Camp Iroquois
 

Just wondering if anyone else had a place up in the old camp? (no longer exists, sold off for development a few years back, forget what year)

No Camp
 

I didn't have a place, but remember going camping one June for a class trip. We stayed in tents and I remember walking down to the lake for a swim; the water was freezing the first week in June!! We still had a blast going to see all the attractions in the White Mountains. That was over 25 years ago!

my earliest memories
 

are the ones from two summer vacations at Camp Iroquois when i was two and three years old in 1958/1959 (ok, so now everyone knows how old i am)... we had two old Army surplus tents, heavy canvas, right down on the beach... i remember my father out in the pouring rain digging trenches around the outside and my older siblings yelling at me not to touch the roof of the tent or the rain would seep in (the second summer we rented a ‘pop up’ trailer)... my mother cooking on the green Coleman gas stove (Misty Blue still has one just like it)… the Cushman Bakery truck deliveries, Week's Dairy truck, and the 'smell' of the communal toilets... and or course Mary Smith who ran the place... what a great way it was to get bonded with the lake and have been back every summer since!

Cheers! PIG

It was a great way to "meet" the lake, I am from RI, born in 1980, my grandparents had a place up there from the 1960's all the way until the end when it was sold. So since I was born, they were bringing me up to the Camp. They had a camper attatched to a full porch. It wasnt roughing it exactly, but it was nice, we would go up every summer several times for weeks at a time. I kept going until I was about 13 i'd say, then i stopped, found other interests back home I guess.

A funny thing happenned when I was 18 or 19, I went out and bought a Jetski to use in RI. I enjoyed it the first year, but my use of it dwindled the second year.. the next year I had it slipped in Lake Winnipesaukee, this is my 6th season back with it. Once you experience the lake, you always come back.

As for the old camp, its one of those parts of life that I can remember vivdly. I can remember every path we would cut through, the docks where we kept my grandfathers boat, the beach, the rec hall with the ping pong tables. Not too many places like that anymore. Looking to buy a vacation home on the lake in a year or two.. keep the family tradition alive..

thanks for the replies..

Camp Iroquois was the Best!
 

We went to Camp Iroquois quite often as a yoot. It was perfect. Wooded campsites. Oiled dirt roads. Rustic bath houses. Basketball court with giant tree roots making the ball bounce who knows where. A giant pile of sand on the beach with coins hidden within. And of course, the boss, Mary, the owner. And I think there was a 20 cent Coke bottle machine in the front office.

With all that said, if I had a chance for one of those six mansions built in its place... I would take it!

No seriously, I think it's sad that it's gone because thousands of people got to enjoy the lake through Camp Iroquois.

Ahh Iroquois
 

I was fourteen in 1962,the first summer we went to Iroquois.We went for two weeks and stayed in an old army tent just like the ones in M.A.R.S.H.We were right on the beach.My dog used to bury his bones under my cot in the sand.The next summer we stay all season.My father would come up on weekends and for 2 weeks in Aug.
The next year Mary enlarged the campground and we had the last site way over next to Shallow Point.My parents bought a trailer we kids still slept in the tent.We stayed there every summer untill I was nineteen, I moved out to Center Harbor for the summer(I wanted to be on my own)My parent and sibs stayed for another two years.I think until 69 or 70.
It was a great place to spend the summer I learned to water ski there,learn how to run a boat.We had a canoe and every evening I went fishing.I learn to sail on a sunfish and a sailfish.I learned to navigate in that 15' canoe with a 3 horse side mount,went all over the lake.I learned to drive there.
Last but no way lest the girls.We were there for the summer.Every weekend brought new families up for a week or two.My friends and I would help the families unpack and setup it was a great way to meet people.Then we would offer to the girls around the camp ground.Oh to be young again.
I wonder if there are any other old campers on this forum from the 60's.
I would love to say I met my wife there on one of those summer nights but that came latter.
Iroquois started my love affair with the Lakes Region.I have been here ever since.

experiences
 

I can remember my grandfather and grandmother taking me to camp Iroquois for 4 seasons from age 5 to age 8. (1964 to 1967) We stayed in a green tent. My grandfather had made a "kitchen" for my grandmother by making a plywood box with all sort of cubbys and hooks for utensils.
I specifically remember once when someone elses coleman lantern overflowed and lit on fire. No one had seen it and I told an adult and got a lot of praise for "saving the day". I also remember a bakery truck delivering
cupcakes to Marys store. My grandfather bought some of them for us. I remember they had tons of frosting.
We also would go to the Old Country Store on the way and get ice out of an icehouse for our cooler. It was neat how the dipped it in water to get all the sawdust off.
They also had a beehive
opening to the outside so you could see bees working right in the store.

Our trips to Iroquois ended when my grandfather bought a lot near the Barber pole on Cow Island where our family still has a camp.

Camp Iroquois
 

SOB you wouldn't be shawn O'brien are you??? I used to hang with your cousin Kevin

Camp Iroquois Too
 

I'm a newbie here and just wanted to put my two cents in.
It's coming up on 44 years ago that I proposed to my girlfriend/now wife at Camp Iroquois. Kept returning with my dog and friends for years after. Oddly enough the thing that sticks out in my head is the 25 cent cold shower. I have great memories of the lake and surrounding area. Haven't been back in a long time, just too lazy to pitch a tent not to mention being spoiled.
I wish all of you up there a great summer of 2017.

Joe in Jersey

Yup!!!
 

Ditto for me. Then my parents bought a place in Meredith in the early '60's.

Ron Frazier
 

My family had a permanent trailer spot on the beach thru the entire sixties. We moved to California in mid 1969. I have missed this camp for 47 years. Lots of good times at the tennis courts and Rec Hall. Too bad it is long gone.

Camp Iroquois
 

Loved that place. we are from Ct and would spend two weeks each summer at either Reed's camp or Camp Iroquois. We had family in Center Harbor.

Very cool. Great piece of lake nostalgia.

Thank you

Welcome
 

Frazier6477 and Nikonnina:
Welcome to the Forum

Where was Camp Iroquois located?

Moultonboro Neck Rd- across from the hardware store at the lights. About 3 miles down? The new development is called Iroquois- there is a sign at the road. It's funny- driving up the driveway is exactly the same was it always was- once you get to where the tennis court and bath houses were- you can't even notice it's the same place. The tennis court is still in the same place! By water- heading towards Center Harbor, stay to the east of Black Cat Island, go in past Wallace Island. Used to be right before the entrance to Salmon Meadow Cove.

Thank you very much i appreciate it.


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