Camp mcwain
Camp McWain is the neighboring family camp just down the lake past the Sanderson’s property. This Family-owned business operates a series of rental cabins available throughout the summer. Cruising by lakeside you will often see people swimming, playing games, and of course cooking out on the beach with beautiful views of Lake McWain. In 1915, Helen Sanderson was given property on Long Pond, known today as Lake McWain, by her father Leroy Sanderson. Helen was a great, great grandniece of David McWain, the first settler on McWain Hill. This property is where Helen Sanderson built her summer home.
Durning the summer of 1923, Helen Sanderson and Mary Marshall enlarged Helen’s home, which was an original kit home, sold through Sears and Roebuck. The home was shipped via the Grand Trunk Railroad to South Paris, Maine from Chicago. This “new Birch Lodge” was the start of Camp McWain. The original Birch Lodge still stands on the shores of Lake McWain. The first brochures of Camp McWain advertised it as a “Camp for Delicate Girls”, girls who needed to gain weight, who were pale, and who tired easily. The delicate girls got plenty of fresh air with all their outdoor activities, swimming, boating, horseback riding, tennis, hiking, just to mention a few. Helen Sanderson was a nurse, so the girl’s activities were closely watched, they had daily weigh ins, and were given four meals a day, plus snacks from fresh, locally grown food and the milk came from a nearby dairy farm from a herd of “tuberculin-free tested cows”.
Then in 1931, Helen Sanderson used the camp for adult vacationers, until her retirement in the late 1930’s. In 1944, Walter and Kathleen Gardell, owners of Camp Waganaki, a boy’s camp down McWain Hill Road, bought Camp Mc- Wain. At that time, with WWII going on, it was difficult for Camps to get single young men as staff and counselors, as most were overseas fighting in the war.
Walter Gardell hired “older married men” to staff Waganaki. Gardell built more cabins, as Camp McWain was then used to house the wives and families of the Waganaki staff. After the war, Camp McWain was converted into a family camp, which the Gardells operated until 1963. Ruth and Emile Muzik, who were on the Waganaki staff, purchased Camp McWain in 1963 and continued running it for the enjoyment of family groups, having ten cabins to rent out. After 17 years Ruth and Emile Muzik gradually turned over the responsibility and ownership of Camp McWain to their two children and their spouses, Ed and June Muzik and Bobbi and Chuck Whichard. In 1980, Bobbi and Chuck Whichard, and Ed and June Muzik formally took over the operation of Camp McWain, following in their parents’ footsteps. The last summer of Camp McWain as we all knew it was 2005, when the camp and property were divided. Ed, June and their children took over half the area and retained the “Camp McWain” name. Bobbi and Chuck Whichard, with the help of their three sons and their wives, kept the other half of the Camp and property. This new generation soon took over responsibility of their portion of the property and kept operating five cottages as a family camp. The new name became “Cottages At McWain Point” better known today as “C.A.M.P.” Bruce and his wife Arlene along with their son Jared Whichard, who is now a fourth generation, still operate C.A.M.P. Bruce’s brother Glenn and his wife Ruth Whichard of Tampa Florida also assist with operating C.A.M.P. They are constantly maintaining and improving C.A.M.P., after all, 90 plus years of long, cold Maine winters does take its toll on buildings. C.A.M.P. still provides great times to families, friends and neighbors, some of those families have now been vacationing with them for over 50 years.
Today, Bobbi and Chuck Whichard are still a working part of C.A.M.P. They can be seen down at the Point visiting and swimming with the guests, eating lobsters on Thursday evenings, out on the local golf courses, and taking part in various Waterford community activities. Bobbi and Chuck winter every year in Florida. Arlene and Bruce are very busy operating C.A.M.P., they are also both board members of Birch Rock Camp, board members of Honor Flight Maine, and board members of the Lake McWain Association. Additionally, the pair has had active roles in the town of Waterford community.
The Whichard and Muzik families have now been in the Waterford area for over 80 years, and still loving the picturesque area, the beauti- ful sunsets, the clear, clean lake and the peace- fulness of the tiny village of Waterford Maine!
