[glennsteely]

Bathing in the lake is a very, very old tradition. When my Grandparents bought/had the house built, it didn't even have a shower or bath tub of any kind. They added an outdoor shower in the back of the house some 5-10 years later. We didn't have an indoor shower until the first addition was built in 1958. (the house was bought/built in 1936 or 1939, not sure which, and there are stories that go both ways) Hot water was added to the OUTDOOR shower when the 2nd addition was built in 1978, I'm sure it was on the indoor shower before then.
So, for the first 20 years that we had the cottage, everyone bathed in the lake, for every bath!! Even when I was a kid up there, (late 70's to late 80's) I bathed in the lake every day. I might have taken 5-6 showers all summer. and they were only when we were going fancy for dinner somewhere, or we were entertaining guests from back home.
I went to summer camps up there, Wolfeboro Camp School, one summer. Not on Winnipesaukee, but another smaller lake or pond, can't remember the name, but we bathed every morning, at 5:30 am before eating breakfast, in the lake. We had to buy the soap and shampoo from the camp store, I want to say it was called "rainsoft" or "rainsilk," something like that. It was approved by the camp officials and was biodegradable and deemed to be "non-hazardous" to the lake and environment. Man, did that stuff smell good!! I wish I could find it today!! We also bathed in the pond in Maine, the summer I was at Camp Encore/Coda. Same kind of deal with the cleaning agents....approved by the camp and local government, to be non-hazardous to fish and wildlife, as well as the ecosystem.
I still take a bath in the lake, every chance I get. There is nothing like it in the world!!

.....but, I must say, it sure is better.......NAKID!!