Geography

Camp's Geography

The geography of camp was one of the most important elements of camp culture. Papoose, Mary Crick's place, The Spring, the barbecue pit. Each place had a sense of place and history, Benny-Rays was named for real people although the story of the naming fades. Part of the sense of connection came from learning these names, these stories. ERN was located in an arm of the Navarro river on the North Coast of California, Mendocino Co., in the Anderson Valley. The valley had a few small towns, Philo (500), Booneville (750, counting sheep) and other smaller areas, Navarro. The river emptied into the ocean at Navarro by the Sea, very near the junction of Hwy 1 and 128.
Camp geography was the river, a floodplain shelf (maybe 60 acres), main building on a knoll overlooking the river and floodplain (another 40), and the uplands. To the North is one of a few isolated redwoods groves not on the coast, Hendy Woods. The land comprised about 320 acres in a rectangle with a smaller rectangle centered on top. Across the river was Ray's Resort, a great collection of funky cabins and building-this was a different aspect to California than most people think. Small rural towns, a lumber mill in Philo, blue-collar summer resorts along a small coastal river.
Anderson Valley had one claim to fame, Booneville was so isolated pre-WW II, that they developed a regional language, a way to talk about outsiders when they were around, another form of geography, "Boontling."
Isolation was a theme of the geography-no TV, very little radio, music was local and self-made or powered a dances on a Bogen amp through Jensen loudspeakers--not popular with the folks at Ray's who wanted to hear their frogs more than Cream or The Doors--I'll share more about dances I'm sure, later.
The small village of Mendocino is a little more difficult to explain--if you've watched "Murder She Wrote" you've seen the town, backwards to make it look like the East Coast. It was an artist colony, a collection of very weather-worn redwood houses, lichen encrusted fences, falling into decay, discovered as a great place to join eclectic forces. One great shop was in an old water tower-water being at a premium along the north coast.
Not Fort Bragg to the north, a conservative mill town, it had a coffee shop in the beat tradition, small cafes, art galleries, an art institute, a guy with the most incredible record, collection and an old Macintosh (when this was not a computer) playing music out his storefront on a rare fog-free sunny day.

One of the highlights of staying between session was the time after the campers left and those staying over went to Mendocino for the day. Edna was in charge (as she actually was anyway, the "Director's Director) with a few camp staff not off for the 24 hours. We were dropped off in town, had 25 cents to spend on soda, candy, whatever. One of my very good buddies and I thought we'd put our NiHi into paper bags and walk the streets as little kid drunks, we were pretty sophisticated in the ways of the world, and tried to impress the locals, none were more impressed that he and I. It was a time of silliness and somehow it also fit the humor of the camp (more on this as well) as well as the intellect of developing youth.

Summer access to camp was across an old flatcar placed by a local engineer and in the winter you parked in a small lot across the river and hiked in, a cross the "Swinging Bridge" no joke. Maybe 150 long and 45 feet up, built in the 40's after of the local, who at the time owned the land on both sides of the river, visited SF to see the amazing Golden Gate. He returned home, thought about it, may did some calculations and between to cliffs, built a model suspension bridge. I'm afraid of heights (really more afraid of falling but I quibble) and coming to camp in the winter as I did often as an adult was the subject of abject terror! One year a couple of the boards were missing near the center of the span...I digress. I did want to mention of couple of resources for those more interested in others' stories The ERN Memory Book is a great to start as well as link to a collection of recent camp pictures. For a sense of old before camp, the digital library at UC has a collection of resort pictures, back and white of course, of camp and the area.

One of the pictures is of the best swimming, natural, area along the river. As a kid swimming was so important and then as an adult as well.

Thanks ever so much. Ryan