Plaques

The 2008 plaques

The plaques are lists of the names of all of the campers at camp each summer that are carved into wood and nailed up on the walls of the lodge. Plaques also include the names of all of the campers who swam their Seal or Whale that year along with their times. The tradition of putting up plaques started in 1926, the first year of camp, and has continued every summer since. While Bill "Chief" Brewster was the director of camp he single handedly carved each summer's plaques using hand tools. After that there was a period when each camper carved his name into a small plaque and all of the individual pieces were nailed up together at the end of the year. Now the plaques are made by a group of counselors using a router. From the year 2001-2007 the plaques became more and more ornate, incorporating carvings of the animals that represent each age group and large top plaques for the year. The 2008 plaques were a departure from this trend, reverting to the 50's style of plaques that does not have age group plaques.

Most of the wall space inside the lodge is now covered with plaques. Old plaques have been moved around the walls to be more efficient with space but soon there will be no more space at all for new plaques.

Facts

The 2008 CIT plaques

There are some special plaques around the lodge commemorating important things at Birch Rock such as ones for important people
Along with the normal plaques there are also CIT plaques put up in Pete's Palace
A few years ago the Senior Campers recorded all of the names from every year on a computer so they will be always preserved