My Maine Summer<\/h6>\n
From Kennebunk to Katahdin, from lobsters to lakes, we offer My Maine Summer \u2014 profiles of alumni<\/a> whose work, play, and family life has a distinctive Maine-in-summer vibe.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n The meals are hearty, the lodgings rustic, the moose abundant, and the views across the pond to White Cap Mountain reassuring. The camp attracts fly-fishers, hunters, hikers, canoeists, skiers \u2014 and folks simply seeking peace, quiet, and refuge from the 21st century. Who needs cell phone or internet service when there\u2019s unforgettable dark-sky stargazing?<\/p>\n The newest buildings at West Branch Pond Camps date from 1935. In 1881, the site evolved from a logging camp to a base for moose hunters and then, established as a sporting destination, was purchased by a Stirling ancestor in 1910. Back then the camp was one of hundreds in Maine that gave visitors, known as \u201csports,\u201d opportunities to fish, hunt, and rusticate in remote, largely unspoiled woodlands.<\/p>\n With White Cap Mountain impressive in the distance, Eric Stirling \u201997 casts for brook trout from the dock at West Branch Pond Camps in early August. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n These days, Nordic skiers make February the busiest month, but West Branch Pond Camps\u2019 history is rooted in summer. Both prompting and enabling the sporting camp phenomenon, 19th-century industrialization made cities unhealthy places to be in the summer \u2014 but it also grew an affluent class that could afford North Woods escapes, and spawned railroads and other transportation to carry sports deep into Maine.<\/p>\n Stirling lives at West Branch Pond with his wife, Mildred Kennedy, and their children, Avis and Oscar.<\/p>\n Our customers usually took quite an interest in myself and my two brothers, the way we were growing up. We weren’t official Maine Guides, but we\u2019d take them out on the trails and up the mountains. We just knew the area well enough to take people out if they wanted to fish in streams or climb a mountain or look for moose. That was definitely one of the biggest highlights of growing up here \u2014 the people who came here to be part of it.<\/p>\n My grandfather was a Maine Guide and he used to take us on canoe trips in the summertime up to the Allagash, Chesuncook Lake, and other places north. Which was funny because \u2014 we didn’t know it at the time \u2014 we were growing up in the best area, but we still liked to go to even more remote areas.<\/p>\n Vintage photos and memorabilia on display in the West Branch Pond Camps dining hall. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n I did a number of different things after Bates. Probably the longest was teaching algebra for three years. I worked on an organic farm and cross-country ski center, picked blueberries \u2014 it was nice to get out and do something different.<\/p>\n But having grown up at West Branch Pond with the seasonal lifestyle, being in the woods, and the whole family legacy, after I’d been out for six years I was able to see it from an outside perspective and realize how special it was, basically.<\/p>\n Yes, I do. There are parts of it that seem never-ending, like mowing the lawn, keeping up with the vegetation, and things like that. But, yeah, I generally do look forward to it. I like all the seasons \u2014 but the spring is very busy with fishermen and getting the camps up and operating, and it doesn’t feel like we get that done until summer actually starts.<\/p>\n And then for the rest of summer, everything is kind of cruising, it\u2019s like a big ship \u2014 you get underway and then you can just enjoy the cruise, hopefully!<\/p>\n A cabin at West Branch Pond Camps. The newest building at the sporting camp was built in 1935. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n Related to work, it\u2019s probably the families who come back every year, seeing them enjoy the camp. One of the best things is seeing my kids spending time with the customers\u2019 kids, and just watching the generational turnover. We get a lot of grandparents who bring their kids back, and their kids have kids now.<\/p>\n Not related to work, the best thing is not having to put on all the winter clothes just to get out and walk. Usually in the evening, after we get done with work, I\u2019ll take the kids or the dog and just walk on the trail, and just have some time to unwind and enjoy the fact that it\u2019s summer. The days are so long, the night sounds are great, the frogs and all. It\u2019s everything that you don\u2019t get when it\u2019s cold, which is a lot of the time here.<\/p>\n![\"With](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190809_WestBranch_Pond_9624.jpg\")
<\/a>West Branch Pond Camps was your family business and you spent summers there as a young person. What are some formative memories?<\/h5>\n
You graduated from Bates in 1997 and began running the camps in 2003. What persuaded you to go back to West Branch Pond?<\/h5>\n
![\"Vintage](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190809_WestBranch_Pond_0186.jpg\")
<\/a>Summer and work are more or less synonymous for you. Do you look forward to summer?<\/h5>\n
So what are some particular pleasures of summer for you, both related to work and not related to work?<\/h5>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190809_WestBranch_Pond_0025.jpg\")
<\/a>How does the West Branch Pond Camps experience represent an ideal Maine summer?<\/h5>\n
![\"Summer](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190809_WestBranch_Pond_0002.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Oscar](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190809_WestBranch_Pond_0061.jpg\")
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