Stillman's Camp

Out in the country, not too far from where my husband's family lived, there is a dirt road that is marked with two brick pillars. Years ago there were farm houses scattered along this road. This road comes to an end at Contentnea Creek. And at the end of the road a rustic camp belonging to the Stillman family had been built.

This past Sunday my husband and I decided to ride down there to see how things looked as we had not been down there since the 1970's. I reminiscenced about an eighth grade cookout we had there when I was a teenager. He remembered some boyhood things he had done at the camp.

During the early 70's his family's reunion was held there for a few years. There was an old building that we didn't use. There were lots of picknic tables. The perfect spot for parties, cookouts, and political get togethers.

We noticed on the ride down the dirt road all the homes were gone. We saw a barn next to the road covered in vines and young trees. We saw a couple of places we thought houses once were as we could see big shade trees and small out buildings but no homes.

At the end of the road a path ran off to the right. My husband said we'd have to get out and walk. A load of sand had been dumped in the path to keep cars from driving back there. So walk we did.

And this is what we found.

The building is on the ground.


We don't know what happened. We wondered if the flood of 1999 after Hurricane Floyd caused this to happen.

There were no boats tied up to the river bank as we remembered. There were signs that people still come here. There was evidence of a small campfire near the water's edge, and empty rifle shells were everywhere.


The water was peaceful and beautiful.


I hope it will not be another 30+ years before we visit this beautiful place again.