About the Camp Arcady Site

The natural question is:
Why is someone creating a web site for a camp which has been closed for over thirty years?

But we've been asking the other question:
Why is there no web site for the camp which was so much a part of our lives?

Our generation is known for its nostalgia for our childhood. We buy our children toys we had. Radio Flyer sleds. Knock-hocky. We buy them the books we read. We think we had it great. And I think maybe we did.

Jeff Grossman	Jody Grossman Russell

Jeff and I decided to put together our resources and energies to create this web site. Camp Arcady was part of our lives, perhaps more than some. Our father, Ed Grossman, spent his non-teaching months there and we grew up there. When the camp closed in about 1970, we made periodic "pilgrimages" to the camp, watching it fall apart, watching bunks being carted away, watching it be developed. We broke into the Rec Hall and stole photos off the walls, postcards from the Canteen. We jumped up into the boxing ring. We went on the stage. We peered into dark windows at the boat house. We walked down to the Pavillion. Every footstep brought its own memory. Every year brought those memories deeper and deeper.

Personal Note: Jeff and I worked on the site during the nearly year long period of our father's illness with cancer. Ed added some of his recollections to the Memories page, sometimes a huge effort, given the illness. In his last months, I was also thrilled to be able to read him someone's email to the web site, and see what other memories could be sparked. Ed Grossman died in March 2002. We will miss him.