Evening Star Newspaper, May 29, 1937, Page 11

Motorists will Washington. NEW PARK AREAS AVAILABLE Gerrnment Invites Washington Public to Places “Where Every Prospect Pleases” and Sandwiches and Hard-Boiled Eggs Can Be Consumed With a Maximum of Pleasure. By Lucy Salamanca. EW picnic groves will be opened for the first time at Fort Hunt this Summer season for the accommodation of as many as 300 picnickers at one time. Certain sections along the Mount Vernon Boulevard will be available for recrea- tion, and about an hour's ride from Washington a recreational area of 12,000 acres is being developed to in- clude swimming pools, play fields and play facilities, hiking trails and cabins for those who wish to spend some days amidst the mountain streams and natural valleys of the great Chopa- wamsic area that has now become part of the National Capital park system. ‘The parks in and around the Capital are getting trimmed, pruned and im- proved to an almost incredible degree in anticipation of motorists and other pleasure seekers who will spend much of their free time this Summer in the open air. This year, with vast acreage being made available to the public for the first time, within easy riding dis- tance of Washington, it is hoped at the Interior Department that some of the congestion prevalent in city parks in past seasons will be relieved and that Washingtonians will find more free- dom and pleasure in the nearby sec- tions now being beautified. Not only are Mount Vernon Me- morial Boulevard and its environs being improved with this in mind, but Fort Hunt has been under develop- ment as a pleasure spot that eventu- ally will include a swimming pool, a golf course, an athletic field, tennis courts and play fields, to-say nothing of picnic groves for the accommodation of hundreds of visitors. Fort Hunt is about 1 mile this side of Mount Vernon and the National Capital Parks Division of the Interior Department hopes by development of the fort as a recreational center to preserve the beauty of the Mount Ver- non Boulevard and the immediate en- virons of the Mount Vernon estate from the thoughtless invasion of picnickers. Old Fort Hunt reservation was built during the Spanish-American War and is said to be the only fortress built on American soil during the conflict. It was vacated by the Army in 1932 and turned over to the park system to become part of the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway. Now, with its development as a recreational center, activities along the highway will be concentrated in this one area and the memorial character of the highway itself will thus be preserved. IRECTLY across the Potomac from Fort Hunt is Fort Washington. which will soon take its place among the other national parks. At present, It is still occupied by troops of the Army, but they are scheduled to vacate In favor of picnickers, golfers, swim- mers and all that blithe band that hears and obeys, from May through October, the call of the open road and has spent most of their spare time in the past searching out a beauty spot, equipped with facilities, where they CHARLOTTESVILLE ) e might eat their lunches and rest under the trees. For those in search of more beauty, natural and diversified, than they had | thought to find without traveling for hours in the Summer’s heat, is rec- ommended a trip to the new recrea- tional area now known simply as Chopawamsic. Here, a short distance from the Capital over U. S. Route 1 to Dumfries, within a stone’s throw of Quantico and in the vicinity of Jop- iin, Va., are 12,000 acres of the most delightful out-of-door country to be found anywhere. This sub-marginal land originally was turned over to the recreational planning division of the Park Service. Now, with operations in charge of the National Capital Parks, it bids fair to be one of the favorite camping spots for miles around. That it shall be a comfortable, picturesque and charming spot the Park Service is taking care, and so its two streams, its natural hills and val- leys and heavily wooded areas are be- ing preserved in as native a state of beauty as possible, while at the same time every comfort for tourists, from cabins to golf course, is being planned. When you consider that the largest parks in the District, Rock Creek Park, is about 1,800 acres, you have some idea of the tremendous size of the new area of Chopawamsic, with its 12,000 acres of woodlands and streams. The streams in this area, Quantico Creek and Chopawamsic Creek, are being dammed at strategic points to provide the thousands of children they ‘Wwill accommodate during the Summer months with out-of-door swimming pools of the finest kind. One of these pools is being rushed to completion in time for this season, and by next year the Park Service hopes to open several others to the public. TH’IS year, also, many new cabins have been built in the woods for the accommodation of underprivileged children who will camp on the spot this year. Hiking trails have been opened through the woods and play fields cleared. In addition to the swimming centers, lakes will be con- structed by damming the two good- sized streams, and it is planned to introduce a variety of water sports, such as boating and canoeing. The Park Service is going-to stock the streams with game fish later. In order that week-end fishing parties or other campers may find accom- modations, a sufficient number of cabins will be erected that can be rented at nominal fees by visitors wishing to spend some days in the region. It is planned to build two communities of cabins—one for those adults who can afford to pay for the privileges they receive and the other for a group of underprivileged adults who could not otherwise enjoy & period away from the heat of the city. Part of the project also includes the establishment of a camp for boys and girls from Virginia farms. Such & camp, drawing from the rural areas, @ paradise of parks and recreation grounds, Within a $0-mile area of Washington the motorist may find ~ was a Resettlement project and later | he WASHINGT find many beauty spots like thz‘s_one in newly developed recreation areas near will become a permanent feature of the Chopawamsic area, ‘While in time it is planned to thus open up the region to various classes of campers, in this present season it is | being offered for the accommodation | of three groups of underprivileged | children. Two of these groups will be FEATURES - Foening Star EDITION ON, D. C, SATURDAY, ‘MAY 29, 1937. TOP-NOTCH RECREATION SITES RI 'CAMPING MADE INEXPENSIVE 'Y. M. C. A. Boys’ Camp Near Annapolis Offers Washington Fam- ilies of Modest Income Solution to Problem of Where to Send Sons This Summer. e i Jfor the boys at Camp Letts. " News of Churches K PAGE B—1 GHT AT CAPITAL'S DOOR vutaoor fun and sport create lusty appetites at Camp Letts an@ meals are relished by healthy lads in this dining hall. By W. G. Pollard. | | HE answer to the call of the great outdoors is to be found | in Camp Letts, the Young | Men's Christian Association | boys' camp on the Rhodes River, near Annapolis, Md., which opens June 25. of Social Agencies, which will estab- | lish Camp Goodwill and Camp Pleas- ant in designated areas where cabins are already available, as well as other camping facilities. Camp Goodwill is for the benefit of underprivileged white children, while Camp Pleasant will be exclusively for colored children. Each will accommodate a group of about 250 children every two weeks, so that about 3,000 children and their mothers will have the advantage of a Summer vacation during the six weeks' period the camps will operate. Last year the area was thrown open for the first time for camping purposes i and two groups from Washington en- | joyed the privileges it offered. The | Jewish Community Center set up l! camp for underprivileged children and | the Washington Boys’ Club also took care of Summer groups in the region. [JORT WASHINGTON, when de- | | velopment begins of the area, will | | be preserved more as an historical site | than as a recreational center, although facilities for picnicing will be provided. L'Enfant, will be restored and no at- tempt will be made to establish play | flelds or similar amusement centers in | the vicinity. - Mount Vernon Memorial Highway | has been beautified in anticipation of | the thousands of visitors who will ride along its 15 miles to Mount Vernon this season. The highway is | the first completed unit of the pro- | posed George Washington Memorial Parkway along the Virginia shore of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon to Great Falls, crossing the river at this point and making the return trip along the Maryland shore through | Rock Creek Park and Washington to | Fort Washington. When completed this drive will constitute one of the most interesting and picturesque in the world. From the point of view of historic interest alone it will afford views of the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol, the White House and numerous other shrines and public buildings. In addition to this higprical signifi- cance, scenically the drive will be un- 5 | supervised by the Washington Council | The ruins of the old fort, designed by ! surpassed. It will include panoramas | of rolling hills of the Maryland and Virginia countryside, the beautiful gorge and falls of the Potomac River, sweeping vistas of the river as it widens out on its way past George- town, Washington and Alexandria to Mount Vernon and Chesapeake Bay. Upstream from the Arlington Bridge one can see, from the present high- way, the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Island, formerly Analostan Island. This island is likewise being developed as a park and will be dedicated, when completed, te the beloved “Teddy.” Approximately one mile south of the Highway Bridge underpass is Roaches Run, fed by streams and now being developed as the Washington Water- fowl Sanctuary. HILE these changes, enlarge- ments and other improvements are being made within a few miles of the National Capital, in the city itself parks are being made ready for the Summer invasion of residents and (Continued on Page B-3.) With school recess approaching and | boys' thoughts turning from reading | to swimming, from writing to base | ball and from school room arithmetic | | to caluculations of time and distance lin the field of athletics—Camp Letts may answer a problem being pondered by parents. Only a “stone’s throw” from the | National Capital in the terms of dis- tance and the time it takes to reach the camp with modern transporta- tion methods, Camp Letts represents a development, over a period of 31 years, intended to aid the spiritual | and physical welfare of boys between | | the ages of 10 to 18 years. It is in a way a dream come true in the form of a modern boys' camp, offering the | many facilities of the more expensive camps without the cost. Under the guidance of Y. M. C. A. | executives, the camp has grown steadily from & makeshift place on | the South River in 1906 to an ultra- | modern recreation center. | Instead of merely dried grass for beds, tents for shelter and other crude | By John Jay Daly. Y PRESIDENTIAL proclama- tion, next Tuesday will be Marquette day in celebration of the tercentenary of the birth of Jacques Marquette, re-discove erer of the Mississippi River, June 1, 1637, at Laon, France. | Representative Raymond S. Mc- Keough, Democrat, of Illinois intro- duced in the House the bill that set aside the day on which this Nation will recognize the triumphs of the | great explorer and missionary, Father Marquette, whose statue is in the Capitol's Statuary Hall. Senator James Hamilton Lewis of Illinois championed the McKeough bill in the Senate, and the law was passed finally on May 20, just slightly over a week before the event. ‘When President Roosevelt issued his formal declaration setting aside June 1 as Marquette day, America and France joined hands in honoring & man whose name is written in large type across the pages of Ameri- can history, but whose native country, France, until this year had almost { totally ignored the accomplishments of the explorer. Even in his old home town, Laon, there was not even a statue of Jacques Marquette. Recently, in compliance with reso- lutions adopted by the various learned .societies at Laon, a committee was formed to arrange for the erection of such & memorial. Money collected from school children of all France helped swell the fund. Old French copper coins, no longer in circulation, were melted to make bronze for the Marquette statue. Elaborate ceremonies are planned for Tuesday to perpetuate the deeds of this Midwest explorer—the gan who found the sowrce apd mouth of the [4 TWO NATIONS TO HONOR PERE MARQUETTE Tuesday Set Aside by Presidential Proclamation for Observance Honoring Exploration of Mississippi River by Noted French Missionary. Mississippi River. He also discovered the Mackinac and explored the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. Led by Representative McKeough, & delegation of Americans and French- men will hold services in Statuary Hall at 10 a.m.—a wreath to be placed at the base of the Marquette Statue. In Chicago, the city that claims Marquette as its discoverer, and at the old mission in Mackinac where Marquette is buried, other celebrations will be held. FATHER MARQUETTE was the hero of the Midwest for many years, according to Representative Mc- Keough, who recalls that a city, & number of towns, a water course and & university are named for the famous explorer. Marquette, at the age of 17, entered the Society of Jesus and was sent by his superiors in 1666 to the Indian mis- sions in Eastern Canada. There he found his love for the wide open spaces. ‘Two years later Father Marquette was sent to Sault Ste. Marie. He in- structed Indian tribes on the south- western shore of Lake Superior. It was to this misison settlement that the Tlinois Indians came from their dis- tant wigwams in the south and they brought with them stories of a mighty river which flowed through their coun- try. It flowed so far south, they told Father Marquette, that no man knew into what ocean or gulf it emptied. Father Marquette was intrigued. When these same Indians, who had - priest to come down to their distant wigwams and instruct them and members of their tribe who lived on this unknown river, he responded eagerly. That was the beginning of Father Marquette’s real career as an explorer. Before he undertook his major explora- tions, however, the young missionary went to visit the Huron tribes at La Pointe. They were forced to abandon their villages because of the Dakotas. Father Marquette postponed his proj- ect to go with the Illinois Indians. He went, instead, with the Hurons to their ancient abode on the northwest shore of the Straits of Mackinac. At Mackinac Father Marquette still kept in his heart the wish to explore the great river which the Indians called the Father of Waters. Early in 1673, accompanied by Louis Joliet and five other Frenchmen, Mar- quette began his famous journey—the exploration of the Mississippi. Scant knowledge of this great water course had been gained from Indians of the central prairies. The Marquette route was a tedious one. It lay up the northwest side of Lake Michigan; up Green Bay and Fox River; across Lake Winnebago; over the portage to the Wisconsin River; down the Wisconsin into the Mississippi. Once in the Mississippi, the party pressed onward until they had de- scended to a point about 700 miles from the sea, at the confluence of the Arkansas River. It is recorded tn histogy books that Marquette and his partner, Joliet, entered the Mississippi on May 17, 1673. They went to the Guif of Mexico and turned back July 17, exactly two months later. By way of the Ilinois River they returned to Green Bay and Michigan in Sep- tember of that year. Fear of the Spaniards prevented a more elaborate exploration of the Mississippi at the time. On the return journey from the Gulf of Mexico, Marquette came to the present site of Chicago. There he spent his last Winter on earth. His strength exhausted by labors and travel, the explorer wanted to end his days at the old misison in Mackinac. As he coasted along the eastern shore of Michigan, Father Marquette reached the mouth of & small stream near the present city of Ludington. He asked his companions to carry him ashore. They did—and he died there May 18, 1675. He was only 38 years of age. Two years later the Indians carried the bones of Marquette to the mission at Mackinac. Marquette made his place in his- Itory and, as President Coolidge said in an address at Chicago in 1924, “Of the men who laid the foundation for our country, he deserves his place among the foremost.” While the making of Marquette day is a non-sectarian movement, fostered by high officials in the two States that saw most of his services—Ilinois and Wisconsin—naturally the Jesuit Order is interested in the tribute paid to one of its members, and Right Rev. Arthur A, O’Leary, presi- dent of Georgetown University, will be one of the principal speakers in the Capital ceremony planned by Rep- resentative McKeough, who with Senator Lewis made the day possible. | vidual boy was about 24 days, facilities of two decades ago, the present camp, named for its prin- cipal benefactor the late John Cowan Letts, offers mattresses on double- decker beds in well-ventilated cabins. Instead of swimming in weed-in- fested waters, the boys swim from a sandy beach, wired to protect them from the sea nettles. With a capacity for 200 boys, Camp Letts has about 40 counselors, a camp director experienced in boys' work and physicians to look after the health of the young campers. boating and crafts. ming, various | There is a large athletic fleld, which includes a cinder track and base ball diamond. and parents who are mapping out & | Summer program. AMP LETTS opens June 25 and closes September 3. The usual ages of boys taken at the camp range from 10 to 18, with exceptions made where boys under 10 are particularly 8 boy 19, for instance, wants to ac- company & younger brother 1o camp. ‘The camp includes some 20 wooden cabins, well-ventilated and screened against flies and mosquitoes, a craft hall, & large and modernly-equipped dining hall, recreation hall, bath house and headquarters cabin, in addition to other smaller houses. Some of the cabins accommodate 12 boys and two eight boys. Imst year the average length of time spent in the camp by an indi- as compared with a little less than a 22-day average in 1927, and the camp had a total of 462 boy campers, as compared with 198 in 1927. It had 43 leaders and directors as compared with 30 in 1927. Also, 212 boys were taught to swim, as compared with only 15 in 1927. The total attendance at morning chapel throughout the last camp sea- son was 13,860, compared with 4,500 in 1927. Attendance at Sunddy services was 5,940, compared with 957 in 1927. The average weekly enrollment last year was 155, compared with 61 in 1927, These figures, Leonard W. DeGast, | general secretary of the Y. M. C. A, and other Y. M. C. A. officials feel, show their efforts have been worthwhile. The camp, comprising 219 acres of woodland with an unbroken shoreline, is designed to shape the character and disposition of the boy, ironing out “discordant wrinkles and implanting a spirit that makes each youngster see himself a golden link in the chain of others good.” Besides being taught to swim and handle a boat, the camper plays tennis and base ball, hikes and gathers around camp fires at night for songs and story telling. He takes part in dramatics, tournaments, competitive athletics all the while under the watchful guidance of camp counselors. Flags will fly from every public build- ing of the United States and its Ter- titories in honor of Marquette, -~ There is expert instruction in swim- | [ These things sound good to boys well-developed for their age, or where | counselors while other acoommodate FIRST aid clinic is maintained under medical supervision | meet any emergency. In addit George B. Trible, leading Was! nose and throat specialist, makes | weekly visits to the camp for consuls tation, observation and examination. | Ample provision is made at the | camp for growing boys' appetites. The camp stewards and cooks are trained in the service. Vegetables for the camp are grown on the camp farm, insuring thei eshness. | Through the generosity of the late Mr. Letts and Mrs. Letts, the camp boasts a dining hall elaborately equipped. The meal time at Camp | Letts is a happy one. Literally, every moment of the day | at Camp Letts is filled. Here's & | typical program. as outlined in this year's catalogue Rising hour, T am.; setting-up exercise, 7:05; morning dip, 7:15; breakfast, 7:30: chapel. 8:15 to 8:30; lprepare tents for inspection, 8:30 to 9:25; inspection, 9:30; instruction hour (nature study, first aid, handi- | craft, etc) 10 to 11:15; swimming | period, 11:30 to 12; dinner, 12:30; “qum hour. 1 to 2 pm.; open period | for use of rowboats, motor boats, hikes, etc, 2 to 3 pm.; league games, 3 to | 4:30; swimming period, 4:30 to 5; | supper, 5:45; open period for use of | boats, group games, etc. (three nights |8 week a camp fire; other nights, | social program): preparing bunks for | the night, 8:30 to 8:45; evening prayers, 8:45; lights out. 9 pm Wilbur D. Bailey, the camp director for 1937, has had many years' prace tical experience at Camp Letts, whera he succeeds as director James C. Ingram, who resigned in April to be- come director of boys’ work for the Virginia State Y. M. C. A. All those appointed to the counselor staff are young men, chosen for their special fitness in tempermament and character for the duties they are called upon to perform. The camp counselors are the boys' companions. Boys intuitively appraise them and there is established an understanding, & spirit of true comradeship and re spect which promotes discipline and adds to the enjoyment of the life at the camp. Like every other Y. M. C. A. activity, Camp Letts is conducted on & non- profit sharing basis. The development of the camp to its present day status from its crude beginning in 1906 is familiar to many and represents hard work and an earnest desire on the part of Y. M. C. A. executives and friends of the “Y" to aid the boy to build character and & sound healthy body. The camp has grown steadily, both in the matter of improvements and the number of boys in attendance. Al ready a number of reservations have been made at the camp for this year, Y. M. C. A. officials expect 1937 to prove the camp's most successful year, both in the attendance and activities there. Sports and the old swimming hole, the dreams of every boy as Summer epproaches, are ahout to be enjoyed. The boys take time out for a bit of reading in one of the eabin “homes” at Camp Letts. - 3