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Louis E. Roy, MD wrote: "The first recorded camping expedition
at Alum Pond is the following in the words of A. H. Faxon: ‘I recall
how five of us tramped over from Spencer on the 2nd of July, 1890, to see
Alum Pond. The day was hot and dusty and after our thirteen mile walk we
were glad to sit down and eat our dinners. The first thing I did was to strip
off and plunge into the cool, clear, water. We were a little disappointed
in the size of Alum, and it had only one island. However, we decided to camp
there, and selected the east side as the best place to pitch our tents.’
The five mentioned above were Allan H. Faxon, Charles E. Dunton, Lewis W.
Dunton, Milleris W. Prouty and LeRoy Ames, all young adults at the time.
Photographs were taken on the occasion.
The first permanent camp built at Big Alum was the Log Cabin “Camp
Dan” started in 1890 by the five named persons in the original camping
expedition, with the addition of Henry B. Montague and Lynus Bacon. Mr. Faxon
and Mr Montague were later to be prominent in the community life of Southbridge.
Mr. Ames was a professor at Clark University. The Dunton brothers, Mr. Prouty
and Mr. Bacon were business men in Spencer and Boston. The cabin was built
with logs made from pine trees cut from the west shore of the lake by a Mr.
Adams. They were hauled by sled to his water-powered sawmill a short distance
away on Brookfield Road on the other side of Mt. Dan. The construction was
of squared logs and boards, and consisted of two rooms-one upstairs and one
down.”
Please read Allan Faxon's account of his early visits to Lake Pookookapog
in Chapter 11 of our History.
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