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Shangri-la/Camp David

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Joan Bittner Fry

Since 1942, when it was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as “Shangri-la,” this isolated camp in the hills of Western Maryland has served as an official Presidential retreat and has often been the site of conferences and decisions of national and international significance. Prior to its existence, diplomats vacationed at Pen Mar or met at Camp Ritchie.  In April 1935, President Herbert Hoover, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and leaders of the Maryland Republican Party enjoyed the opening of the fishing season at Camp Ritchie.

In 1954, the Federal government created Catoctin Mountain Park, which surrounds Camp David and is primarily a wilderness and public recreational area. The remainder of the area was transferred to the State of Maryland, which now operates it as Cunningham Falls State Park.

Every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933-1945, (wife Eleanor) has made use of the retreat. Then named Shangri-la, Roosevelt hosted Sir Winston Churchill in May of 1943. It is said that during this visit, the President and Prime Minister took some time to tour the general area.  According to Churchill, they fished in Hunting Creek. Some remember their visiting Fred Tresselt’s goldfish ponds, and that Churchill, who kept a similar pond in England, talked at great length with Mr. Tresselt. The Secret Service swore Tresselt to secrecy about the meeting. On their return to Shangri-la, while the President waited in the car, Churchill surprised Camp Cozy proprietor, Wilbur Freeze, by stopping there for a beer and to play the jukebox, which Mr. Freeze had to explain how it worked.

President Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953, (wife Bess) rarely used the retreat.

President Dwight David Eisenhower, 1953-1961, (wife Mamie) was a frequent visitor to the retreat and held the first cabinet meeting there. He renamed the retreat Camp David after his grandson and also renamed the main lodge from “The Bear’s Den” to “Aspen.” He played golf at the Monterey Country Club’s golf course. The Eisenhowers repaired, repainted, and refurnished most of the cabins, and added a large flagstone terrace and outdoor cooking facility at the main lodge. A golf green and several tees were also installed. Their most famous guest was Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union. The Eisenhowers owned a farm 20 miles to the north in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and found the retreat to be convenient while a residence was being erected on the farm.

President John F. Kennedy, 1961-1963, (wife Jackie) and his family often enjoyed horseback riding and other recreational activities. Kennedy often allowed white House staff and cabinet members to use the retreat when he was not there.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963-1969, (wife Lady Bird) often met with important advisors there and hosted Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt.

President Richard M. Nixon, 1969-1974, (wife Pat) was a frequent visitor and did much to add to and modernize the facilities. It was his favorite retreat from Washington for relaxing and for meeting with foreign dignitaries.

President Gerald R. Ford, 1974-1977, (wife Betty) often rode his snowmobile around Camp David and hosted Indonesian President Suharto.

President James E. Carter, Jr. (Jimmy), 1977-1981, (wife Rosalynn) brokered the Camp David accords here in September 1978 between Egyptian President Anwar al-Sudat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

President Ronald W. Reagan, 1981-1989, (wife Nancy) visited the retreat more than any other president to date (see excerpt from Nancy Reagan’s book, My Turn). 

President George H.W. Bush, 1989-1993, (wife Barbara) visited often.  In 1992, their daughter, Dorothy Bush Koch, was the first person to be married at Camp David.

President William J. Clinton, 1993-2001, (wife Hillary) used Camp David more as his tenure in office progressed, and hosted British Prime Minister Tony Blair on several occasions, in addition to several celebrities.

President George W. Bush, 2001-2009, (wife Laura) reportedly visited Camp David 149 times. He hosted dignitaries there, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2007.

President Barack H. Obama, 2009, (wife Michelle) visited the retreat several times.

President Trump, 2016-present, (wife Melania) has used Camp David as one of several alternatives for visiting or hosting meetings of importance. He has employed the secluded space in Catoctin Mountain Park to host members of Congress and his Cabinet.

Discover The National Road in Maryland

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James Rada, Jr.

Two hundred years ago, Western Maryland was the American frontier. With a sparse population spread throughout hills and valleys and only rarely clustered in cities, the Appalachian Mountains formed a mental, if not physical, border to the United States.

Yet, the land beyond the mountains to the Mississippi River was also part of the United States. It represented an untapped source for food, lumber, and fur, and with barely one million Americans living on the frontier, it was ripe with opportunities.

So in May 1811, construction began on America’s first federal public works project, a national road that would make it easier for settlers to move into the western United States.

The National Road began in Cumberland. The road reached Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1818 and Vandalia, Illinois, in 1839.

Robert Savitt of Myersville has written The National Road in Maryland, which is filled with information and historic photographs of the National Road.

“Ever since I moved to the area, I’ve been fascinated by the National Road,” Savitt said. “I tried to drive along the old route if I could find it. It was fun going from town to town, visiting historical societies and getting information and photos.”

Thirty-three miles of the original road is in Maryland. The original road was the first federally funded road in the country. Private and state-funded turnpikes were eventually built and connected to the National Road, extending it to Baltimore. The National Road passes through 25 towns, and along one stretch outside of Boonsboro is the first macadam road.

“Writing this book was a good excuse for me to get out and visit these interesting little towns,” Savitt said.

Various contractors built the road in small sections of a few miles, each under the supervision of David Shriver, Jr., who had experience building Maryland turnpikes. However, once built, the federal government did a poor job of maintaining the road. Control of the road was eventually turned over to the states. The states erected toll gates and collected revenue to maintain the road. One of the last remaining toll houses is located only a few miles west of Cumberland.

Turnpikes went out of fashion in the mid-19th century, but the National Road was given a second life in the early 20th century, as roads were built and improved for automobile travel.

The National Road in Maryland is Savitt’s third book and can be purchased online or in bookstores.

Savitt will be speaking about the National Road at the Middletown Valley Historical Society on May 29, 2020.

He is now working on his next book, which will be about Camp David.

On The Wild Side

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The Politics of Pollution

by Christine Maccabee

I am certain most people would agree with me when I say that clean water and air are precious resources for us, and we must protect them for future generations. As far as I can tell, clean water is as important as money, if not more important. So, for me, when I consider my political and economic priorities, my bottom line is always the water and the air. How there can be any debate about this, I am not sure. Perhaps people would have to have seen what I saw years ago to begin to feel as I do.

I lived in Western Maryland and West Virginia in the 1970s. Being the nature lover that I am, I took long walks in places most people never go. One day, I heard the sound of rushing water and, thinking that it was a stream, I ran to see it. What I witnessed startled and shocked me beyond belief. I saw a swift stream running bright orange in color. I stood there transfixed, thinking it was just a temporary problem, but the orange water just kept coming. At the time, I could not figure out why it was orange, but knowing I was in coal country, it soon became clear to me that it must have been due to the waste dumped into it by the coal company upstream.

Ever since that day, I have not been the same. I became semi-political but did not know how to get my voice heard, so I wrote songs. I am in good company as a nature lover/song writer. Jean Ritchie, a songstress who grew up in Eastern Kentucky, wrote a song called “The Last Old Train’s a Leavin,’” which spoke of the mountaintop removal that tore up her grandfather’s land. Jean chose to stay, and fight, and sing her songs.

While living in Frostburg, Maryland, I, too, witnessed a mountaintop removal and, in the aftermath, felt like I was walking through the end times of utter devastation. A group of students and community members like me attempted to plant saplings on the rocky mountaintop, but many of the trees died. Unlike Jean, I did not stay and have not been back since. However, I took away with me a desire to rectify environmental problems wherever I live.

Recently, I heard that an important Stream Protections Rule, which had finally been put in place seven years ago, is being abolished. Now coal companies will once again be permitted to discharge their toxic waste into the nearest streams as they were doing during the 1970s and before. This will save the companies money, they say. I became sick at heart when I heard this news, and this is just the beginning of a process of deregulation, which will certainly be continuing over the next number of years. Unfortunately, the bottom line is no longer purity of water and air, but money and convenience.

The way I see it, pollution is not really a political problem. It is actually a human problem. We contemporary humans have every opportunity to help with the pollution problems by using less energy in our homes and businesses. We can learn to use less electricity by using energy efficient light bulbs; turning off unnecessary lights; keeping temperatures a bit lower during the winter; using air conditioners only as needed; and yes, using solar energy, which people are starting to do more. All of this, and more, is the inside work.

I recently watched a Maryland Public TV film, Keeping the Potomac: the Politics of Water,” and was sickened when I saw a paper mill along the upper Potomac constantly spewing its waste into the river, killing off all aquatic life below the issuance point. It is beyond disheartening to see the brown gunk coming out of the pipes and the harm it is doing downstream. Regulations are and have been needed there, badly. Question is: Why are there no regulations to control such a travesty?

Fortunately, as humans, we have built in problem-solving skills. We can recycle our waste paper and buy more recycled paper products. Also, perhaps coal and paper company managers need to do more problem solving on their own, do more inside work, and some real soul searching regarding their priorities. That way, they can come up with solutions of their own rather than relying on governmental regulations or deregulations, as the case may be. Or, perhaps, it is time someone knocked on their door.

As a friend of mine said recently, “this is the inside work we all must do, whether it be in our homes, at our jobs, or in our relationships with others.” Outside will be fine so long as we all do the inside work. First, we must examine our spiritual callings to be caretakers of this planet, and of each other, and then we must learn, teach, and act.

So, the true politics of pollution resides in the human heart. That may be our only hope.