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| 9/4/2007 1:14:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Red Pine alumnae save historic camp from development
Pleasant T. Rowland foundation provides funds to preserve 70 years of tradition
Ed Culhane
Reporter
Alumnae of the Red Pine Camp have purchased the camp from Milwaukee developer Anthony Vodnik so that the 70-year tradition of girls camping on Clear Lake in the Northern Highland American Legion state forest can live on.
A three-way agreement between Sarah Wittenkamp Rolley, the camp's owner, Anthony J. Vodnik IV of Milwaukee, a real estate developer who had purchased the property, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation of Madison was signed Friday.
The preservation of the Red Pine camp was announced Friday night at a reunion of alumnae celebrating Red Pine's 70 years.
The foundation purchased the land from Vodnik subject to a conservation easement that restricts the foundation and its successors from ever subdividing the land or using it for any purpose other than "a camp or other educational activity."
In addition, the foundation purchased the camp operation from Sarah Rolley and plans to involve alumnae and current staff in its ongoing operation.
Pleasant T. Rowland is the creator of American Girl, the well-known collection of books and dolls. She sold the enterprise nine years ago and formed the charitable non-profit foundation with the proceeds.
A mission of the foundation is to support the education of women and children. Another is to support historic preservation. Red Pine is one of the oldest camps in the Northwoods, founded in 1938 by Sara Rolley's parents, Richard and Helen Wittenkamp.
Rowland is an alumna of Red Pine Camp as were one of her sisters and two of her nieces.
"I loved my years at Red Pine, and my experiences there had a profound impact on me," Rowland said in statement delivered Friday to The Lakeland Times. "I am delighted to be able to preserve this extraordinary place and continue the rich traditions the Wittenkamps put in place long ago.
"Thousands of girls for generations to come will be touched as I was by their experiences here."
Rowland and her husband live in Madison and have a second home in Minocqua.
Rowland credited Vodnik for his willingness to make this property available and to forego much of the profit he stood to make from the sale of the thirteen residential lots he planned to put on the property.
The camp sits on 39 acres with 4,200 feet of shoreline.
"Red Pine is one of the most beautiful pieces of land in the Northwoods," said Vodnik. "I am genuinely pleased that it will remain a camp now and far into the future. The deep feelings of loyalty expressed by the alumnae and their heartfelt passion to continue the camp's mission, along with Ms. Rowland's generosity, convinced me to change my course."
Sarah Rolley expressed pleasure as well.
"What a happy resolution," Rolley said in the statement. "I am thrilled that Red Pine will continue under the stewardship of Pleasant and the alumnae. They all love the land as much as I and my family do, and they understand the intangible values and spirit that have made Red Pine such an important experience for generations of girls. My father and mother would be so proud that 'their Red Pine ladies' protected the land they loved and the camp they founded."
Rolley, Rowland, and Vodnik all credited the determination and perseverance of four alumnae who organized the efforts to save the camp: Gena Curran of Bethlehem, Penn.; Connie Scholfield of Minneapolis, Minn.; Amber Morgan of Whitefish Bay; and Leslie Parry of Minocqua.
"We've got the full support of hundreds of alumnae, parents, campers and staff members as we begin a new era for Red Pine," said Connie Scholfield. "We will have a few days together at our reunion to honor Sarah and her family and to celebrate the happy outcome of this transaction. Then we will roll up our sleeves and begin to plan. Next summer will come before we know it."
Red Pine will open for its regular summer sessions on June 16, 2008.
As an aside, Rowland said one of the books in the American Girls collection of historical fiction, "Molly Saves the Day," was based on Pleasant Rowland's experiences at Red Pine Camp.
"Life is full of unexpected surprises," she said. "Who would have guessed that experiences of my childhood more than fifty years ago, captured in a book I published decades later, would be a part of a business I built for girls that generated the funds to purchase the camp where those memories were formed, allowing me to continue its traditions for generations of girls to come?"
The transaction Friday will be a great relief to families of campers. Several of them had reacted with shock four weeks ago when The Lakeland Times reported the camp had been sold and that the 35-acre parcel was to become a 13-lot residential subdivision.
The camp, five miles east of Minocqua, occupies a peninsula surrounded on three sides by water and on the fourth by state forest. Other than two shoreland parcels, and four or five privately owned islands, the camp is the only private property on the 846-acre lake, which is entirely surrounded by the Northern Highland American Legion state forest, by aspens and maple trees and tall, old growth pines.
After the purchase was announced, developer Anthony Vodnik had called it a once-in-a-lifetime project.
"It's the only development that will ever occur on Clear Lake," Vodnik said. "I think it is safe to say there is no other place in the state where you are going to be one of 13 owners on 900 acres of pristine lake with sand beaches."
The state has a campground on the west side of the lake, opposite Red Pine Camp, and a picnic area with a boat launch at the north end.
Richard Wittenkamp, a state forester, lived on the shores of Clear Lake in the 1930s with his wife, Helen. They purchased the peninsula from two brothers - Gus and Bill Krogman - who had operated it as a fishing camp since 1908. A cabin they built after the sale remains on one of the two private shoreland parcels.
Richard and Helen Wittenkamp purchased the land to realize their dream of founding a girls camp. The first 12 campers arrived in 1938.
Rolley, daughter of the founders, joined the staff at Red Pine in 1953. She and Irene Boudreaux, whose service at Red Pine dates back to 1947, were directors for decades. Rolley's daughter and son-in-law, Robin and Jim Thies, were assistant camp directors, representing the third generation of family operation.
In recent years, the popular, upscale camp has served about 120 campers in each of two 4-week sessions. It employs about 50 staff members. Girls can participate in overnight camping, fishing, hiking, stargazing, horseback riding, sailing regattas, tennis matches, talent shows and long-distance swimming, among other opportunities.
Most counselors have been former campers who participated in Red Pine's three-year leadership program. All have college degrees or are working toward one.
Former staff members and campers have sent daughters to Red Pine. Some former campers held their weddings at the camp.
This year's final four-week camp session ended Aug. 11.
Quiet discussions about selling the land date back several years. Among the suitors was the state Department of Natural Resources, but the land was too costly by state standards.
Vodnik said the conservation easement was something he wanted.
"If I was to sell it, I felt it was a property that should never be developed," he told the newspaper Friday. "I thought it was too important for the type of women that place turns out."
Ed Culhane can be reached at ed@lakelandtimes.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Article comment by:
Gini fontaine lyke
I don't even know why I Googled RPC reunion, but I am so grateful for this turn of events. As a former camper, not a day goes by that I don't think of camp, even if it is just in passing as I fall asleep. Thank goodness for these people who loved RPC enough to fight for it.
Posted: Saturday, September 15, 2007
Article comment by:
Sharon Hayes
Thank you, Pleasant Rolland, for saving this beautiful land from development and especially for saving this wonderful camp from extinction. You are an excellent role model for all Red Pine ladies. Maggie's looking forward to her sixth year at RPC next summer!
Posted: Saturday, September 15, 2007
Article comment by:
Janice Siska Hjelmgren
What a beautiful tribute to the founders of Red Pine Camp that the Red Pine experience meant so much to Pleasant Rowland, Amber Morgan, Gena Curran, Connie Schofield, and Leslie Parry that they were able to perpetuate the founders' legacy. Even though I never attended Red Pines I felt a tremendous sense of loss when I heard that it was closing as I had been looking forward to my girls experiencing Red Pines. Pleasant Rowland thank you so much for investing in the future of my girls and all our girls. May they each learn to discover and share their own gifts as you have with them. Amber, Gena, Connie and Leslie - thank you for your foresight, dedication and perseverance in saving a living cultural treasure.
Posted: Thursday, September 06, 2007
Article comment by:
eden albert
My dad just read this to me and I'm SO HAPPY. I cried and cried when I read that Red Pine was closing. And now I'M HAPPY.
Posted: Thursday, September 06, 2007
Article comment by:
Kathryn H. Rolfes
This is the best news we have had all summer! Thank you Pleasant Rowland for saving Red Pine and ensuring that these wonderful camp experiences are not just memories, but hope for future summers. Thank you..Thank you!
Kathy and Claire Rolfes
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