Thousand Island Park Camp Meetings

 

By Susan G Mathis

The Thousand Island Park Camp Meeting Association was founded by the Rev. John Ferdinand Dayan, in 1875, as a Methodist summer camp with regular meetings, sermons, and public services. They leased spots for tents or cottages and provided most of the conveniences of city living but without its vices. TI Park was called, “The Chautauqua of the North.”

In 1883, the Park moved away from the family-oriented camp and opened it to a more general public. But they still kept several of their rules like observing the Sabbath.

The Park continued to grow, so by 1894, nearly six hundred cottages plus hotels created a summer village that included a library, yacht club, golf course, roque courts, annual tennis tournaments, daily concerts, an art school, its own printer, a needlecraft shop, fishing guides and boats, a book shop, a photographer…and Sunday services.

By the turn of the century, in 1900, the Park had become a full summer community with a library and all the amenities a full-service resort would provide including insurance companies, printer, needlecraft shop, shoe store, hand-blown glass souvenirs, a china maker, hand laundress, hair and manicurist, Japanese bazaar, Persian and Turkish rugs, general store, meat market, milk, ice, plumber, contractors, barber, boat livery, fishing guides, tailor, Indian basket shop, candy store and more. Yet it still retained a tight-knit, small town warmth and vitality.

Besides hundreds of lovely Victorian cottages, the Columbian Hotel and the Wellesley Hotel (which still exists today), and smaller hotels made up of various cottages were open to the public. The smaller hotels such as the Geneva, the Pratt House, and the Rochester as well as boarding houses each had a separate function.

Today, Thousand Island Park is still a lovely summer community full of gingerbread Victorians and friendly people. The community retains its homey, small town feel and offers lots of fun things to do. It’s a great place to visit in the summertime, and it’s a wonderful place to tell the story of the 1912 fires in Mary’s Moment.

Have you been to a Christian camp? Leave your answer or comments on the post below and join me on February 19th for my next post.

ABOUT MARY’S MOMENT:

It’s 1912, and Thousand Island Park’s switchboard operator Mary Flynn is the community heroine saving dozens of homes from a terrible fire. Less than a month later, when another disastrous fire rages through the Park, Mary loses her memory as she risks her life in a neighbor's burning cottage. Widowed fireman George Flannigan is enamored by the brave raven-haired lass and takes every opportunity to connect with Mary. But he has hidden griefs of his own that cause him great heartache. When George can’t stop the destructive Columbian Hotel fire from eradicating more than a hundred businesses and homes, he is distraught. Yet George’s greater concern is Mary. Will she remember their budding relationship or be forever lost to him?

ABOUT SUSAN:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than thirty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has fourteen in her fiction line. Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan lives in Colorado Springs and enjoys traveling the world. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction for more.