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| Built in 1950,
the Bates Cabin was sponsored by the Bates
Manufacturing Company, headquartered in
Lewiston and with other mills in Maine. It was intended as a year-round
base camp for Scout troops, with special consideration given to troops
in the towns where Bates had operations. The cabin was opened to
camping when Post 22 of South Portland moved seven sets of triple bunks
from the Training Center in the fall of 1950. The cabin featured
an oil-fired kitchen range and a wood-fired Franklin stove in the main
room. Water was obtained from the Training Center and a dry well
which never worked properly caught the water drained from the sink.
A latrine was constructed at the left rear of the cabin; that structure
has been moved, remodeled and replaced several times through the years.
Due to fire safety considerations the oil stove was removed in the seventies and a better wood stove now provides the only heat. In order to circulate that heat the archway between front and back rooms was widened by Frank Maguire. You can see the insert in the floor where the wall used to be. There was never a door between the two areas. Did you ever wonder how the electricity gets to Bates Cabin? When the cabin was built a power cable was laid from the training center under the road and underground across the field about halfway to Bates. For reasons unknown it was then run up a utility pole from which it went overhead the rest of the way. In the sixties we decided that the pole was too much of an obstruction in the field, then used for ball games most evenings. At the spring work party a volunteer was found with electrical skills, who got a special kit for underground splicing of the wires and then ran the wire the remainder of the route to the cabin under the sod. These days Bates Cabin is used for short-term (weekend) camping by Cub Packs and Scout Troops throughout the year. It is also used for several council activities such as Winter Camp (February vacation week), Fly First Class (April Vacation), Casco Bay District Cub Scout Day Camp during the summer and various training courses including Wood Badge. |
