Camp Meenahga Topic of Next Historical Society Dinner Meeting

Girls playing basketball at Camp Meenahga. Submitted.

The Door County Historical Society will host its monthly dinner meeting and program on Camp Meenahga 1916-1948, the private girls’ camp located in Peninsula State Park, on May 23. The program will feature Kathleen Harris as Mrs. Clark, founding camp director. The dinner begins at 6 pm at Mr. G’s Logan Creek Grille in Sturgeon Bay.

One hundred years ago, at the invitation of the State of Wisconsin, two spirited women from St. Louis (Mrs. Alice Orr Clark and Mrs. Fannie Woodward Mabley) established a camp for girls in Peninsula’s great outdoors. Peninsula Park staff member Kathleen Harris will re-enact Mrs. Clark and share the Meenahga legacy. Using historic photos, many never seen from the Peninsula Park’s archives, Harris will reveal where to see remnants of Camp Meenahga in the Park.

Harris is the Peninsula State Park naturalist since 1998. She has spearheaded efforts related to Camp Meenahga archives and routinely talks about camp history on nature hikes. She holds an MS in Resource Management/Environmental Interpretation from the UW-Stevens Point and BA degrees in History and Sociology from Miami University of Ohio.

The dinner program will be held at Mr. G’s Logan Creek Grille, 5890 Wisconsin 57, just south of Jacksonport. A buffet dinner of broasted chicken, Swedish meatballs, vegetable, mashed potato, coleslaw, dessert and coffee will be served; two pre-ordered, plated options are also available: a chef’s salad or vegetable pasta Alfredo. Buffet dinner and program fees are $21 for members and the guest fee is $25.

Make a reservation by sending payment to the Door County Historical Society, P.O. Box 71, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 with a memo stating if you would like the buffet or a plated option. Reservation deadline is May 18. To only attend the program, the fee is $5 and the program time is 6:45 pm. For more information, call 920.421.2332 or email [email protected].