Photo of the Week
FROM THE SCHS LIBRARY ARCHIVES
“How shall we know it is us without our past?”
– John Steinbeck
Camp Dunes: Lake-by-the-Sea, Peconic, Long Island
by Wendy Polhemus-Annibell, Head Librarian
Camp Dunes: Lake-by-the-Sea, Peconic, Long Island, c. 1920s. ”For Girls Fourteen to Eighteen Years of Age, Camp Season: July 1 – August 27.” (Image collage from the Collection of the Suffolk County Historical Society Library Archives. Copyright © Suffolk County Historical Society. All rights reserved.)
Camp Dunes was located on over twenty-six acres on the Long Island Sound and included access to Great Pond Lake. The camp was owned and operated by Luvia Willard, M.D., of Jamaica, NY (who also owned a home on Great Pond Lake); Marian Wood of Philadelphia was co-director. The rate was $150 for eight weeks of summer camp, according to a 1924 ad in the Long Island Daily Press. Food for the camp was purchased from neighboring farms and village markets, and the female campgoers engaged in various activities during their stay: swimming, boating, play-acting, and the like – as this series of images from an extensive photo album in our collection depicts.
“The maritime climate together with the unusual amount of sunshine peculiar to this locality make for an unusually healthful environment. The Geodetic Survey shows that the region around Peconic, Long Island, averages to the year one hundred days more sunshine than New York City,” notes a Camp Dunes brochure in our collection, which also features this poem:
Far from the city’s maddening din,
Out where the Sunrise Trails begin,
Where the toes of the dunes are kissed by the sea,
Is a camp that seems just made for me.
Where the birches dress in their silvery white,
And gnarled oaks squirm in sheer delight,
Where tall pines frame a sapphire sea,
Is a camp that seems just made for me.
There are hill camps, and lake camps, and camps by the sea,
But there’s only one camp by the lake and the sea.
The Suffolk County Historical Society Urgently Needs Your Help!
Let’s consider the value of preserving our local history versus the cost of a cup of coffee…. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought much of our donation and grant-based funding to a halt, and we desperately need your help to survive these challenging times. For little more than the cost of a cup of coffee you can help support the rich history of Suffolk County.
WE are YOUR history preserved! Founded in 1886, some 134 years ago, and recognized as a National Landmark, the Suffolk County Historical Society Museum & Library Archives serves over 1.5 million county residents and more than 20,000 researchers, members, subscribers, and guests annually. We are Suffolk County’s primary historic research center and museum. Our collections represent the nearly 400-year history of our area and include museum artifacts, genealogies, town records, account books, diaries, photographs, letters, postcards, maps and atlases, deeds, wills, early militia records, civil war records, and so much more!
Please help us continue to serve the community as we have done for 134 years. We appreciate any donation you can spare, no matter how small. Thank you for your support!
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To View 2014 Photo of the Week pages click here.
To View 2015 Photo of the Week pages click here.
To View 2016 Photo of the Week pages click here.
To View 2017 Photo of the Week pages click here.
To View 2018 Photo of the Week pages click here.
To View 2019 Photo of the Week pages click here.
To View 2020 Photo of the Week pages click here.
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