Historic Camp Sign and Photo Album
Usually when we acquire an antique camp, cottage or trade sign, the associated history of the home or establishment it named is long lost. Happily, that’s not the case with this 1908 rustic sign from “Camp Dudley” (now sold), as it comes with a photo album, by-laws and map documenting the location, purpose, spirit and even culture of the place.
Although the Camp was established in 1908, the photo album documents the years 1937-1964 with 170+ photos.
Camp Dudley was built on an island in Deer Lake near the village of Sandy Creek, Quebec, located within a vast lakes region 1.5 hours northwest of the city of Ottawa.
The Camp was the property and headquarters of the Huddersfield Fish & Game Club, established in December 1907 and named after the Huddersfield Township where the lake was located.
It was apparently a small private club with only up to a dozen members, based on a 1939 membership roster and group photos of its members.
Officers and members of the Huddersfield Fish & Game Club in May 1945, including Secretary & Treasurer Alecks Walker, Dick Hellmann, Bill Glenzing, and Dr. George Tremble.
Although Camp Dudley was located in Canada, there are indicators that its members were Americans. Several photos show American and Canadian flags flying over the camp’s buildings, which is a traditional way for Americans who own camps in Canadian lakes regions to honor both countries.
Also, one of members listed in the 1939 roster, Dr. George O. Tremble, was a resident of Port Chester, NY at that time. Like “Tremble,” none of the other members’ surnames are Québécois. A final piece of evidence is that the sign and photo album turned up in western New England, indicating that the club member who owned them lived there or in nearby New York state.
The Sign
This is a quintessential rustic sign made of locally sourced natural materials—unfinished pine back boards with chamfered chunks of cedar branches applied as lettering.
The sign has breadboard ends and measures 36” wide, 12.25” high, 1” thick.
The sign has good oxidation but is not badly weathered, so it likely hung inside the main lodge or near a front door beneath a porch overhang such as the one shown below.
One peculiar feature of the sign is that the letter “S” in the month “Sept.” is shaped as the mirror image of the alphabetical letter.
We can only guess that the sign maker may have had a letter perception disorder, or that he simply got off course as he tacked in the small pieces comprising the “S.”
The even more intriguing question is why nobody ever fixed the letter. Did none of the other club members notice the mistake, or did it give them all a good laugh as a symbol of imperfection in their make-do island wilderness camp?
We’ll never know those answers, but the distinctive folk art character of the sign still evokes a smile, even if we weren’t in on the original scenario leading to the creation and retention of the endearingly quirky letter “S.”
Camp Dudley
The island camp complex had a main log lodge and multiple cabins.
The by-laws stated that members could erect personal cabins, but that those cabins eventually became the common property of the club.
In 1939 the Club’s yearly membership dues were $50, with an extra $15 per visit charged for each guest brought to the Camp.
Camp Dudley protocols were explicitly defined (co-owners of multi-family camps today might find such clarity enviable) with rules such as:
“Immediate families of members shall not be considered as guests. Immediate family is defined as wife and dependent children under 25 years of age. A member desiring to visit the Club shall inform the Secretary of his proposed date of arrival, length of stay, etc., so that necessary arrangements may be made for his requirements and comfort.”
Another rule defines behavioral protocols and consequences:
“Any member in arrears to the Club or guilty of ungentlemanly or improper conduct may be suspended from membership, and after three months’ notice in writing, may be expelled by a two-thirds vote by members of the Club .”
Given that the 1939 membership roster has black lines emphatically crossing out several names, we surmise that the rules were strictly enforced.
Fishing & Hunting
The primary sport that Camp Dudley members seemed to have pursued was fishing, which makes perfect sense given its location on an island in a lake.
As wanton as the fish catch looks, the Club did have a fish and game conservation ethic stated in their by-laws:
“No more fish must be taken than can be used by the members, guests and guides. Flesh of game must not be allowed to spoil; any surplus must be salted or smoked.”
The by-laws also state that the Club’s land was leased from the Canadian government, so members were required to report “all fish and game killed or taken during the open season.”
Several paragraphs of the by-laws are dedicated to the procedures of their duplicate-copy record-keeping requirements, which also would have influenced members’ adherence to conservation regulations.
The small fish in the photos above all seem to be Lake Trout (locally called “Gray Trout”), as is the large fish in the photo below.
A few pages of the photo album picture the Camp’s cooks and guides.
These Camp Dudley guides and cooks look like a jollier crew than the Club’s members.
It would hardly be necessary to hire a cadre of guides if the Club members fished only on Deer Lake, so they must have taken fishing excursions to lakes and rivers throughout the region, relying on the insider knowledge and expertise of local guides—one of whom had the distinctively French Canadian surname Gauthier.
There are only a few hunting photos in the album, and those were of bear, not deer or moose. The “game” focus of the Huddersfield Fish and Game club seems to have played second fiddle to the fish.
A Piece of Rustic Sporting History
We’re attracted to antiques not only for the appealing aesthetics of objects that were made in earlier eras, such as the rustic Camp Dudley sign, but also because of the rich stories they evoke about times gone by.
The story of enjoying communal lakeside cabin retreats, along with the bounty and beauty of nature surrounding them, never gets old, even as casts of characters change across time and place.
