Circa 1963. The only Broadview Farm for which I was able to find a website in a web search is located in New Hampshire, but doesn’t make any mention of there being a summer camp.
Maytag at Broadview Farm Summer Camp Ad
Matt Ralph
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I'm the editor of Summer Camp Culture and also blog at Tangzine.com and MatthewRalph.com. I live in Media, Pa., and went to camps and camp meetings growing up in Ohio, Maryland and New Jersey.
This is amazing. I was doing some mindless work, half daydreaming and thought about Broadview Farm Camp, googled, and found this site. I am in that picture, over on the right, toward the back. It is definitely 1963. I was 10 years old. Broadview Farm Camp was a “nature” camp. Was located in Barnstead, NH. Had maybe 60 kids per summer, if that. Most of the children came from NYC or environs. Lots of nontraditional activities– very few ball games, etc. Had a nature house, swimming, canoeing, crafts. I went there three summers– 63, 64, 65. They had lots of trouble between the owner and various directors. I stopped going when the fights over direction of the camp got out of hand.
As to the ad, they had this one 1940′s maytag, just one, for ALL of the laundry for the camp. It really did last forever. We didn’t have a drier; used a wringer and then hung the clothes to dry. When it finally broke down, it was replaced and this ad was shot.
Ed.
Wow, thanks so much for sharing. Amazing, indeed.
Matt
The summer camp was founded by a refugee European psychologist, Dr. Harms, and his eventual wife, Scotty, whose family owned much land in the area. I attended it for four summers, 1947-50. The 1960s description above does not much match my memories. We did have a nature counsellor, Charlie Drayton, a school science teacher the rest of the year, but we had lots of regular stuff. The lake had leeches, and I set up a place where we must have killed hundreds. There was an old maple syrup stand in the woods beyond a wheat field, a curvy river with an active and in use beaver dam.
The place was sold around 1975 to a couple who had graduated from Wagner College, and advertised on campus offering summer jobs.
There was a double “chicken house” style pair of buildings for kids under 11 (my first year just one building). Off in the woods was a “log cabin” for the older boys. The older girls I believe were in the main building, a former farm house. There was a small artificial duck pond, peach and apple trees, a barn used for repairs with a pump and a cement thing for holding water. One summer I filled it and loaaded it with frogs and a few salamanders.
The lake had a twenty foot high saw dust pile, a remnant of a 1920s (?) saw mill. We played on it, although there were reports it caused pollution in our lake, and I heard it was removed years later.
The science councellor lived in a remote new building that had various science related stuff. One night we were awakened to watch an amazing display of an aurora.
I take it that the camp no longer exists. I wonder what has been done with the property.
Thanks for stopping by the site and sharing your memories, Thomas.
I just remembered we had a song:
Peanut butter, Peanut butter, up at Broadview is divine
Breakfast, lunch and supper, here we eat it all the time
and please remember now, don’t forget
that it’s always caffeine free
there was a lot more, but that is all I remember
Awesome!
WOW I can’t believe the power of the internet. I went to Broadview with my brothers in the early 60s!I remember the ad and there must have been more than 1 pic because we were in 1 picture but I don’t see us here. I only remember there were 30 or so kids back then. GREAT FOOD! Two black ladies did all the cooking and I remember pancakes, blueberry pancakes and fried chicken and biscuits. One year I had a counselor who made us ask for our food in German, Jim, big guy, was the nature counselor, Paul was a counselor- he was missing some of his finger joints and could pinch you if he wanted to! We stayed all summer from after July 4th till Labor Day. I was always scared of the ground wasps in front of the old library which is not far from the campfire. The big red barn was always fun. It was a farm camp back then and we all had some morning chore. One year I got to feed a bull calf or the chickens. I remember campers Billy Yarrow, a boy named Benjamin and his sister was Suzanne. There were turtles nesting on the beach and one year they created a safety zone for them. If you were old enough and passed a swim test, you could swim out to the black donut in the lake.We used to all pile in a big truck and got to go for ice cream every once in awhile. I was a counselor there when I was 17, would have been 1974. I went back about 10 years ago and a hunting group had bought the place for taxes.
We used to get a lot of fun out of going over to a neighboring hill and rolling down the hill over and over. We built a bonfire at the end of the season. After 3 years in a row, mom couldn’t afford to send us to camp anymore and I was heartbroken.
Also remember Mike and Saundra were running the camp in 74 Scotty was still around. I visited her gravesite years later. I have pictures of what was left of the farm and will dig them up next week if anyone is interested. That camp taught me to love nature and I always wanted a farm. When I retired, I bought one in South Carolina.
Kathie,
Thanks for sharing. I would love to see some photos. I’m sure other readers of the site and camp alumni would be interested as well.
Definitely want to see any photos.
Amazed Scotty was still alive as late as 1974. Know anything about her sister and sis’s family? They owned an adjacent farm
No don’t know about her sister. Looking for the photos. Think we went in the 1962-66 range. I do remember Neill was one of the counselors. One year there was a French couple running the camp. And back then, we ate our meals in the screened in porch at the main house.There were only 6-8 tables in there with long benches.
In the 70s there was a big kitchen and dining room built.
Sent pics into the site moderator. Had a pic of Scottys grave marker. Born June 27, 1897 Died April 21, 1976. Found pics of the main house, chicken coops, library, fire pit, lake, barn taken when I visited in the 90s. House and chicken coops not faring well but still standing.
We also ate in the closed in porch when I was there, 1947-50. Would Scotty’s grave by any chance have been next to that of her husband, Dr. Harms. Scotty’s family was old New Hampshire, going back to colonial times, while Dr. Harms came to the USA to escape Hitler. They had a pet red squirrel
I remember it was a family cemetery right there so I think she is next to him. I did get to go to her house- upstate NY I think- one fall to rake leaves.
I am her brother and ditto on all of the above. I do remember my brother being around 5 (youngest in the camp at the time) and the train ride we took to get there. I was also in one of the camp brochures. Blonde kid with black shoes coming down a the haystack we jumped in to from the barn. Life was good then. It still is but it is not as simple.
I posted photos Kathie submitted at
http://www.summercampculture.com/broadview-farm-summer-camp-photos
Those swings were there when I was at Broadview. One summer we had a competition on how far we could fly off the swings at their maximum swinging. Did not recognize the third photo. Did anyone ever make a photo of the maple syrup stand before it collpsed?
The third photo is the library that was located across the road from the main house in the back of the open field, past the campfire. Hit MORE under that pic and the red barn and workshop of the barn and the lake are there.
The library did not exist when I was there, and the waterfront seems a lot fancier than what I knew. Trees are a lot bigger, I don’t even remember one next to the barn. The barn looks a bit more decrepit.
For those that are interested there is a thriving Broadview Farm Camp Facebook page started by Laura Kockevar (Kirshbaum).
There are over 400 photos from the camp on the page, however you have to sign in with Laura.
Neil, were you the Neil camp counselor in the 60s? I spoke to you in the 80s? Big Jim was the science counselor. See my comments regarding memories! I realize there are many Neils but that camp was soooo small. Just 30 of us or so back then.
Greetings. I sort of “turned out the lights” at Broadview. Scotty died in 1976. She had left the camp to the National Wildlife Federation, but they didn’t want it. Her brother, Robert, who lived on the adjacent Providence Farm, transferred the camp to the Cambridge council of the Boy Scouts, USA. My parents were friendly with Robert, and we stayed on until the Boy Scouts took over. My parents actual bought a small piece of Providence Farm from Robert, but sold it to buy a home in Concord. The Boy Scouts renamed the camp “The Elizabeth McKay Scott Harms Opportunity Farm for Children” and began making many “improvements”, actually accessibility and saftey changes. Sigh. Broadview was really a “running with scissors” kind of place. I call it “Camp RunAmok” when talking about those days with non-broadviewers.
I left for graduate school in 1980 with the Boy Scouts in charge. I don’t know what happened after that. I believe that was the year Robert died. I don’t know of a sister, there was another brother, Joseph, who died in the flu pandemic in 1918. Perhaps you’re thinking of Robert’s wife?
Words cannot express what I feel for that place. Words cannot capture all it did for me. I would certainly not be who I am or where I am had it not been for that place, those times, and especially those special people.
PS, when I left, the 1963 Maytag washer was still going strong.
I remember an adjoining farm as belonging to Scotty’s sister, but it is at least 65 years ago, and I could be confused, and it was a sister-in-law. My main memory of the adjoining farm owned by Scotty’s whatever is that they once had me pluck a goose in their barn.
Do you know when Dr. Harms died? He seemed much older than Scotty, but I was at an age when she seemed pretty ancient also!
And does anyone know anything about Charlie Drayton, who was, I believe, the first science councellor. I remember he woke me one night to watch an aurora. The other kids in my cabin pretty much stayed asleep but I was up for hours.
Scotty’s brother owned the property on the Pittsfield side of the camp..the original camp was down there and moved up to the location we all remember in the 50s. The Osborns, Lynn and the Maxfields were the neighbors on the Barnstead side.
In the above pix I am the big guy in the white shirt on the left, marshmallow in hand (or on stick)
Yes this was 1963, as the Johnson kids are there..Their father was director that year and decided we all should get religion. So he held “ecumenical” services on Sunday..as a Jewish kid, I took exception to that, and as a camper with six years of exploring the land..they stood no chance of finding me Sunday mornings. It was also the last year I was there until 1973.. when I volunteered to take campers on trips.
I’ve never used a Blog before so this might be a duplicate since I previously wrote that I attended Broadview Farm in 1944 & 1945!
I’m probably the oldest “alumnus” as I’ll be 77 tomorrow.
When I attended we took a train with Dr. Harms from NY Central to Barnstead(sp?) where we occasionally went to town and saw a movie.
The first summer the boys slept in the barn. We had a motto: “One mosquito is worth 10 flies!” There were lots of salamanders, turtles, perch and leaches in Lily Pond.
I’d love to see some photos if anyone can direct me to them. I went back to the site in 1975 when it was still a camp but I believe it was for disadvantaged kids.
Later I found out that the property had been sold and the new owners lived in the old house where the boys had slept in the attic.
Incredible impact that has lasted my whole life. I found the grave sites (or at least a memorial to Dr. Harms) from Scotty for Dr. Harms on the site, in 1975
Marcel, you beat me by a bit. I’ll be 74 in January, and I was at Broadview 1947-50. I remember the train as being from NYC to Boston, where we switched to something worthy of the Toonerville Trolley (I guess you have to be our age to know what that was) into Pittsfield, and car or truck from there to the camp. The camp was about equidistant to Pittsfield and Barnstead, but I remember Barnstead as really tiny, with just one general store/post office.
The pond had loads of leaches, and I organized a leach killing project where we crushed them on rocks. Frogs, turtles, and the summer of 1947 we had loads of toads. Several diffferent kinds of frogs, even two different species of bullfrogs.
The log cabin was built around 1947 or 48. The older girls slept in the attic my years there. We had the long barracks type building for the younger kids, and Dr. Harms had a workshop in the part of the barn that had housed cattle. I used to swipe tools and put them in our hidden club house.
(M) Here’s yours, Thomas:
Marcel, you beat me by a bit. I’ll be 74 in January, and I was at Broadview 1947-50. I remember the train as being from NYC to Boston, where we switched to something worthy of the Toonerville Trolley (I guess you have to be our age to know what that was) into Pittsfield, and car or truck from there to the camp. The camp was about equidistant to Pittsfield and Barnstead, but I remember Barnstead as really tiny, with just one general store/post office.
(M) I’ll try to find, and post, a picture of the old store front movie house in Barnstead which I believe is historically protected.
The pond had loads of leaches, and I organized a leach killing project where we crushed them on rocks.
(M) Had you been there 2 or 3 years earlier I would have enlisted your support for the battle against mosquitoes. We used to bait our hooks with worms that were virtually turned inside out on our hooks.
Frogs, turtles, and the summer of 1947 we had loads of toads. Several diffferent kinds of frogs, even two different species of bullfrogs.
(M) I don’t remember toads, but frogs for sure! Lots of yellow-orange salamanders and chipmonks. There was also a cow and a long anecdote about it that I’ll save for another day.
The log cabin was built around 1947 or 48.
(M) Evidently Scotty and Dr. Harms made some major lodging changes from 1945 > 1947. I am inferring that the buildings I visited in 1975, with the exception of the 2 story? house, were newly constructed. When I left the 2nd summer, Scotty gave me 2 dozen fresh eggs.
The older girls slept in the attic my years there.
(M) That’s where we boys stayed (in the old house) when I was there. There could have been no more than 8 of us the first summer.
We had the long barracks type building for the younger kids, and Dr. Harms had a workshop in the part of the barn that had housed cattle.
(M) Hey! You’re speaking of my bedroom, my first year there!
I used to swipe tools and put them in our hidden club house.
(M) Check out the following map for Lily Pond:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=214355622003048025166.0004a27ed790bfc3c6e45&ll=43.33512,-71.32318&spn=0.003894,0.008175&t=h&z=17
(M) And thanks for the update,
Marcel
Yes, Iremember the day this picture was taken as well. It was the summer of ’63 and I’m in the back wearing a cowboy hat, and talking to the person on my left who, if I remember correctly, was Julian Eule. I spent some great summers up there. Great memories.
Billy
there is a vibrant Broadview Farm Camp Facebook page… Laura Kochevar is the page administrator… just tell her you were a camper and when.
Neil
Billy Yarrow I went to camp with you I was younger Kathy (Strassburg) and my brothers went too. You were with the older boys group I think. I remembered your name for years but thought it was Billy Arrow!