PLAINVILLE, Conn. — Growing up not far from the colorful, quirky little cottages that make up the Plainville Campgrounds, Bob Simone wondered about the truth of widespread talk that “they had Munchkin people living there.” Longtime campground resident Arthur Pope, who’s written a history of the 150-year-old community off Camp Street, said lots of people used to think midgets lived there. It turns out, though, that the original inhabitants were just Methodists. Still, it’s an extraordinary spot. Last weekend, residents, including Bob and Barb Simone, opened their community and often their homes to visitors for an open house that drew scores of curious onlookers in to take a look around at the wooden summer cottages that sprung up between 1880 and 1925, nearly all of them during the 19th century. Brightly painted and in surprisingly good shape – something that wasn’t always the case – many of them are organized in a circle facing a 1902 auditorium to create a sort of amphitheater that once attracted thousands of people to listen to preachers, lecturers and others. Half a dozen small streets radiate outward from the center, lined with more cottages with gable roofs, broad porches and fanciful woodwork. Esther Rausch Pope, who’s spent her summers there for more than six decades, said her parents brought the family to the camp from their home in New Haven where they had nowhere to play.
Connecticut Cottage Community Stands Time’s Test
BRANDON CAMPBELL - The Bristol Press, Portland Press Herald
Sun, 07/19/2015 - 1:00am
Sections: u.s.
Topics: Maine Cumberland County Portland
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