CAMP MANITOU - Levering, Michigan

Lake Douglas Still Looks Beautiful...

2006-09-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

I am writing this e mail from the deck at our cottage overlooking beautiful Douglas Lake.

As a general update, not all that much has changed. The Camp property has been developed with the exception of 3 or 4 lots. Several are full time lake residents. Lots are 10 acres or more, so the area has been beautifully preserved. As a reference point the available lots are available in the $400,000 to $600,000 range. Some things have changed!!

Camp Knight closed several years ago and was purchased by The Bug Camp. Best estimates are that U of M owns 55% of the shoreline that will never be developed. Makes for a beautiful situation.

I am in the process of creating a map of the old "Camp Manitou"at the request of the new residents. As I spent 5 summers there in some capacity, I have a fairly good recollection of the locations of most buildings. The original 4 camper cabins were the Buccaneers, Norseman, Pirates and Vikings. Were there more that came after my time? I see on the website "Privateers" that I am not familar with. Where was it and what was it?

As I mentioned in a previous note, we have the 52-53-54 honor boards as well as other camp memorabilia. If anyone wants pictures, let me know.

Any updates would be appreciated.

If anyone journey's "Up North" and would like to see what is going on at the old camp property, just e mail to Dave at the Manitou Website and he will forward your email to me.

Gary Olsaver

Camp Manitou

2005-08-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

I attended Manitou, with my brothers Dave and Mark, from 1956 thru 1959. They were the six week sessions. I also attended a two week session in the fall of 1959. I was a Viking the first year, a Privateer the second and a Buccaneer the last year. We built sea walls and the trail through the swamp to Hill 309 or whatever it was called. I saw Nick's death notice in the Ann Arbor News about 5 years ago. He died in New York at the age of 91. Dave Fox, who attended the camp and whom I know in Ann Arbor, saw him interviewed briefly on local news station. He was stuck at Metro Airport because of a snow storm. I heard he started another camp in New York state somewhere. Despite his "issues", he really knew how to run a camp. Three days on Mackinac Island, long canoe trips and the Timber Tussle!

John Rogers

Bob Cleveland Arrived home safely to Ann Arbor, Michigan at the end of the summer

2005-08-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hi David,

You don't know me however I am a neighbor who has lived just west of the camp since its closing. Bob Cleveland made it safely home from camp I know for certain. After the camp was closed he stayed at our cottage for several weeks before returning to Ann Arbor, Mi.. I was returning to U of M as a sophomore that fall and he road back with me. Where he has gone since I have no idea since I never saw him again. My brother Ken Peters was a counselor at the camp I believe in 1958 or 1959. Our neighbors at the lake , the Olsaver family, Gary and Rich Olsaver have responded to your web site I see, were neighbors of ours in Adrian, MI. and that is how we were able to buy the land we now have from Nick in 1960. I remember staying at the camp one night when my brother was a counselor and stayed in a cabin with another counselor. I had funny feelings about the way the guy was talking to me and I now understand why. My other lake neighbor John Kafer, who is now with Spoon Foods in Petoskey, forwarded this web site after I introduced him to a friend Markie Rogers former camper from Ann Arbor. Mark had come to visit the camp this summer to see if he could find his name on the wall he had helped build at the lake shore. His wife thought he had made all of this up. So, he could now prove that there was a Camp Manitou. I and my family have enjoyed our many summer years on the lake. The Tale of Camp Manitou is one of the great legends. I also was a classmate of Dick Wynn. We graduated together in 1960 from Adrian High School. It is a small world. I have forwarded this site to Markie Rogers. I trust you will hear from him in the near future.

David O. Peters

Welcome!

2005-06-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome to alumni of Old Camp Manitou which was located in Levering, Michigan. If you would like to make a posting, please send an email (email link on main Camp Manitou Website) and I will send you the automatic posting email address.

Regards,

David M. Sapadin
Camp Manitou 1961-62