A Few of Our Favorite Things

By Jim Crane

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John and Agnes Agar purchased what is now Gull Point on December 2, 1896. Initial access was by water and a trail coming north out of Bartlett Carry through Wetherill’s Clearing on the Bucknell Estate. Little is known of the beginnings of Camp Gricoq, but it is the name given to John Agar’s estate on Gull Point that was built around 1900.

In 1939 George Packard, Jr. purchased Camp Gricoq and the surrounding 106 acres. For the next 15 years the Packard family owned the camp and during that time George Packard kept a journal of their time spent on Gull Point. I was fortunate enough to come across the journal and two photo albums quite by accident after inviting Anita Montgomery (Jr.) for lunch a number of years ago. She was the daughter of George and Anita Packard and spent her summers growing up at Camp Gricoq.

The Journal captures life on the lake from 1939 to 1954, where many of the families knew each other well. A number of those families are still here. It also captures the excitement that many of us have experienced when we first purchased our camps.

George Packard kept a meticulous 98 pages of their family’s experiences, including how they got here form Villa Nova, Pa., what they did, where they went, who visited (including having his guests sign the Journal including notes and poems), where they hunted, and what the weather was like. He also shared his thoughts on the upcoming World War.

It is especially interesting for Chris and me because our camp is one of the original buildings (Servant’s Quarters), where he discusses letting the building fall into disrepair and tearing it down. Fortunately he did not.

I have included the entries for 1939 and excerpted some additional entries. I attempted to translate the Journal into a word document verbatim from his (and guests) handwriting. In some places Chris and I had to guess what was written.

My sincere thanks to the descendants of the Packard Family in allowing this to be published.