ inept seamanship with nohint of reproof in his voice. He seemedperfectly at ease with himself and theworld about him, and why shouldn’t hebe — ships and the sea were his life!

In all my acquaintance with CaptainClosson, I heard him only once saysomething that you could put an excla-mation point to. One night I woke to agentle but audible thud against the ship.When I reached the deck, the Captainwas already there. A small sloop in theanchorage had drifted against us andwas already drifting away. As the nightwas very calm and the danger onlyslight, the Captain didn’t raise any fuss,and we turned in again. In the morning,we saw that yacht far away among theother boats, and the Captain comment-ed, “He’s got enough scope to reach BaHa-bah!”

One episode regarding Captain Clos-son I hold dear in my memory! SinceBoy Scout days, I had been absorbedwith knots, and I spent hours workingon them, and I had perfected the art ofthrowing a knot, that is tying one bycasting the rope without touching itwith the other hand. Throwing clovehitches is easy, but I could throw a bow-line in two motions.

One afternoon on deck I was demon-strating that move to some of the boys,and Captain Closson stood watching in

the background. I could see that he wasinterested, but far be it from an old saltto ask this young landlubber for a closerlook! And, of course I couldn’t insulthim by offering to teach him the trick.The next morning, when I poked myhead out of the hatch to greet the newday, I gaped! There, below me, was theCaptain, sitting in the scuppers with hisfeet dangling over the side, trying overand over to throw my bowline. In highglee I ducked below and grabbed my

camera, stole up again and snapped aphoto. It’s a photo I treasure ,but I nev-er showed it to anyone at camp, lest thestory get back to the Captain.

Our thanks to Max Exner. We areeager to read your reminiscences of yourtime at Pine Island Camp. You can typethem up and send them to Emily Swan atP.O. Box 242, Brunswick, Maine 04011 orsimply e-mail the stories to her ateswan@pineisland.org.

Max Exner at the helm

Captain Closson attempting to “throw” a bowline

NEEDLENOTES FROM NEEDLENEWS THE NEEDLENOSED NEWSHOUND

Henry and Florence Clauson’s sonThomas Charles was born November18th and Bill and Kim Enck’s son Aidenwas born April 2. Suzanne Enck wasmarried in September to Tom Lindnerand is now living in Kennebunkport.Betsy Enck is presently doing a post-graduate year of classical acting trainingat the London Academy of Music andDramatic Art. Frank Petito’s third sonHenry Charles was born on October 5.He joins his older brothers Jack andGus. Frank reports from Chicago thatall three look forward to becoming PineIslanders. William Fuller was bornAugust 20 to Ted and Lana Siebert.Anna Cullen, who now lives in London,England, is engaged to be married inAugust to Robert MacMahon of Johan-nesburg, South Africa.

Dan Hollnagel is out of the Navy andteaching Spanish at the Phelps Schooloutside of Philadelphia fairly close towhere his mother Andrea Hollnagel isthe head of the Grier School. Youngerbrother Jorgen is now working in the skibusiness in Park City, Utah. Rob Gowenhas graduated from the Darden Busi-ness School at U.Va. and has found workright in Charlottesville. Ben Mini is nowthe head of the history department atthe Waynflete School in Portland,Maine. In his other life he has become arespected buyer and seller of orientalrugs and is engaged to be married toP.I.C. webmaster Braden Buehler. JoelTaplin continues as a principal of Tellart

in Providence, Rhode Island, where hehas recently completed the renovationof a former factory building downtown.Peter Ward is also in Providence wherehe is teaching at RISD and preparing forhis wedding this summer to Amy Wolfe.Meanwhile his brother- in-law AndrewRegier is living in Brooklyn, New York,working for the Brooklyn Eagle, andpreparing for his wedding to Sara.Andrew and Sara traveled to New Eng-land last summer to visit both PineIsland and Sara’s beloved camp in NewHampshire. Fortunately, each approvedof the other’s camp, and the weddingcan go forward! Dan Steinhackerreports that life in the Twin Cities isgoing well. He continues to teach thereand he and his wife Sara are expectingtheir second child. Jonathan Falbyspent four months in Ireland this pastyear playing the fiddle at various festi-vals around the country.

Michael Robertson is living in NewYork and working at the Spence Schoolwhile taking numerous improvisationalacting classes in the evenings. WhitFisher is now Dr. Fisher and has chosenthe field of emergency medicine and isback in New York. Will Dana is also inNew York and continues as an editor atRolling Stone Magazine. New Yorker BillDean continues to write occasionallyfor various publications, including theChristian Science Monitor, and reportsthat his phenomenally accurate 3-pointshot is still devastating much younger

opponents at the 92nd Street Y. Deanrecently stunned a much younger fieldof opponents at the Y by winning athree-point contest open to the Y’s topathletes. Dean, now in his mid-sixtiesfinished off a nineteen-year-old athletein the finals. “You were absolutelyincredible, a joy to watch” commentedthe Y’s athletic director after Dean’s vic-tory. Joe Kovaz has recently received anM.A.T. at U.S.C. and begins teachingPhysics full time this fall. Matt andLindsay Clarke have been seeing theworld on a trip that has included virtu-ally every country in Europe and manyin the Far East. They met up with JamesNicholson in Germany, where he is on aFulbright. Their last missive arrivedfrom Thailand. Jason Fischer, a sopho-more at Yale has run across RobBoutwell, a sophomore at Harvard andTyler Coffey, a sophomore at G.W.Rhoads Miller is living in the Presidio inthe middle of San Francisco, workingand learning about the challenges ofsailing in the Pacific Ocean. Brother NedMiller has opened his own metal fabri-cating shop near Tiverton, RhodeIsland. Former PIC head chef RichBoulet, now director of the Blue Hill,Maine public library, was in Portlandrecently to accept on behalf of thelibrary board, the Roger Baldwin Award,given each year by the Maine Civil Lib-erties Union “to an individual or organ-ization that has made a significant con-tribution to civil liberties in Maine.” Theaward was given to the Blue Hill Libraryin recognition of the library’s early andresolute opposition to the USA PatriotAct. Derek Ohly completes a post-grad-uate entrepreneurial program at BabsonCollege in the spring. His wife Micheljust returned from a week in Iran as partof a U.N. Team evaluating environmen-tal damage resulting from the first Iraqwar. Jack Ohly is back in Brazil, livingon a primitive farm, making progress onrecording the local music of the farmingcommunities of central Bahia. NickOhly continues his work as an architectin New York and New Haven, and SaraOhly is back at work on her project onthe Turkish community in the Nether-lands. Sayra Chorey has moved toWaltham, MA and is working longhours for a marketing firm in Lexing-ton. Nathan Chorey has graduated

from Colorado State University and is inan accelerated graduate program toreceive a masters in EnvironmentalEngineering. Tim Chorey is a student atCSU and is playing lacrosse. PeterNagler is a junior at Groton, while Johnis in his first year at Brown, Bill is in histhird year at the University of Vermont,Jim is spending his junior year at BatesCollege abroad in China, and Tommy isholding down the fort in Indianapolis.

Andy Quintana, a senior at Saliburyspent part of last summer at a photogra-phy workshop at Mt. Hood and one ofhis photos was published in Snowboard-er Magazine in the January issue. ConorBeliveau was captain of the Colby Col-lege rugby team, which had the bestrecord of any Colby rugby team ever.Sam Weeks is on the Colby squash teamand Nikki Pickman was a starter on theSt. Michael’s College field hockey squad.Eric Nagle is nearing completion of hisdegree at the College of the Atlantic andlobsters full time in the summer. His sis-ter Hannah Nagle is a sophomore atWillamette College. Robert Brent isback in the U.S. after nearly two years inFrance and is working in Chicago andrecording a CD of his own songs. EdwinMcCain, out from under the thumb ofAtlantic Records after making threealbums with them, continues to tourextensively with his band and to beinvolved with a variety of creativeendeavors. Monte Ball reports that all iswell in Bali. He is planning a trip to PineIsland in August. Henry Ijams, now liv-ing in North Carolina, attended FamilyCamp last summer with his brood and isnow pouring all his spare time into aid-ing the campaign of his cousin HowardDean. Whitehead Lightkeeper MalloryScarritt is presently serving as a page inthe United States Congress.

A number of Pine Islanders havebeen in Iraq recently. They includeRylan Hamilton, a naval officer on theU.S.S. Ponce, Marine officer SamMeites, Marine doctor Erik Koppang,and Marine LCPL Tucker Bilodeau.Sam is back in the U.S. for now but willreturn to Iraq in March with the 1st

Marine Expeditionary Force.

Thomas Clauson and Aiden Enck — future tentmates?

Meanwhile, further north, Priscilla “Bunny” Hafner, mother ofGordon Hafner and Eric Hafner, has proved herself a real PineIslander by enrolling in a week-long “Rookie Ranch,” an intro-duction to mushing at the Muktuk Kennels in Whitehorse,Yukon. Bunny, pictured here with her team, learned to mush andplans to return for more travels in the land of the midnight sun.

Bunny Hafner in the Yukon, 2003

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