About CampSkycrest.info
I came home from work Friday, October 13th 2006 not quite feeling like myself. Too much business travel, too much on my mind, and not even a few cocktails with friends after work could take my mind off this weird feeling.
I knew I needed to get out of the city this weekend, I knew I needed to be out of NY and NJ, and wasn’t sure what to do. I finally decided I needed to head out to Honesdale PA to see my family. Anyone who knows Honesdale, knows it’s the polar opposite of NYC or northern NJ. So when Saturday morning came, I rolled out of bed early, threw my digital camera in the car, and started down interstate 80, west to my destination only 113 miles from my home.
As I drew closer to the bridge, just before Milford, PA and Route 6, I found myself still a bit solemn, for some odd reason. I thought that there had to be something for me to do today that I have not done in a very long time, something to bring me home. Something to fill whatever void it was I had been feeling this day. And I felt it drawing me, like I was just enveloped within its sphere of influence. It was pulling me home, pulling me towards it like an old friend, like a lost world yearning to be rediscovered and paid the attention it deserves. Yes, Camp Skycrest was calling me. No, it was calling to me and I began to feel that lump in my throat for a past long since gone. This will not have been the first time I have visited Camp Skycrest, but today it felt different. I was only slightly surprised at this. I hold, probably like hundreds of other adult men today, a very special place in my heart for this piece of real estate, sold, not too many years ago to a YMCA in Allentown, PA. Dr. Frederick S. Brown was adamant about not letting the Camp Skycrest go to anyone that was going to develop the real estate for residential properties. I commend that. I think we all would.
As I drive down windy route six, as I have done, probably thousands of times before, today was different. I felt the heartbeat of Camp. Maybe it was my own heart pounding out of my chest. I knew I had to be there this day. This day I had to drive up to Camp Skycrest, to walk the grounds, and remember summers past. My past, and everyone’s past that ever attended Camp Skycrest.
When I got to the camp, to my surprise I found the front gate open and unlocked… Pay dirt! I drove right in (after snapping a couple of shots of course) and parked on the lower hell. I got out of my car, and no sooner had my foot touched the ground than I felt the energy of the past surge through my body. I had a new feeling. It was like a hole in my heart, or an empty space, a void that was once full. Full from the children, adolescents, and counselors walking, running, mentoring, playing, riding, learning, constructing, shooting, reflecting, and who knows what else. Their ghosts where everywhere, and I felt almost overwhelmed.
It was a fantastically beautiful October morning. It was in the high 40’s low 50’s. The grass was slightly long, uncut, lush and green. The leaves were turning colors and falling from the trees, as they do this time of year… The grass probably would not be cut for the rest of the year as winter is coming here soon. The grass was wet, but it felt good as I was walking through it. I walked along and snapped pictures. I was hoping to let those who might be searching for others who attended Camp Skycrest know that the grounds still stand, and so do the cabins. They look the same or similar as they did when I was there more than 20 years ago.
Everywhere were memories, Auto Shop where I learned to be mechanically incline, Chemistry, Metal Shop, Wood Shop, Photography, Radio, Computers, and more. All of which I participated at one point or another during my tenure as a camper, C.I.T., and eventually counselor. The grounds were empty of anyone at all. It was beautiful and haunted. Everywhere I turned I saw the images and memories of old friends, acquaintances, and those I never knew doing their thing on campus. I was amazing. The upper hill and the lower hill, the lake and pool, the rec-hall and the dining hall, all still stood in full reminder of hand checks at meal time to Perry Como being played by order of Doc Brown on Sunday evenings. Which, at the time we (many of my peer campers and I) thought was ridiculous, but in hind sight lost in memory and the realization that it was not so ridiculous, but a slice of life in a more innocent time in my life that I yearn for this day.
Camp Skycrest was my Neverland. Camp Skycrest is the self contained island that outsiders will never understand, and never consider understanding. Camp Skycrest was a self contained reality for roughly 60 days of my life every year for many years… It was truly a slice of innocence, fun, and quite possibly nirvana for many people.
My name is Jack Brandt… I attended Camp Skycrest from 1981 – 1987. It was a part of my life that I look back on fondly. Please enjoy the photos I shot. I took them for everyone’s enjoyment, and to let them know that Camp Skycrest still stands today. It is run by the YMCA that owns it. Not as a boy’s science camp, but as a retreat for those from their urban areas. It is good to know that the retreat that so many young men loved and attended willfully is still being enjoyed today.
I encourage anyone that has the means or the time to stop by, and remember a more innocent time of their life. It was liberating to me in many ways. It was sad, that there were friends I no longer can find, or have lost touch with… Life takes over. That is fine, families become priority, and that surely is more important. But for all of you, here is just a little slice of Camp Skycrest as of October 14th, 2006.