Summer at the Western Maryland 4-H Center (10-16)

Historical narrative

In the early 1960s, these rustic cabins, designed to accommodate 12 campers, at the Western Maryland 4-H Center in Garrett County offered young people a memorable taste of summer camp in the mountains. The center, operated through Maryland 4-H and Cooperative Extension, became a setting for outdoor education, recreation, and the 4-H tradition of learning by doing. By the mid-1960s, programs at the center included conservation, nature study, hiking, archery, fishing, swimming, and other outdoor activities. A summer week meant sleeping in simple wooden cabins, waking to birdsong and cool mountain air, getting ready for the day with cabin mates, and spending long days outdoors. Evenings brought showers, supper, games, songs, and campfires before lights-out. For many campers, the rustic cabins, surrounded by towering trees and Appalachian scenery, became the backdrop for friendships and memories that lasted a lifetime.

Oil

© Stephen B. Hales — All Rights Reserved