Mar 24 2008
Camp Lady of the Lake – Erie Township
Monroe County’s Lake Erie shoreline is dotted by places with questionable public access. Perhaps the most mysterious of these is the “Lady of the Lake” property at the eastern terminus of Erie Road in Erie Township.
Access to the property can be gained by taking the Erie Road exit from I-75 and traveling east. Once past the access roads to the Consumers Energy Whiting Power Plant, a visitor should park at a small lot at the Erie Road dead end.
From this point, a walker will see a gate with a gap wide enough for pedestrians. A short walk east brings the visitor to the Lake Erie shoreline and some pretty nice views of Turtle Island, several lighthouses and the Woodtick Peninsula.
Once at the shore, it is possible to walk south along the peninsula for three or four miles, depending on how adventurous a hiker is. The peninsula breaks into a series of islands along the way, but underwater sand bars make pedestrian access possible during good conditions. Here’s a link to a previous blog post about this walk:
Conversely, a walk north along the beach brings the visitor to the old Lady of the Lake camp. Entry to the property passes by an old and mysterious arching gate that reads “Lady of the Lake.”
Several old cement posts with “LL” remain standing at the property entrance.
It is difficult not to wonder about the history of this location. I have not come across any good histories of the camp, but it was apparently a church-run camp for kids that closed because of flood damage at some point several decades in the past.
The absence of a widely-distributed true history of the land has caused many imaginative minds to fill in the blanks with a variety of supernatural conjectures. Some have theorized that the spirit of an old lady haunts the old camp. Others theorized that children were once murdered there. I do not believe any of these stories to be true, but they sure add some mystery to an otherwise mundane piece of property. Here are some links to those stories:
http://whitefields.tripod.com/
Whatever the history, the location is now in need of some care and attention. During a walk along the shore of the camp, I came across several large pieces of debris that had either washed-up on the shore or were dumped by thoughtless individuals.
The property has a zebra-mussel-shell-filled beach with several old foundation stones that peek up out of the water. Erosion seems to have taken a toll here and the beachline seems greatly reduced from past years.
Just inland of the beach, a strip of woods shades an old access road/path in a north-south fashion for the length of the property.
It is possible to reach Luna Pier’s public outlet to Lake Erie by walking north along the beach or along the inland path.
At this outlet, a short walk west brings a walker pretty much face to face with the Luna Pier city boat launch. The old interurban railway bridge crosses at this point, so it is physically possible to cross into the City of Luna Pier at this point.
Interior portions of the property protect what is probably the most important features from an environmental perspective. Watery marsh provides a home for muskrats, birds and other marsh-dwellers. This property is a part of a large complex of marshes that extends southward into the Erie State Game Area, the Nature Conservancy’s Erie Marsh Preserve and several small pieces of public land attributed to other public agencies.
Before I go any further, I need to address the question of public access to the property. Michigan law provides that beach access up to the ordinary high water mark is permissible, given that a beach walker has a legal entry via land to the beach. Consumers Energy has long allowed access to the beach at this location via the parking lot mentioned earlier.
Consumers has also long allowed a hiker to walk the beach south to the Woodtick Peninsula. It is the only land access into most of the Erie State Game Area. On several occasions, I have approached the plant security personnel at the plant gate and asked about the situation. The answer has always been that it is okay as long as I stay along the shore. The interior dikes off the beach to the south are now clearly marked with “No Trespassing” signs. But the beach is still clearly open to the public. And I have occasionally seen DNR officers here to check fishing licenses.
The Lady of the Lake property is more complicated. I believe that the actual beach is public, but I have questions about the interior portions. The interior beach ridge is not marked with “No Trespassing” signs and it is possible to hike to Luna Pier’s launch outlet without encountering such signs. And it is clear that many, many people do walk there. But this might just be benign neglect on the part of Consumers Energy.
I am very sure that the marsh areas inland are not publicly accessible. There are several signs indicating as much on the initial parking lot-to-beach access.
To, me this location is one of the most important areas in regards to public access on Monroe County’s Lake Erie shore. There are many miles of hiking paths on the Woodtick and in the Erie Marsh. To the north, Luna Pier is one of the most pedestrian-friendly communities in all of Monroe County. This property connects these two locations. It *could* become the core building block for an eventual Lake Erie trail along Monroe’s shoreline.
Consumer’s Energy has scheduled a press conference for this Tuesday afternoon to address the future of the Lady of the Lake property. I am curious about these plans and will provide links and updates as they become available.
Here is a view of the property from Microsoft Virtual Earth with my walk route:
Thanks for this — I grew up in Sandusky, Ohio and went to Camp Lady of the Lake one summer. It was a Catholic camp, run by nuns who also ran an orphanage. Some of the children at the camp were orphans being cared for by the nuns. (At least this is what I remembered — I am 60 years old, and I was 8 when I attended the camp). Don’t know if this is the same one, but my guess is that it is. Some of the pictures seems vaguely familiar, but of course the camp is apparently gone, and this was 52 years ago.
[...] http://www.blogsmonroe.com/expatriate/2008/03/24/camp-lady-of-the-lakes-erie-township/ [...]
I attended Camp Lady of the Lake when I was about 9 years old (1964-65).
At that time Saint Anthony’s Villa, an orphange, was operating there, don’t know if they owned it.
It was the one of the last years the Villa utilized the lake, because that fall, they moved into the the building located on Central Ave in Toledo, between Upton and Douglas. This was a well rounded facility, with a built in pool, and alot of property, to keep all the activies in one location year round.
I have fond memories of that camp. Prior to that, my mother had passed away and my dad had to place us with St Anthony’s Villa. They helped him care for us so he could work. We had fun, there were alot of activities, even though it was as very sad time in my life.
I remember taking walks and crossing over the railway bridge pictured above. The beach at the camp is where I learned to swim.
I was one of the male camp counselors in the late 1960s. Most of us were seminarians from St. Meinrad College. Charlie Needham, a seminarian from Toledo, was the ringleader.
I have a lot of memories from this period of time, most of them good. But few photos.
My brothers and I were at St Anthony’s Villa in the late 60’s. We spent 3 summers at Camp lady of the Lake. Brings back a lot of fond memories. Would be great to hear from anyone that was there when we were. Can reach me at tlf74kf@verizon.net. If you go there after dark, beware of “SEAWEED MARY”.
I attended the camp twice in my youth and the second time I attended there was some pretty strange things going on. One night while the girls camped on the beach the men and boys from there side of the beach came over in boats and raided our camp site and dragged a lot of the girls into the woods and some of them were raped. I was lucky because I was a very fast runner and was able to get away. The next day I was ordered to go on a hayride that I did not want to go on and I was pushed off of the ride by one of the orphanage’s boys and ended up with a severe concussion and almost died.
I was one of the orphans from St Anthony’s orphanage from 1944 until 1954 and spent many summers at the Our Lady of the Lake camp and we really liked being there. The concrete large blocks along side of the gate is where we used to hang out when we wanted to get away from the counselors. The LL on the concrete slabs stands of Lady of the Lake.
My two brothers and myself we at St. Anthony’s Orphanage from
1940-1944. We were from Bascom Ohio,, our mother died and we were sent to the orphanage. We spent four summers at Camp Lady of the lake. All good remberences. It was run by the Grey Nun’s of Montreal at this time. I was just looking for some pictures of the orphanage before it was torn down.
I attended Camp Lady of the Lake for several summers in the mid to late 60’s. I have nothing but fond memories of the camp. I used to stay for two to three weeks at a time, I loved meeting all the new girls each year and all of the activities. It was a summer place for the orphans from St. Anthony’s Villa in Toledo.
The campers would stay in bunkhouses with around 6 to 8 girls or boys to a house. One of the nuns would have a cabin to herself and she would watch out for a certain number of girls or boys. In the center of the camp was the mess hall, there was a camp store where campers could buy candy and mail letters back home.
I do have a few pictures from my summers there but would need to look for them.
I do remember that bridge from the pictures and how I hated to have to walk over that.
I never heard anything bad regarding the camp and hope that those things really didn’t happen there.
I also went to Camp Lady of the Lake. I live in Norwalk, OH and spent a week there in the summers of 1963 and 64. Was really homesick most of the first year but Sister Beatrice took me under her wing. I remember mailing a postcard home begging my parents to come and get me, and giving it to her to mail. She never did but gave it to my parents when they picked me up at the end of the week. Was devastated to see what the lake did to the camp in the early 70’s. I stopped by in 1977 and all I could see was the grotto, the remnants of what appeared to be a cabin, the boys’ shower/restroom, and the flagpole. Everything else on the boys’ side was pretty much gone. Just happened to be passing by this past weekend and the property is fenced off. All I could see from the road was the concrete post at the entrance with “LL” on it. Would love to walk inside and see what’s there. I too remember having to walk over the bridge girders and was afraid I was going to fall in the water, but one of the counselors ragged on me so much I crossed it. We were allowed to go to the Snack Shack after lunch and dinner to spend our money, and the boys’ cabins were all named after saints. Great memories. I wish I had pictures of the camp. Would also like to see someone write a history of the camp, but I don’t know who would have records or pictures.