Nestled among the tall pine trees along the shoreline of Highland Lake in Washington, NH, Camp Singley is the homey little vacation cottage Sandy and I have owned since 1977. Let me tell you the story…
Back in 1976 I was the pastor of a small, struggling Congregational church. Fresh out of seminary, Sandy and I were pretty poor, living on a young minister’s salary of $6,500 a year. Our first child, Peter, had been born the previous November and paying for “extra” things – like summer vacations – was a dream far beyond our means.
One day in the early summer of 1976, Bud Shaftoe asked me where we planned to go on vacation. Bud was the good-natured Moderator of the church. “Nowhere,” I said, “we can’t afford a vacation this year.”
Bud scratched his balding head for a second before answering. “Well, Priscilla and I think you should take a week up at our camp in New Hampshire.”
“That’s nice of you to offer, Bud, but we just don’t have the money.”
“What if you just pay for the electricity?”
“How much would that be?”
“Um, how about ten dollars? Would that be too much?”
I couldn’t believe my ears. A weeklong vacation at Bud and Priscilla’s beautiful lakefront home seemed like a dream come true – and for the amazing price of TEN DOLLARS!
We, of course, said, “YES!”
And with that very generous “too-good-to-refuse-offer” from Bud and Priscilla Shaftoe, Sandy and I packed up our baby son, most of our earthly possessions (you know how it is when you have kids!) and drove off for our first summer vacation as a family.
That trip was our introduction to Highland Lake, and the beginning of a life-long friendship with Bud and Priscilla.
Little did we know how that friendship and vacation gift would give birth to the wild and whacky world of what we today – forty-plus years later – call “Camp Singley!”
Hello Marty and Sandy, Heard you had a place in NH. Looks really nice. Don and I are on vacation this week in Wolfeboro. We usually take 1 week in July and the week of Labor Day. Take care and hope to see again someday.