Ponderings on Public Loss: Camp Singing Hills

I did not grow up in Elkhart county, nor have I ever been a Girl scout. (I do like their cookies, though. ; ) Recent developments or lack thereof have caused the powers that be to put the local Girl Scout Camp, Camp Singing Hills up for auction. I drive by the southern edge of the camp on the back roads that I often take on my way home to Middlebury. It makes me physically ill to drive past there right now.

The beautiful woodsy acreage of the camp has been divided up into lots for the auction. There are 10 acre lots, 6.7 acre lots and so on. I do wish that I had a great big gob of money right now with which I could purchase the entire place. Honestly, I do.  I must not be the only one affected by the thought of this beautiful place being divided into parcels. When we walked down into Middlebury Tuesday night, the sign at the beginning of this post is in all the windows of the shops and storefronts. I fear it is too late for them to save it from being turned into a residential area.

Camp Singing Hills, what memories I have of the place, even if I wasn't a Girl Scout growing up here. I love just driving by there. The place is loaded with wildlife. Almost any evening in any season, you can spot white tailed deer there. Once three wild turkeys crossed the road in front of me on that southern edge while I was driving into Bristol for a rehearsal.

When we were newlyweds, I remember my father-in-law driving us back into the camp after a dinner at Essenhaus. He had done some of the additions onto the dining room there. Jerry Krull is also a fan of nature. We saw deer on that visit, my first visit to the camp.

Another time, when our kids were young, we were there with a bunch of friends from church for a weekend of cross country skiing. We rented the lodge. It was a great snow weekend. There were sleds and toboggans. There really are hills and Camp Singing Hills. It was so much  fun sliding down those hills on the sleds. We rented skis and went out on the trails to cross country. There were also indoor games for the children when they were cold or too wet from snow adventures and needed to warm up and dry off. We fixed a chili supper. I think we made pancakes for breakfast.

We went out there for other outings. I remember one time a women's retreat was held there. I think it was too cold at that time to be outdoors much, and there was no snow that time. But we still managed to enjoy the environment. I think several of us went out walking on the trails. We talked and laughed and just enjoyed being out there together.

I don't know how many acres the whole campground encompasses. If I looked at recent newspaper stories, I am sure I could find out. And this may not be new news to any of you who read my blog, but I just wanted to comment on it. I will say that the tracts of land that I see most often look like they would make great locations for homes, but it would be a shame to clear out the woods to put houses there. It would be more than a shame. How sad that the next generations will not have this wonderful legacy to grow up with. It is going to be a terrible public loss.