“... Summer after summer finds the mountains of our
State filled with merry parties of campers, bent on enjoying life in true gypsy
fashion, untrampled by the requirements of fashionable existence.”
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| Author's Personal Collection |
The towering redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains
attracted many campers each season. By the late 19th century the
small logging and lime town of Felton became known as the ‘Tourists’ and
Campers’ Paradise’. The June 13, 1883 Santa Cruz Daily Surf provided a description of a typical tourist camp.
“Strolling through the camp, noting the comfortable appearance of the tents, many exhibiting quite successful attempts at artistic decoration, watching the graceful feminine forms, made still more bewitching by the jaunty camping costumes, gracefully reclining in hammocks or flitting about the grove, one is almost tempted to wish that such a life might last forever, and that there might never be a return to the stern realities of civilization.”
“During the week the ladies have full sway and, of course, they enjoy it. The few gentlemen at the camp wear a meek and subdued expression of countenance, and are tolerated by the feminine portion of the community in consideration of their usefulness as guards. But Saturday night is the night of all others at Camp Felton, as then the husbands, fathers, brothers and sweethearts come down from the city, a great camp-fire is built, and gathered about its cheerful blaze, the hours pass too quickly.”
“Strolling through the camp, noting the comfortable appearance of the tents, many exhibiting quite successful attempts at artistic decoration, watching the graceful feminine forms, made still more bewitching by the jaunty camping costumes, gracefully reclining in hammocks or flitting about the grove, one is almost tempted to wish that such a life might last forever, and that there might never be a return to the stern realities of civilization.”
“During the week the ladies have full sway and, of course, they enjoy it. The few gentlemen at the camp wear a meek and subdued expression of countenance, and are tolerated by the feminine portion of the community in consideration of their usefulness as guards. But Saturday night is the night of all others at Camp Felton, as then the husbands, fathers, brothers and sweethearts come down from the city, a great camp-fire is built, and gathered about its cheerful blaze, the hours pass too quickly.”
Each season brought more camps with an array of colorful names “…
in evergreen letters, ‘Swiss,’ ‘Half Way House,’ ‘Gluck,’ ‘Infant’s Shelter,’
etc. etc.” A visit or dance at Big Trees
Grove became a highlight for many camp goers.
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| Author's Personal Collection |
‘“Camp Frolic’ is the very appropriate name given to
the latest addition to the camping population in the vicinity of the Big Trees
and Felton. The tents of this camp were pitched on Thursday at the Big Trees. The
situation is charmingly romantic, being in the midst of a circular grove of
redwood whose giant summits tower straight above for hundreds of feet ... Most of this party are members of the Frolic Social Club, of San Francisco, composed chiefly of residents of the Western Addition ... The camp, when complete, will probably number about thirty-five persons ... This evening, June 10th [1883] a moonlight party is to be given at the Big Trees. The grounds are to be brilliantly illuminated, and the youth, beauty, and intelligence of the neighboring camps, including Camp Felton, Camp Frolic and Summer Home, will grace the occasion with their presence."
Sources: "The Latest Camp," Santa Cruz Daily Surf, June 16, 1883; "By the Bonny Brookside," Santa Cruz Daily Surf, June 13, 1883; “From the Metropolis,” Mendocino Coast Beacon, July 9, 1881.
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