90th Birthday Get Together 2015: What is the snake pit?

Long before I ever heard of White Pine Camp, I spent my summers at Adirondack Swim and Trip Camp. Actually, my experience in the Adirondacks goes back further still, but that is another story altogether.

Photo from adirondackswimandtripcamp.com

At eight years old, I only had a vague idea about where my parents were sending me. There were a few friends from the neighborhood who were going, and I believe there was an informational evening that we attended. But still, getting on a bus and traveling five hours to a place deep in the woods where I would stay for two weeks, without my family, was overwhelming to me at the time. You couldn't have told me then that I would voluntarily return for the next four years and stay for four, then later for six weeks.

Once we got settled into camp, one of the things that we learned early on was that there was this place called the snake pit. It is now too long ago for me to remember what we learned from whom, but I'm guessing that roughly half of what we heard in the early days came from the counselors and the other half were stories - tall tales perhaps - that were propagated among the campers, coming either from direct experience or via an older brother who had been to the snake pit.

We were very short on details, but we were given to understand that we should be on our best behavior and do as we were told. Otherwise they would come and get us and take us to the snake pit. After Taps. After dark. From this place which itself was still strange to us and far enough away that we had no way of finding our way home from, should we decide to escape. We were told to beware. We armed ourselves with sticks. Just in case.

And so it happened one night. We were in our 'jammies, tucked into bed, lights out. Then came a pounding on the door of our cabin. We looked up to see the silhouette of a dark bearded man. He hollers at us and tells us to come with him. We were loaded onto the camp's van, still in our 'jammies, and hauled off into the dark of the night. I had no idea what was happening. But, there was speculation. We traveled about ten minutes up the road, but time stood still.

We were escorted into a dark field with a few trees and shrubs around the perimeter, armed with our sticks. It was snake hunting time! "Wave your sticks in a sweeping motion to keep yourselves safe!" we were told, and memorably "Over there - a yo-yo snake!!!" A yo-yo snake?

For all the excitement, I neglected to notice that we were behind the near-by ice cream parlor, "Donnelly's Soft Ice Cream." We were rewarded for our bravery and success at fighting off the snakes and were treated to a round of ice cream.

Now we were fully initiated campers. Henceforth, the words "Snake Pit," have had a special meaning for anyone who attended Adirondack Swim and Trip Camp. The Snake Pit was actually a reward. The cabin group with the best "inspection" score would get an extra trip to the snake pit, and it was a common stop on the way to or back from an overnight camping trip. We were determined not to tell the new campers next year.

The folks of Donnelly's still remember evening visits from ASTC campers. It is a simple place as ice cream shops go. You get your choice of whatever the one flavor combination is that they are serving on a given day, always twisted with vanilla. Monday is "nut surprise," Tuesday, red or black raspberry, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday is chocolate, Thursday, "fruit surprise" and Friday, strawberry. They have been in business over 61 years now, still churning out ice cream from the same machine that has been operating since 1953. It is listed in the Register of Very Special Places.