Since an age earlier than I can remember, my parents sent me off each summer to spend a week at a Presbyterian camp located on the outskirts of Saugatuck, Michigan. Saugatuck is quaint and charming, quite unlike any other seasonal town in southwest Michigan. It is the kind of place you want to keep visiting, year after year. Presbyterian Camps played a large role in making Saugatuck what it is today — a popular travel destination for folks from urban settings in neighboring states.
Presbyterian Camps was established in 1899 as a ministry of the Chicago Presbytery. Those who cared for the camp also cared about the natural setting it occupied and were keen on preserving the dune ecosystem, resting on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The campgrounds features sand just about everywhere, securing thick vegetation and creating hilly paths. Presbyterian Camps has a rich history and is a sacred place full of fond memories for many generations of families. It has a certain feeling to it, one you can feel as soon as you drive past the “Watch for Presbyterians” sign coming up the hill to the main office. In the middle of the woods with about half a mile of beach property, families and young campers enjoyed their summers here hiking, splashing in the waves, singing around campfires and much more. While I went there, it was composed of three camps: Westminister Woods for families, Camp Gray for children and Camp Kema for teens.
The camp had to be sold to pay off the Chicago Presbytery’s debt, which was the result of a settlement made in 2007 with men who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by a Presbyterian minister. The Presbytery took out a loan, using the camp as collateral. Although they received another offer from the Oval Beach Preservation Society, it still was sold to a housing developer.
What sits in its place today is twenty-something luxury homes, with more to be built. It is upsetting to think of the occupants of those new fancy houses with beautiful views of the dunes and pure Lake Michigan steps from their door; none of them know how special those grounds are, how many people went there each summer to have their spirits renewed and mind set at ease.
I was always fascinated in learning about the camp’s history; what buildings used to be and what still remained. Although the old structures no longer remain, Presbyterian Camps will always have a special place in my heart. Tie-dyed t-shirts, years of memories and life-long friends who understand my love of the place is all I have of it anymore. I tear up whenever I look at pictures and a part of my heart aches during the summer when I think about how I would be working there now if it were still open.
It is unfortunate that my favorite place in the world can no longer be what it was. It may not have experienced an environmental tragedy, but the land lost something very special about it. Those who love it as much as I do lost an exceptional place.
I realize now that my heart had to make room for other things, but it will never extinguish the love I have for my camp.
