OUR PAST AT TIMBERLEDGE

In the 1840′s and earlier families named Barnes and Olver came to the United States from England. Such a journey was hard and long, taking a whole summer of ship travel, river and canal travel, and walking. These and other families often bought land from land agents who sold land which the government owned or which large landowners (speculators) had purchased from the government. Often small, modest farms were built and a new life begun–a life of joy and satisfaction, yet filled with hardship and poverty.

James Olver purchased the land where the camp now lies in 1851 and gave it to his daughter Elizabeth and her new husband Wallace Barnes in 1884. Wallace farmed the land and later cut timber, using a sawmill located where the boathouse is now. His oldest son, Earl Barnes, built the lodge in the 1930′s in which to vacation and eventually became the owner of his father’s property. In 1960 Cyrus Barnes, the youngest son of Wallace and Elizabeth, became the owner of the camp property and remains one of the owners today. Cyrus and Earl were among the camp leaders in its early years and were the major contributors to the camp.

When it began in the 1950′s the camp had just one building, the lodge (now the caretaker’s home), until 1955 when a portion of the dining hall was built. Water came from a spring in the swamp near the parking lot. Restrooms were “one-hole” outhouses more typical of the 1800′s. Campers slept in small tents on the ground using straw “ticks” for beds. Children ate on picnic tables in the dining hall and played softball in an apple orchard, now the ball field. In 1960 a well was dug 114 feet in the ground and water was piped to the dining hall, lodge, and the soon to be built restroom. The chapel (now bunk house near dining hall) and restroom were built in the early 1960′s, the boathouse in 1964. In 1988 the Camp Center was constructed.

Can you imagine the saw mill and the orchard on the ball field?  Just think the water for the dining hall came from muck pond (yummy).  Do you think that the buck and the doe are bad now?  Can you imagine using an outhouse for the week?

I think it is really cool that God used farmland from a poor immigrant farmer and the hearts of that family to touch so many lives.  Thank you Barnes Family.