Last month I spent a weekend with a few friends at White Pine Camp in the Adirondacks. White Pine Camp is over a hundred years old, and reflects its age in the most perfect of ways. I felt as though I had stepped right into Moonrise Kingdom or The Parent Trap (1961, of course). They have done a great job restoring and keeping up the place that was once the summer White House for Presidents Calvin Coolidge.
I arrived in the evening, and used the last couple hours of sunlight to walk around and check out the camp. There is a great room with games, books, 24/7 coffee, and the only building in the camp with wifi…which was kind of nice, and allowed me to feel as though I had really gotten away. Just below the main camp is the original boat house (see first photo), which was sheer perfection, and my favorite structure on the property. Inside are canoes and kayaks guests can use at their leisure, and there is a bench on the porch so you can relax and listen to the water. One of my favorite aspects of the location was the emptiness of the Osgood Pond. The whole side of the pond the camp was on seemed completely undeveloped, not a house in sight…it makes you feel very alone and relaxed.
Just across from the boat house, accessible by a lovely wooden footbridge, is the bowling alley, the swimming hole, and the Japanese tea room. You set up your own pins in the old bowling alley, and their is also a pool table, and a lovely porch that looks out over the water.
The second day we spent some time a half-hour away in Lake Placid before coming back to the camp and taking canoes and kayaks out onto the lake. We spend a few hours paddling around, wading in the water, and sunning ourselves on the private dock near our cottage.
I absolutely loved the place, and I know I want to get back their someday for a longer stay!