Cottage 88

The United Church of Canada Camp Meeting Association has recently concluded another yearly gathering under the hemlock trees in Berwick. People from all over the Maritime provinces and elsewhere came to the Apple Capital of Nova Scotia for 10 days of Christian worship.

As usual, all available accommodations were filled, with the total number of campers being about 800. In the past, attendance figures reached well over the 1,000 mark, but overcrowding is no longer acceptable and tenting has lost its appeal for most people.

The former Methodist Camp Meeting of Berwick, which goes back to 1872, has had many examples of generosity and dedication over the years. This often comes in the form of donating time and energy for worthwhile projects.

One of the more interesting families at the camp is the Shorts, who purchased their cottage in 1899. The first owner of their cottage, number 88, was Phillip J. Hower, whose daughter married William L. Short, a union that produced seven more Berwick campers. Each summer, Minnie and her seven children travelled by train from Halifax to be met by the local truck and wagon service and were ferried to the camp, along with their trunks and luggage. Minnie’s grandson, currently a very active camper at Berwick, Reg H. Short; recalls: “I can remember during the 1930s sleeping with 13 relatives on straw ticks scattered about Cottage 88. I often wondered how my grandmother fed us all.”

William Short, Minnie’s son and Reg’s father, became an active camper after the Second World War, serving on the Berwick Campground Committee. During these years, William Short and Osborne Crowell headed the effort which brought war surplus army huts to the camp to become the Pine, Spruce, Hemlock and Maple apartments and the Orley Centre. The first trailer sites were established by the grounds committee of the period, again lead by Short and Crowell.

Those times were not without excitement, Reg recalls. “I will never forget the year when the old well on the hill dried up the week before camp was to open. Our telephone never stopped ringing, and I remember Dad saying to forget the money, a well must be dug by Friday night.”

The early 1960s saw Reg and his wife, Betty Short, along with their young children Carolyn and Bill; becoming active on a number of committees, including recreation, dining room and registration. The partnership of Betty and Reg continues a six generation tradition of leadership and involvement by the Short family at Berwick.

Reg is chairman of the Archives Committee and Bill has participated in and leads the recreational activities of the camp. With Bill’s son, Luke, now 14 years of age and taking a keen interest in camp activities, it looks like Cottage 88 will continue to be the hub of the Short family at Berwick for many years to come.