The Ladies Auxiliary Building

15 Bishop Row

This building was built in 1922 after the fire destroyed the first LAB pictured on this sign. The upstairs rooms were once apartments for guests to rent. The downstairs rooms have been used for storage and a shop called THIS AND THAT. These rental rooms were born in 2010 and offer comfortable and affordable accomodations.

If you look at the photo of all the women on the porch steps of the original Ladies Auxiliary Building you can get a sense of the tremendous number of dedicated volunteers it takes to operate an organization like Etna Spiritualist Association lovingly known as Camp Etna. Back when this photo was taken, pre-1922, the duties were much different than the duties of today’s volunteers. During the early days at Camp Etna we would have found the women quilting, knitting, crocheting, cooking, cleaning, organizing, teaching, writing and worshipping.

Today’s volunteers design and maintain websites, programs, cooking, cleaning, organizing, teaching, writing, worshipping and so much more. It takes a lot of work from many volunteers to manage this beautiful place.

In the 1908 program there is a page letting people know the Ladies Aid Society, also known as the Ladies Auxiliary, was holding a “Fair and Sale of Useful Articles. All friends are invited to help. This society has done much for our Camp.” The previous paragraph in this 1908 program says, “More than a quarter of a century has elapsed since our Association issued its first invitation ‘to all the world and the rest of mankind’ to meet with us and enjoy ‘a feast of reason and a flow of soul’ on our beautiful camping ground. The past has been full of all that was good, and the present offers all still greater good. The objects of this camp-meeting are to inculcate good, wholesome, progressive thoughts, to rest the mind and body; to gain truth and wisdom to fight the battles of life. With the spirit of fraternal love we reach out the hand of welcome to all. … Cottages can be hired and there is plenty of tent room. All kinds of garden, truck, groceries, and milk sold upon the grounds at moderate prices.”

In more recent history an older member who lives on the grounds during the summer remembers Bob McHenry standing on the 2nd floor veranda of the apartment he rented. He would wave to folks on the road below as they arrived at camp.

We continue to welcome the public to join us and experience a feast of reason and a flow of soul on our beautiful grounds. As it says in the conclusion of the 1908 program, “Let us find our own good in the good of our brothers and sisters, and do right for the love or right, and Camp Etna will indeed become the gateway to a larger life.”