Original Post By: Michael Wiedeman on 7/13/2005

I was recently in a class at the National Fire Academy and had several classmates from Maine. It brought back memories of two great summers as a kid. I realized that one of the other participants referred to the town of Camden and I asked if he had heard of Freedom. “ Of Course” was the reply though he was not familiar with the camp he said some were there. I got home and lo and behold found the website. Remember I was there a long time ago but still have ( somewhere ) several picture from those days.

My memories are all great.

Hal and Dean occasionally had groups in the living room for popcorn.

My Counselor at the buckhorn ,I think, was Jeff Parker. I know I was there when the Cossman kids were there. One, Jeff or Pete, was in my cabin and his sister also was a CIT. That was the summer I learned I could run fast sprints, play baseball well, and earned all the ranks in marksmanship from the NRA.

Great memories of the goats and chickens. Not to mention sneaking into the BARN to talk to the girls. The open area between the cabins and the barn was a large garden that was thought to be an impenetrable wall to keep the guys away from the girls. It didn’t work the young minds prevailed. The sometimes cold walks down the path to the swim area were not always fun but were invigorating.

The semi-competitive ballgames and scavenger hunts were always great. A truly special memory is following a clue that led to digging up a can that should have contained another clue. We thought we were doing well until we dug up a YUBAN Coffee can and discovered the groundhog, that had been raiding the garden, dead. It had been shot by the archery leader three days earlier. The Counselors all laughed and told us , I will never forget the words, “ YUBAN digging in the wrong hole try the clue again” We found the clue two feet away in another hole..

My last year I accomplished my goal of swimming a mile and learning how to be in a canoe as a lone paddled. It was great seeing the picture of the lake and dock again.

This kid ,that grew up in the New York City area, now lives in West Virginia and is active in emergency services. I do and teach fire fighting, rescue, emergency medical and special operations .I wonder where the seeds may have come from?