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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing
Article Summaries |
Mission: To Save Mount Phillip
For over a century it has been a tradition for families, campers, hikers, and nostalgia buffs to climb to the top of Rome's Mount Phillip to enjoy the refreshing breezes, to view the panorama of water and woods, to picnic, and to dream the visions that mountaintops inspire. For the past two decades it has been a trend for this beautiful region to yield vast spaces and favorite haunts to building development. When tradition and trend reached a collision course last year, a collaboration of associations, individuals, local residents, and perhaps even the good King Kababa willed otherwise The project began when Jack Shultz, a Great Pond resident since 1934, read that Mt. Phillip was for sale. Jack has two vested interests in Mt. Phillip: he is on the Board of the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance and he is very close to Mt. Phillip's Pine Island Camp connection — the mountain is the home of the boys camp's mythical King Kababa. Jack's father attended Pine Island in 1918; his son Thomas was a camper and councilor there for five years until his tragic death in the Locherbee airplane bombing.
To start the preservation of Mt. Phillip, Jack purchased the top ten acres and donated them to the BRCA in memory of Thomas, and of a second son, Andrew, who was also tragically killed. The BRCA, plus Pine Island, Great Pond and Rome residents, a total of 75, contributed to the purchase of an additional 197 acres, with money left over for stewardship — which to date has included putting in a new trailhead and parking lot, and improving the trail to the top. On August 10, representatives of Pine Island Camp, the BRCA, the Belgrade Lakes Association, and the community of Rome participated in a dedication on the summit of Mount Phillip. The tradition of over a century will continue, with the proud addition of new plaques at the top in memory of Thomas and Andrew Schultz. | ||
