America's oldest camps Archives

Earth Day in the Runoia Community

Posted on April 20, 2023 by Colleen O'Malley

The land that is now Camp Runoia was originally stewarded by the tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy – the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Mi’kmaq – and it is now our responsibility and honor to carry on the care of this land, on Earth Day and every day.

We start each ‘Fine Maine Day’ at Runoia with the following mantra: “Grant that we have safe and fun days, and that we respect each other, ourselves, and our planet.” We go on throughout our day with the gratitude for the water of Great Pond – conserved by the 7 Lakes Alliance, for the land so beautifully maintained by our maintenance director Tim Pearson, and for both the days full of sunshine and rain – knowing our planet needs both.

We are so fortunate that the campers and families that flock to Runoia are natural leaders and lovers of our earth. In former camper and counselor Grace Pratt’s 2019 log dedication to our planet, she said “Runoia is a magical place, but that magic wouldn’t be possible without the planet we live on. Earth is our common ground, the reason we get to explore, grow, and connect.”

Knowing our community, we’re willing to bet that so many in our Runoia family will be putting the earth first this weekend for Earth Day – spending their days outside in gratitude, volunteering, doing whatever they can for our planet.

We invite our community to join us collectively to volunteer all around the world in honor of Earth Day – as our campers come from near and far, we know our reach has amazing potential! Wherever you call home this time of year, can you get out this weekend to help our planet?

Luckily, there are so many resources to find volunteer opportunities near you, and it’s not too late to join in the fun!

Here are some resources to help you volunteer or celebrate in:

If you can’t find something near you, can you be a leader and start your own event or group to clean up a local park, body of water, or trail?

If you make it out to help our earth this weekend, send a photo to colleen@runoia.com to share!

Happy trails –

Love,

Aionur

Women’s History at Camp Runoia

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Colleen O'Malley

March 1st marks the first day of a month-long celebration here at Camp Runoia: Women’s History Month! Founded by a small group of incredible women, carried on by more incredible women for generations, with its history recorded in detail by incredible women – 116 summers later (soon to be 117), here we still are!

A painting from the 1910-13 log – “Miss Pond’s New Toy!”

Most of the record keeping of Runoia summers was done so in what we call summer logs – a tradition we still carry on each summer. The main difference is that through the years, we saw logs transform from handwritten pieces and newspaper clippings to typewriter passages and now to typed and printed, full-color books.

Our logs tell stories of formative people and summers past, and provide an amazing inside look to the fashions, language, and current events of each time period in American and Runoian history.

Camp Runoia predates women’s right and ability to vote in our country, for example – and in our oldest log available online, we can see evidence of something we already knew within us: that Runoia ‘gals’ were among those pushing for their right to vote:

A page from the 1910-13 log: “Serena’s emblem” regarding women’s right to vote in the US.

So, some things change and some things remain: it’s with gratitude that I say the women of Runoia are still carrying on the legacy of recording camp history, and now thanks to the work of women of that history, we hold the right to vote in this country. And perhaps the most lasting thing among the Runoia community: 110 years after the completion of this log, we are still fighting for our rights, for the rights of friends and family in our community, and working to ‘add more seats to the table.’

While the fashions and language change from log to log throughout Runoia history, it’s also astonishing to see so many things that hold true of Runoia campers across 116 summers. The learned lesson from borrowing and lending important things, the occasional rainy Maine summer day, the love for sunny afternoons on Great Pond, cotillion, silly songs and rhymes, the love for horses – the list goes on.

And, perhaps one of my favorite lasting gems that I found in our logs – the sign-off of “Love, Ainour” which still is a signature stamp of love and care from our camp.

So…

Love, Ainour

To Change: The 2022 Log Dedication

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Colleen O'Malley

If I were to hold a self-authored book in my hand titled ‘lessons learned in recent years,’ the first page would read: “change, while uncomfortable, and at times even scary, is inevitable, necessary, and important.” Just below this line would read a dedication which credits this realization largely in part to my experiences at Runoia and my witnessing its resilience.

I hold immense gratitude for Runoia’s eagerness to change in ways that show care for our community and open our gates to more friends and family each year. Runoia is able to hold fast to its most vital traditions and pieces of history when we are flexible and bold enough to transform around them.

We owe our continuation, and the perpetuation of our traditions and history, to the courage of ourselves and of generations before us to change. It is due to this courage that we may keep what matters most: the same small bell that has called our attention for over eighty years; our voices that carry through Runoia trees with melodies passed through lifetimes; our boathouse which stands with painted names from the 1920’s through 2022; a culture of summer siblings and lifelong family.

The winds of Camp Runoia have taught me that change is good. The winds play no favorites – filling our sails one moment, then shifting to calm our waters for skiers the next. Among the winds, we honor all of the transformative shifts of Runoia:

Everything ‘lost’ each summer which has ever made room for something ‘found’;

The rain which rolls in just as we could use respite from the sun;

New lyrics which empower us rather than place us in boxes;

New campers and counselors who arrive at our gates;

People coming as strangers and leaving as siblings;

The ‘Bees and Eees’;

The changes made each summer, 116 times over, which have made Runoia a permanent fixture in our summers and souls.

I hereby dedicate the 2022 log to the changes, both monumental and slight, of the past 116 summers of Runoia, and to its agents of change – our campers, staff, and alumni. May we continue to adjust our sails together to point toward the future. Tonight we celebrate changes which have made Runoia what it is, and who it is, and have led to this very moment exactly as it is now – Runoia and I would not have it any other way.