|  Author | Topic: Sugar Maples Memories (Read 3,488 times) |
Doug Mashkow
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« Thread Started on Aug 15, 2008, 8:49pm » | ![[Quote]](http://s2.images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif "[Quote]") |
Hi everyone! This is the place to post your memories of Sugar Maples Resort in Maplecrest, NY.
You can view pictures of Sugar Maples at:
http://www.dougmash.com/SugarMaples
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Doug Mashkow
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« Reply #1 on Aug 15, 2008, 8:58pm » | |
I get a few emails a month from people reminiscing about Sugar Maples. I always love to read them, as there's always some detail I forgot about that the emails bring back to me.
Of all the email I've ever received, this one from Anthony J. Caminiti Jr. has to be the best, and inspired me to start this board:
<<< Hi Doug,
Loved you web site dedicated to the Sugar Maples. I went there from the late sixties till the mid seventies and again in 1980. I met my wife there, she being a Brooklyn, NY’er and me be a Massapequa Park, Long Islander. We have been married over 27 years and bought had families that used to vacation there. Main was it great. A work class Taj Mahal. My wife and I we just talking about the place and caused used to surf the web a little which led us to your site.
Some great things I remember.
They would take the old fire Engine out .way cool for a kid.
There was a pinball machine under the patio behind the snack bar.
The pool water was cold and the high diving board was ten stories high (lol felt that high when I was a kid)
The mornings were always cool,
The men and women always dressed nice for dinner
They had the final night at the “casino” and had a talent show. The good bye song of sorts. They also inducted long time guests in the “Wall”. (This is what I recall every time I see the end of the movie Dirty Dancing.)
They had a wall of hand an foot prints of the long time guest (I believe 25 years or more) I think it was at the low wall by the putting green.
The Pool had the coolest built in barbeques.
The Vending machines at the pool used to sell Patio Brand soda. (I thought that was weird as a kid)
The man who used to come once a week to rent bicycles was ‘”Bicycle Bill”
The post Office/ general store was a neat place ( we used to get the annual peak in the back because my Dad was a Letter Carrier for the Post Office on Long Island)
The waitresses were hotties. (college girls they would say)
The food was great. Like a five star restaurant to a kid. And you used to get to pick what you wanted!
The egg toss
Three legged race.
Softball game of Guest versus staff
Crazy Hat Contest
Beauty Contest where men dressed up like women. (could get away with it now!)
The Yellow Birds
Basil somebody orchestra
The One Man Band.
The barber shop
The drains in the main house rooms gurgled real loud when you pulled out the rubber stopper.
Sharing the toilet and shower down the hall when you stayed in the main house.
The gas “station” behind the “other” tennis courts on the grounds where my Dad would fill up for the trip home.
The gift shop where you could get a the Maplecrest and Sugar maples stuff.
“The Sign” at the fork in the road by the bridge.
The septic tanks that always seemed to have a problem when we were there.
The Tee Pee
The flower circle and the gardens.
Shuffle board courts and the little house where you could get equipment. (a staff member got to use it a bedroom too)
The Fire house
The Stables.
The ping pong tournament.
The twist Contest
Relay races at the pool for the adults.
The putting green
Friday night dinner where everyone would hold hands and sing Auld Lange Sine
That final Saturday Morning ritual of my father paying for the trip and simultaneously booking for the next year.
The little tip envelopes in the rooms for the chambermaids.
The distribution of tips to the waitresses by the adults.
I could go on with more obscure memories or observations.
I any case, thanks for the memories and pictures.
Regards,
Anthony J. Caminiti Jr. >>>
Thanks Anthony! Now let's hear from all of you!
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Greg Catinella
Guest
| | Re: Sugar Maples Memories
« Reply #2 on Aug 15, 2008, 10:02pm » | |
WOW Great job Doug!!! I enjoyed reading the in depth letter by Anthony. I too was there in the 60s. My parents honeymooned there and I recall looking forward to our stay every summer. I have pictures that I need to scan in and send. Dirty Dancing is one of my favorite movies because it reminds me so much of Sugar Maples. I have many fond memories...playing suffleboard for hours, ping pong with my dad, baseball with the adults, toasting marsh mallows at the fire pit, dressing up for dinner, the beautiful ride from Mt.Vernon, Mr. Clean..there was a man there every year we went with a bald shaved head...unusual for those days. Like Anthony I met some long distance girl friends but never married them. Thanks again Doug and Anthony for conjuring up so many memories.
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Dennis Subbiondo
Guest
| | Re: Sugar Maples Memories
« Reply #3 on Aug 16, 2008, 11:30am » | |
I was there in the 60's as well and remember Mr. Clean. But I also remember archery right across the street. It was 25 cents for 10 arrows. I would save all of my lunch money from school all year long (35 cents a day for lunch) and blow it in two days at the archery and pinball machine on the patio. I remember my parents would not give me another quarter and one day the archery guy gave me free arrows to shoot because no one was there and he wanted it to look like the place was busy. My parents saw me and questioned me emphatically about how I got the money when they did not give it to me.
Sugar Maples, great memories of a time long ago but still remains like yesterday in my mind.
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denisse95
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« Reply #4 on Aug 16, 2008, 12:10pm » | |
I was at Sugar Maples in 1982. My parents went there in 1981, loved it and had to bring me. It was so much fun. Of course, the pool was my hangout.
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Ruth Vining Welch Employee
Guest
| | Re: Sugar Maples Memories
« Reply #5 on Aug 17, 2008, 3:57pm » | |
Doug - I want to thank you for this message board! I will visit this often. I have great memories as well. I grew up in Maplecrest. My first job was as my brother's assistant selling greeting cards and maple syrup made by our Dad. We would set up a stand by the side of the road by our house. A lot of the guest would want to walk off the great food after dinner, so Ron would set up "shop".
Growing up in Maplecrest, it was THE place to work. Knowing the owners, you did have a good chance of working there. It was your work ethic that kept you there. I worked in the "salad room" I made all the salads for the meals. So seeing the menu cracked me up. I was reading that and saying to myself, I remember making that! If I didn't make it, I scooped it out in dishes for hundreds of people.
I too loved to play in the guests in softball. I think I got to play in a few. I really was there to meet another staffer or guest!
Fun times, and great memories!!! Thanks so much. I encourage others to write.
My parents still live in Maplecrest. It is not the same. But then again I am not either. I love the beauty and growing up having all my family around me. What a great childhood I had! Sugar Maples was a huge part of it!
Ruth
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Harry MacAvoy
Guest
| | Re: Sugar Maples Memories
« Reply #6 on Aug 20, 2008, 11:19pm » | |
Hard to top the earlier posts..........
I was there for, I believe, three summers -- 1964-1966. Our family, consisted of mom, dad and my older (by six years) brother. We spent two weeks there each of those trips, which judging by the two week menu cycle was apparently the most common arrangement of the time. I would have been seven - nine years old for these trips. Some of these recollections could be hazy.
The first year we were assigned to a smaller house/cabin, the name of which escapes me. It was going up the hill, bearing right when you came over the small bridge and into Maplecrest. My parents didn't like it very much and we got upgraded to Blair House, opposite the main lodge. The other two years were spent in Robin's Roost and I do remember the fenced in area behind this guest house where a horse named Dan was penned in. I used to pet him and feed him a carrot.
The pool was the center of daytime entertainment. I remember the jukebox blaring music up in the Rumpus Room, where my brother hung out with the teenagers. One of these years someone kept on playing and replaying Marlena by the Four Seasons, which must have been close to the top of the charts that year. Every time I hear this song on an oldies station (not often) I think of Sugar Maples. I never did get the nerve to dive off the high board, though I did use the other two.
I remember playing a lot of pinball under the canopy behind the main house. I also remember the main house had a television that carried several NYC television stations. This would have been done via a cable but being from L.I. I had never heard of cable TV.
At night the hangout was of course the Casino and I do remember the orchestra and the honoring of guests that had been coming for 25+ years.
I do not recall the food being anything special, but most likely that's because at that age the only thing I cared for were hamburgers and the like.
In 1967 we took our summer vacation to Montreal for the World's Fair and never went back to Sugar Maples. We migrated over to Woodloch Pines in the Poconos, which has grown exponentially and is in business to this day.
Misc. memories include:
the coin(s) in the cement near the front entrance;
the glasses used in the dining hall -- several of the same model I have today;
ping pong with Dad;
the softball games;
the drought of '65 which dried up the creek bed running through the property;
stopping at the lookout along Rt. 23 on the way to Sugar Maples;
shuffleboard games
Thanks for the web site and the periodic e-mail updates.
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Sheila Getman
Guest
| | Re: Sugar Maples Memories
« Reply #7 on Aug 22, 2008, 3:55pm » | |
Hi,
I am so touched by all the interest in Sugar Maples. You see, I was born there, and worked there though the 1979 season. My parents were the Meehan's. My children had Sugar Maples as part of their lives, and it will always be part of my life. It is so special to hear from people who can relate to all the good things we tried to do at the resort, and know how many lives we touched. The best part was that whether you were a guest or an employee, the Sugar Maples experience was "FUN". My primary function was in the dining room and food service with my mother, and from that I learned the best of "hospitality". I also learned from my father the basics of all kinds of maintenance repair. I, personally, wallpapered all the bathrooms in Robins Roost. I'll never wallpaper another bathroom again if I can help it. It is so good to hear that what we thought was good...was good... I'll write again...... I've sent additional pictures to Doug, and when he gets a chance he will post them....
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donna
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« Reply #8 on Aug 25, 2008, 7:53pm » | |
Hi Everyone:
I and my two best friends worked at Sugar Maples the summers of 1966 and 1967. We were from the Albany area. The first year I worked in the gift Shop with Mrs. Arndt and the office with Mr. Veith and Chuck Hamilton. The second year I waitressed. Sheila, I remember you Mom and how gracious she was to all of us. Those summers were wonderful! Does anyone remember a guest named Larry Doyle? He was so nice and quite funny, He used to write songs.
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Doug Mashkow
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« Reply #9 on Aug 25, 2008, 8:16pm » | |
Watching the Olympics brought back a great Sugar Maples memory. We always went up the last week of July, and in 1976, that coincided with the Summer Olympics.
The big story that year was Bruce Jenner's pursuit of the Decathalon Gold Medal, so after dinner on the night of the last event, we all crowded into the front corner of the Main House to watch Jenner on the TV.
As Jenner rounded the last turn, there was something else running in the Main House...a dog who apparently just lost a fight with a skunk outside came in and ran hysterically past all of us watching TV, leaving me with tears in my eyes, pulling my shirt up over my face to mask the smell as Jenner crossed the finish line. I always remember that smell when I see clips of Jenner on TV.
As far as sports at Sugar Maples goes, I remember my Dad winning the Horseshoes tournament one year. I won the kids Croquet, Putting and Shuffleboard. The Shuffleboard was against an Asian girl, who the day before humiliated all us guys at Ping Pong, beating us all handily.
On a sad note, I was there one week when a father-son team was playing in the Tennis tournament, and the father collapsed and died of a heart attack.
What's your memories of Sports at Sugar Maples?
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Anthony Caminiti Jr
Guest
| | Re: Sugar Maples Memories
« Reply #10 on Aug 26, 2008, 7:56pm » | |
Doug,
I continue to recall the little things that made the Sugar Maples so special. Sheila's post made me recall Mr. Meehan, as well as Donna's post about working at the front office. I can almost see the image of Mr. Veith taking the reservations from my father for the next year.
You mentioned being up there during some pretty special times such as Bruce Jenner winning the Gold. I remember in the late sixties, my cousin Ed being brought up to the Sugar Maples to see my Aunt may and Uncle Sal who were my parents Sugar Maples vacation mates. My cousin Ed had returned to the states from Viet Nam and his brother Robert and wife Marion, drove him up from Brooklyn to surprise my Aunt and Uncle. I have to look around and see who has the pictures of him in a kakai Marine uniform because he had no other clothes that fit anymore. Here he was standing on the porch of the Robins Roost with my family in near happy hysteria. Quite a scene.
I recall that were given "those rooms" usuallly given to last minute guests. Perhaps Sheila can fill us in on some of the names of the older buildings (Blair House?, Above the barber shop etc. and help refresh our memories where they were. I usually stayed in the main house in a small room by myself while my parents normally tried to get the Cuckoo's Nest or the Robins Roost.
I don't mean to get too deep, but in hindsight, that place absolutely transformed my parents. They went from being working class stiffs to being all smiles and relishing all the warm service and being treated like special guests. I am pretty certain that most folks up there were in a similar mode. I wish I could go back and pay a little more attention to my parents time there. I was having to much fun to care back then!
A final note about the Sugar Maples, fast forward 35 plus years and I am visiting the home office of my company and chatting with one of my coworkers stationed there. We somehow get on the subject of spouses and where we met them and I make a mention that I met my wife at a resort in the Catskills and leave it at that. My co-worker asks me in what town. Before 'crest can follow Maple, he is excidedly blurts out 'The Sugar Maples! His grandmother owned a farm down the road and when he went to stay there in the summer, he would always play at the resort with the guest kids!. Small world. i probably met him all those years before.
Sorry for rambling but those were great times in Maplecrest.
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Anthony St James
Guest
| | Re: Sugar Maples Memories
« Reply #11 on Sept 4, 2008, 10:03pm » | |
I began going as a 10-year old in 1966, and we returned annually for about a decade.
I'll never forget hanging out in the Rumpus Room while my parents enjoyed the Casino. And the jukebox from the Rumpus Room could be heard and enjoyed all over the grounds during the day--including, in that first year I went, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield, a record that I still love.
I also remember that they always had good social directors for each age group.
I could go on and on, but instead I'll just say that the pictures you posted are priceless to me.
Thank you.
ASJ
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pitruzz
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« Reply #12 on Oct 5, 2008, 11:23am » | |
Hi Doug, thanks for the great website.
My family and cousins would drive up from Connecticut to meet our friends from Long Island. We vacationed from the late 1970's through the early 1980's. We had a lots of fun.
Long live the Yellow Birds...
Shout out to, John, Paul, Mark, Laura, Joe, Robert, Steve, Greg, Claudia, Christopher, Lisa, and our parents.
Thanks again
Bill
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Sue
Guest
| | Re: Sugar Maples Memories
« Reply #13 on Oct 6, 2008, 9:19am » | |
Doug,
Thank you for posting these pics and messages. I visited Sugar Maples only 2x but enjoyed it immensely. I was sitting here at work, having a few extra minutes, thinking of places to research on the web and Sugar Maples came to mind immediately. I guess the great memories of this place just stay with us no matter what. I was there back in probably the early 70's. Went one summer with one of my friend's family and then the next year I talked my mom and aunt into going there. They loved it. Although mom died a year after that and we never got to return, it was a great memory I had of her being there. The only people I remember that worked there when I was there was Gus who I believe worked in some capacity as a social director and Gil who worked in the shuffleboard courts. I actually wound up having a date with Gil back on Long Island. He drove from upstate to take me out one Saturday night. Never saw him again after that. Someone else mentioned the guys dressing up in the women's bathing suits.... that was so hilarious. And I remember hanging out in the rumpus room. Great memories.... thanks for keeping them alive in a time when young kids don't know about the great experiences of being in the mountains with fresh air and NO NINTENDO, etc. Wish it were 1970 all over again.
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Nancy Brunelli Battista
Guest
| | Re: Sugar Maples Memories
« Reply #14 on Oct 17, 2008, 5:22pm » | |
I visited as a pre teen and then as a teen in the late 50's and early 60's. After marrying we returned a few times, once with a four month old and later with all three kids which would have been in the mid 70's. We always went on labor day as the season was wanning and there were not as many folks.
Just want to remind you all of the maple syrup sundaes at the coffee shop. And I had my first marshmallow sundae at Sugar Maples also.
I do remember one stand out food in the dining room. They served up a yellow squash parmigiana one night and I asked for and got a copy of the recipe. I make that casserole to this day and have shared it with many people.
I'll post an additional memory/story at a later date. It involves an out door movie theater, the movie, Psycho and staying in a room above the barber shop on that visit. Just put it this way, I have never been comfortable taking a shower while alone since then! I couldn't have been older than 13 or 14 at the time.
My 37 year old son sent me a link to this site. He found it today while planing a trip of his own down memory lane. It saddened him to see the pictures.
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