Hey, Camp Folks!

The classic summertime footwear—nowadays, sandals may be made from rubber, leather, wood, tatami, or rope. You can find them in cool colors and sweet styles, available on our online store and displayed for you when you click right here for everyday, casual wear and then when you click here as well for our selection of sport sandals.

But it wasn’t always like this with options and fashion and availability. Sandals have been around for a long time, yet there was a time when they hadn’t been invented yet. The oldest pair of sandals ever discovered were found in the state of Oregon in Fort Rock Cave. They were carbon dated to be at least 10,000 years old.

Crude footwear for sure, the original sandals were made of natural elements which were handy to folks of particular regions. Tree and other plant leaves, twigs, fibers, dried grass, and non-processed leather were all used in constructing the world’s first sandals—literally whatever was lying around. Take a look at how people got around in ancient times. 

Walk like an Egyptian…sandal
Ancient Egyptian sandals were made out of the leaves of palm trees and their trademark paper-like invention, papyrus.

You can spot their old sandals depicted on the feet of Egyptian statues and reliefs.  

It’s all Greek Feet to Me
Greek sandals were made up of multiple layers of cattle skin for the sole which proved to be much better quality. After that, they were a mess of straps that wound around the ankle for a secure. The top of the sandals were usually made of colored leather.

Ancient Levant sandals—also known as Biblical Sandals as these are the style worn by folks of the times and regions covered in The Bible. These were typically made of leather and dry grass and given strings or ropes made of simple, cheap materials. Some sandals for royalty, however, were ornamented with gold or silver beads and gems to add decoration.

Today’s sandals are much more focused on comfort, functionality, and fashion than sandals from the days of old. Material availability and construction methods of our current day create high-quality, convenient, comfortable, and cool-looking sandals. Thank goodness improvements kept coming along the way. Enjoy wearing your sandals today and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Summer camp products are all made to be packable and mobile. How do you turn something like a desk into something you can take out into the wilderness? Put a cushion on the bottom of a flat surface and you got yourself a Lapdesk! We carry Lapdesks from this awesome brand, iScream. But how did we get to this point of providing a camping desk? Let’s take a peek at the history of desks and the transformation they’ve made over the years.

We don’t need to go back to ancient times like we did for the desk’s partner in crime: the Chair. Desks appear to be a much more current necessity, going back only to the Renaissance Period—as early as the 1300s. We get the word ‘desk from the Latin word ‘desca’ which in English means “table to write on".

Just for Scribes
We see desks of the Medieval and Renaissance times in illustrations, depicted as large, cumbersome contraptions with giant storage spaces dedicated to the large and dense manuscript volumes from back in the day. These desks would be equipped with slots and hooks for bookmarking as these desks were utilized by scribes who would spend their days reading and writing.  

Take Your Seats
For a long time, most children either attended their small, village schoolhouse or were given their education at home. But by 1880, schools had grown more popular and bigger. It was an Ohio man named John Loughlin who invented the first school desk with chair attachment that connected to the desk. It’s undergone some changes since the original, however, but it became an extremely popular style for students and is still used in the classroom today.

This is Business
In more recent times, the business boom exploded with certain fields that

involve call centers, computer work, finances or any other profession that requires sitting at a desk (desk jobs). The sudden demand for an infinite number and style of desk sparked mass production and steered desk manufacturing away from finely crafted office furniture as woodworking machinery could rapidly assemble batches of desks.

Maybe your home is still adorned with a desk that’s a work of art from some craftsmen of the current day or a long time ago. No matter what desk you typically sit at, appreciate the function and purpose it provides you and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Door County was full of summer campers in the 1920s. Chock full of forests, fields, and bays, that the Wisconsin State Legislature designated for preservation in 1909, Peninsula State Park offers a breathtaking view looking northwest: the chain of Strawberry Islands as they skip through the Green Bay water. A world of fun was had here by children in the Midwest who attended camps in this gorgeous part of Wisconsin such as the rustic Adventure Island Camp off the shores of Ephraim on the thumb of the state.

Check it out! 

It was a man from Illinois, Charles “Skipper” Kinney who spearheaded a boys camp on the largest of the Strawberry Islands (initially named Big Strawberry Island and renamed Adventure Island) in 1925. He kept dominion over the land and summer operations season after season, and remained true to the original purpose the camp was founded upon—“The Spirit of Adventure which is inherent in practically every boy.”  

Adventure Island Camp was truly a self-made camp. Aside from the cooking, all the work at Adventure Island Camp was done by the campers. They did it all and they did it without electricity or running water. In the very beginning, work included the construction of the camp’s cabins and other structures.

To compensate the boys, Skipper gave them incredible freedom. Every day, he would ask them individually what they wanted to do for the day and, as long as you weren’t going to kill yourself doing it, he provided the material and guidance for them to achieve their goals.  

The 7 to 14 year old boys would venture out on solo treks for overnights in the woods or build their own wooden kayaks. One year, the kids constructed their own Viking ship and named it ‘Serpent of the Sea’. They took it on a five-day cruise, a voyage off to distant lands like Escanaba and Marinette!

To make the freedom that much better, the boys could even bring their dogs for the summer. The freedoms taught the campers invaluable lessons. They found that they were ‘free’ not to do their dishes, but then must eat on dirty plates. They were ‘free’ to stay up at night, but had to be up and at ‘em with the sun.

With further establishment in later days, the camp came to offer a baseball league, stamp club, journalism, an orchestra, and a shooting range to expand the options the boys had for activities. A true inspiration for why we have summer camp, the Skipper was a wonderful influence on the youth of his day. The camp stayed in operation until 1952.

There were a handful of other historic camps that operated in close proximity to Adventure Island such as Meenahga Girls camp and the Cherry Camp. I’ll cover these camps and more in future Blog posts. And, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John

Hey, Fourth Fans!

A Happy Independence Day to all our patriotic customers out there! The modern festivities we have today may be a familiar sight but before 1776, the fourth of July wasn't our Independence Day of the United States of America; it was just another date on the calendar. For well over a hundred years prior to 1776, the tyrannical King George and the British government kept the colonists under their rule and unjust law despite their move to 'The New World'.

Unfounded taxes and a multitude of other conflicts grew between the colonists and King George (who was literally losing his mind). In response to the unyielding reach of the British Crown, the colonies held a Continental Congress to resolve the matter once and for all. It was one Virginia statesman named Richard Lee who is now known for his famous words at the meeting of June 7 in 1776,

“Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

Rather different from our current way of speaking, Mr. Lee was simply saying that the colonies were able to govern themselves and would no longer needed Great Britain filling any governmental role.

These famous words were the catalyst to form the committee that drafted a document to state the colonies’ case for freedom from British reign. The committee was composed of five members: Ben Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was the one to physically write up the document.

They named it The Declaration of Independence.

After days and days of careful examination and minor revisions, the document was finally completed on July 4. The colonies voted in favor of this independence declaration and our founding fathers signed the document at the bottom—John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, signed the largest so “King George can read that without spectacles!” he noted.

And now we celebrate our Independence Day to observe the day that the colonies adopted our Declaration of Independence in 1776.

So, from everyone here at Everything Summer camp, enjoy your Fourth of July and revel in our Independence Day!

- John

Hey, Helmet Heads!

People have been wearing protective gear on top of their heads, one of the most vital parts of our body, for thousands of years—pretty much since the dawn of civilization. Whether they be ceremonial and symbolic or practical and effective, helmets have been around for a long time to protect our brains and heads.

Battle Helmets
Coming from ‘helm’, the Old English word for protective head covering, the job of a helmet is pretty clear. That’s why the first helmets in history were for military purposes—doing battle was the main reason from centuries ago that anyone would need to wear head protection. Knights of the Medieval Ages wore their swinging visor helmets and all other types of models for the same reason. 

It wasn’t until the 1800s that huge developments were made both in terms of helmet construction methods as well as manufacturing materials such as leather, felt, and pith. But even then, helmets remained items exclusive to the military or law enforcement along with hazardous occupations like coal mining.

High Helmet Demand
The supplies and production (and even the demand) just wasn’t there back then, though people did things all the time without a helmet for which you ought to be wearing one. From riding bicycles to climbing rocks, playing full-contact sports and riding horseback—people did it all without a helmet. Unfortunate spills and blows, however, would sometimes result in much worse consequences that could have been prevented with a helmet.

But the 1900s and mass production put an end to that. The development of highly specialized helmets for a multitude of athletic and professional applications began emerging. With new crazes beginning, like roller skating, riding motorcycles, and skateboarding—different styles of helmet were designed to give the best protection in each particular activity.

Riding Rules
1956 introduced the ‘Caliente’ helmet in the USA. Proper safety helmets crossed from racing into other equestrian fields and, in 1986, the United States Pony Club asked the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) to design a riding helmet made for equestrians. The first ASTM/SEI certified helmet was developed in 1990 just as helmet laws spread throughout the States and made helmets mandatory for riders on the road or under the age of 14.

Remember to always ride with your helmet on! Check out the helmets we have available for your horseback adventures here at Everything Summer Camp. You can click here for all our horseriding gear and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John