I neglected to mention, in my last column, my first introduction to the North Carolina mountains, just across the South Carolina border, when I was a young teen. I was lucky to have the opportunity to spend a couple of summers at Camp Mondamin, on Lake Summit, just outside Tuxedo, a small town about 15 miles southwest of Hendersonville, when I was 13 - 15.

Mondamin was one of the first summer camps in that area, and was just for boys, 7 – 18. “Chief” Bell ran it; his wife Calla ran a girls camp (Green Cove) just like it, just around the southern corner of the lake. Campers were divided by age groups, “juniors” (7 – 9), “middlers” (10 – 12), and “seniors” (13 – 15).

Guys who had been campers before and wanted to come back at 16 could be “aides” to the counselors, who were mostly college students.

At 17, one could be a “junior counselor,” and 18 - 22 were counselors.

They were in charge of each cabin, which held 6 – 8 campers, and responsible for full-time management of their cabin.

It was a wonderful place to spend a couple of months in the summer.

Campers came from all over the southeast. We learned to swim, canoe, sail, ride horses, went on day hikes and trail rides, later overnight hikes and trail rides, and played some sports in the evening after dinner – softball and such. We were mostly free to choose each day’s activities, according to what interested us. What we were not allowed to do, however, was spend all day in the cabins, reading comic books! (No TV or internetbackthen.) Idid everything but overnight trail rides; they were limited to the number of horses available, so harder to get on.

I was invited to come back, the year I turned 16, to be an Aide, and would have loved to do so.

But my parents decided I should go to work and start saving money for college, so I didn’t. Oh, well. Those summers were wonderful experiences, full of new experiences and friendships, and I will always treasure them.

Rafe lives in east Liberty County and drives through Richmond Hill frequently.