As a boy, Frank E. Poland spent his summers at his ancestral home in Washington. He roamed the woods, swam in the lake, and learned much about nature. Later, as a schoolmaster in a large city, he wanted to give other boys the same delights he had enjoyed as a child. In 1904, with the help of Walter Bentley, he brought 24 boys to his family home on Washington Pond, and the Medomak Boys Camp was created. It remained an all-boys camp until the 1960s when it became co-ed. After Poland’s death in 1964, the camp had various owners, and is today a family camp and retreat center. In the book Maine on Glass, in which the photo appears, the authors write, “Note the handsome pulling boats. [Eastman Illustrating & Publishing Co.] lake photos include many shapely watercraft as pleasurable to contemplate as to row. Their motorized successors—including droning jet skis and high-powered dragsters—now endanger swimmers, rowers, paddlers, loons, and lakeside tranquility. Note also the not-exactly-natty robes, practical defense against sun, mosquitos, and chills, if not the gibes of youthful critics.”
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Swimming Scene, Medomak Lake, LB2007.1.111041, is part of the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Collection at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine.
