One Saturday afternoon last summer, two members were headed back to the lodge after hauling firewood out to their site. One of them was riding in the wagon we keep around for hauling wood, a grown man, glass of red wine in hand, and the other, was flat out running while pulling him. Just before they made it to the lodge, the wagon tipped. He went flying, wine and all. Everyone within earshot was laughing, except the guy who'd been pulling, who was now staring down at a wagon that had come completely apart in the tumble, and he saw me standing there watching.
I loved every second of it. Grown men, comfortable enough to be absolute kids for a minute, finding pure joy in something that silly and that childish. That's exactly the kind of moment that tells me we're doing something right here. It's a small example, but it's everywhere once you notice it — in the bigger stuff too.
So we have dance parties. We have drag shows that get genuinely, wonderfully ridiculous. We laugh, a lot, and loudly, and often at ourselves. We're good at silly. Silly is underrated. A group of adults giving themselves full permission to be a little absurd together is one of the best things I've ever gotten to watch happen, weekend after weekend.
And we back all of that up with real amenities, because fun shouldn't mean roughing it unless roughing it is what you're into. There's an indoor pool, a hot tub, a sauna, a steam room, play spaces built for exactly what you'd guess. Inside the lodge there's ping pong, pool tables, a dart board, a wall full of games, a bar, and now a full restaurant. If you want to spend your whole trip indoors in total comfort, you can (and sometimes the weather makes it the only option).
But step outside and you've got 82 acres, and most of that is woods — real trails, quiet corners, a play space out in the middle of it all we call the Cockpit, because subtlety was never really the point. This is a recreational campground. Emphasis on recreate. You're supposed to use the land, not just look at it from chair in front of your RV.
We run events almost every weekend, and we put real thought into the themes — not because we need an excuse for a party, but because a good theme makes people show up as a slightly different, freer version of themselves for a night. And it works. Guys drive in from all over New England and beyond, and pretty much everyone arrives with the same one job in mind: have the most fun they possibly can, out here in the woods, with people who get it.
People ask me sometimes what our rules are, expecting quiet hours, curfews, the usual list. We have rules, sure, but not the kind that make your day feel managed. This is a recreational campground, not a retirement village — nobody's here to police your joy like some HOA. We just ask people to be respectful, and treat everyone like the adults they are. That's most of it, and it's how a wagon full of firewood turns into the best five minutes of somebody's weekend.
That's the whole magic, if I'm honest. Trust people, get out of their way, give them a beautiful place to do it in, and fun just happens.
