SPECIAL PLACE: We know there’s two “camps” of people who hold
Camp Cornplanter dear. This summer camp was used for special needs
children for a time, but also was a facility used by many other
youngsters in the 1940s and 1950s.

The subject came up when Craig Steinkamp of Warren came across
its remnants in recent weeks, and wrote about his father’s
involvement with the special needs camp.

Judith dePonceau of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine wrote us : “I am
confused about Camp Cornplanter. Craig Steinkamp seems to be
saying that the camp was established in 1959. Can that be correct?
Isn’t that awfully close to when the camp was abandoned because of
the dam? I went (from Mount Jewett) to 4-H camp at Cornplanter in
1949 or 1950. I was 10 or 11 and got very very homesick.”

“We filled ticks with straw for our mattresses when we arrived,
and the cabins were rustic, with no window glass, just shutters to
keep out the rain. The cabins were up on the hill in woods, and the
main buildings in the valley.

“But there was a new concrete pool, a real luxury, and Nancy
Kimbrough did our stuff, diving, even though at that point I could
only ‘dog paddle.’ We sat around a large evening campfire and heard
a spooky tale about the ghost of Chief Cornplanter, and Nancy and I
did risky cartwheels around the fire as our contribution to the
entertainment. The week was a true rite of passage for us.”

We also heard from Barney Snyder of Tucson, Ariz.: “Camp
Cornplanter brings back fond memories to me as well. I attended
when it was a YMCA Camp. It was in the mid 1940s. We did crafts,
played ball, swam, hiked, watched skits done by some of the
counselors and generally really had a good time. I had heard that
the dam put it under water. I guess that was incorrect or the one
Mr. Steinkamp speaks of was at a different site. It was really a
great two weeks for me.”

Jerry Kleisath of Preble,. N.Y. writes: “During my years in the
4-H Club in McKean County we attended camp at Cornplanter. There
were about eight buildings on the sidehills and the dining hall in
the valley. Some great times were had there. I thought that it was
covered by water from the dam.”