Kathy Baker, left, owner of the old main lodge at the former Camp Maqua, chats with Anne Rogers Anderson of Bay City, a onetime camper. The two are compiling information and collaborating on a book about the camp.
MyBayCity Photo by Dave Rogers
Old YWCA Camp Maqua, Now Private Residences, Lives On Mainly in Memories
Florida Folks Preserve Buildings That Are Recalled by Generations of Girls
August 15, 2010
By: Dave Rogers
A small item on page 6 in the Cass City (MI) Chronicle Friday, August 1, 1931 told a simple story, but doubtless one repeated all over the area: "Miss Eunice Ehlers left Wednesday to spend a week at Camp Maqua, Bay City's YWCA camp, at Loon Lake, Hale."
Fresh-face girls by the dozens would arrive on a Sunday and launch into a week or two of furious activity described as follows by a former camper, Jennifer Huard, former Bay Cityan, now a columnist for the Albuquerque (NM) Journal:
"Reveille blasted over the loud speakers at the crack of dawn, and that meant it was time for the 'hoppers' in the cabin to get up to the dining hall and set the table for their cabin mates. The 'apple polishers' stayed behind after the meals to clear the tables and clean up.
"All campers were up at the flag pole for the raising of the colors every morning before pancakes and sausage. Pranks were to be expected, like the time the horseback riding counselor's bra went up the flag pole with the flag.
Blanche Starks, who owns half the main lodge with her husband, Aaron, shows off canoe paddles with girls' names that personify the spirit of outdoor activity at Camp Maqua during its 55 year run.
Old picture on the wall at the Maqua condominium shows campers in the dining hall during the camp's hey day.
Campers from 1954 read and relax in rustic main lodge room with fireplace.
"When the sound of taps came over the loud speaker, it was lights out. All the happy campers were worn out from their nature hikes and junior life saving classes and ready to go to sleep until a flash light flicks on and a voice begins, 'It was a dark and stormy night ...'"
Ms. Huard, who blogs at
www.Jenniferhuard.blogspot.com got quick feedback from her readers:
"Anonymous said... 'I went to Camp Maqua, too! Thanks for the memories and the songs!
"Lindy said...I went to Camp Maqua as well. I always wish that I could go back for at least one week in the summer. Unfortunately it is gone and I'm now WAY too old! Thank you for the memories. What years did you go to Maqua?
Said Mary Ellen ... I, too, loved being a Maqua camper. Such memories!!! Remember the boys of Mahngotasee? I was there from 1951-1958."
That gives the flavor of the wealth of memories attendance at Camp Maqua engendered in former campers across the country.
For two families, one from Florida and one from Texas, the essence of Camp Maqua pervades their lives. They live there.
Bill and Kathy Baker and Aaron and Blanche Starks share the old main lodge at Maqua, having condominiumized it in 1988 and renovated it to perhaps beyond its former glory. The Bakers are golf course owners from Punta Gorda, Florida, and the Starks are from Texas, Aaron having owned a construction company there, and now winter in Florida.
The original 148 acres are home to 10 families, several having built new "cottages" and retaining some of the old campers' huts and/or camp buildings they have redone.
The onetime camp infirmary, for example, is now a guest house for Tom Engel, a retired high school principal from Warren, Michigan, and his wife, Lydia, who was an elementary principal at Oxford, Michigan.
The Bay City YWCA ended the camp in 1979, faced with rising costs and shrinking demand from girls who had many other attractions in the computer age.
After 55 years, the Maqua era ended. It had opened in 1924 on 64 acres in Plainfield Township, Iosco County, on pristine Loon Lake. The first land purchase was followed 40 years later when 23 more acres obtained from Ira Scofield and then in 1969 another 60 acres were purchased for $18,222 from John Webb.
Among the early camp supporters was Otto Sovereign, co-founder of Bay City's Aladdin Homes, the pioneer in ready-cut home industry, who gave buildings including the cook's cabin and a garage that became the "nature hut." A historical note in the archives states: "In 1958, Pa Watson built the camp gate."
Former campers with recollections, pictures or information that might be useful for the book are asked to contact Anne Rogers Anderson, andersa81@ymail.com
Anne Anderson, left, Kathy Baker and Aaron Starks discuss the renovations that have been going on in the main lodge at Maqua since 1988.
Map of the 148 acre camp was done on linen in 1961 by riding instructors Kay Connor and Mary Lou Goggin.
Riding was a big part of camp activity, with 10 horses leased annually from a local farmer. Rider at right is identified as Alice Ann Hages of Bay City.
Proprietary loon floats placidly on lake that bears its name; expanse of wood in background is the 248 acre former Camp Mahn-Go-Tah-See, now the Loon Lake Lutheran Retreat Center.
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