“One day, my grandfather passed on his woodcutting axe to me. It was a good axe, but old, and the handle was brittle and difficult to hold. So I went to town to buy a new handle for my grandfather’s axe. Then, over time, the head of my grandfather’s axe became chipped and cracked, and eventually split. So I went to town to buy a new head for my grandfather’s axe. Now my grandfather’s axe has a new handle and a new blade. Can I still call it my grandfather’s axe?”

This thought experiment has stuck with me since I first heard it many years ago. Likely because I actually do have many of my maternal grandfather’s tools. He was the most influential male role model in my life and holding on to some of his possessions helps me feel connected to him, even two decades after his passing. Admittedly, I’m also the same person that reads Robert Frost’s Mending Wall, and fondly remembers walking the perimeter of our family farm with my grandfather and stopping to replace fallen stones.

What strikes me the most is that these connections persist. I can’t walk by a stone wall, and there are many of these in New England, without thinking of my grandfather. And even if the tool I inherited from him is now physically different, the initial purpose of the tool remains the same. The feelings that arise in me while holding my “grandfather’s axe” are not replicated when purchasing a completely new axe from the shelves of Home Depot.

As we prepare to celebrate the first century of Brown Ledge Camp it’s an opportune moment to reflect that while some of the physical aspects of camp look very similar to what they did in that first summer of 1927, so many other things have been added, changed, and adapted to meet current needs and standards. Even still, the people of Brown Ledge are constantly in flux. Even with stalwarts like Fish, Hans, Eva, Franny, and Lori returning for multiple decades the actual composition of the community is never exactly the same from summer to summer. The paradox is that through consistency there is constant change. No two summers are the same. And even for those folks that return season after season, each summer brings a new and different experience.

Through all of this the mission and purpose of Brown Ledge has never faltered. The vision that Harry and Marjorie Brown set forth 100 years ago remains as applicable and relevant as ever. Girls are to be trusted. They are to be given independence,.They are to be allowed to freely choose and navigate their daily lives. Through this they become confident, capable, courageous women.

Summer 2026 will look very different than that of 1927, and yet the campers that come to Malletts Bay this year will have much in common with BLC’s first campers and all those that have come in between.

Brooks Johnson