My home for the summer – maybe – is the Quabbin Pines RV Resort in Orange MA. I say “maybe” because I am probably residing here illegally and could be booted at any moment. The campground is not finished – not even close – and is not permitted for use by paying guests. If you click on the campground link today all you get is a “Coming Soon” page. An empty website is not a sign of a campground on the verge of opening.
Living in this campground is bizarre. I have to think of this campground, in its current state (with a nod to Bizarro World) as Bizarro Campground. But before I describe the campground in detail let me describe how I learned of its existence and my experience on the day of arrival.
When I was speaking with my brother-in-law Ray early this year and moaning about the difficulty I was having in finding a summer site, he told me of the existence of a “new RV campground” very near to his summer cabin. He was kind enough to go check out the place for me and got a tour of the under-construction site in February. He reported that “there was a LOT of work yet to be done” and opined that it would not be ready by May. Nevertheless, the campground accepted both my application for a seasonal site and a deposit for $1000. Subsequent attempts to contact the campground, both by email and phone, were unsuccessful. I left messages but got no calls or emails in response. Still, they had taken my money and had not told me to not show up, so that was my destination on May 11.
My expectation was that the campground would be open but unfinished and still in the midst of construction. But when I pulled into the campground on Tuesday May 11 what I found was a ghost campground. No construction. No people. No one in the office. I called the number given by the sign on the closed office door and got a message saying that the mailbox was full.
So I sat in the parking lot, scratching my head. I called Ray to tell him that I had arrived but that the campground was closed. I started thinking about my options as I walked Rusty. Near the end of my dog walk I got a phone call from Mike, the campground owner. He asked if I had called and what I wanted. I explained that I was a seasonal tenant who had given him $1000 and was rather dismayed that I had no site. He said he could set me up in a “temporary site.” I didn’t question him as to how temporary or what the financial arrangements might be because even a temporary site solved my immediate problem.
So Mike directed me to a spot next to his 5th wheel. He got me hooked up to a 30 amp power supply (not ideal but adequate) and put a splitter on the hose serving his RV and invited me to run my hose to it. Well, my 50′ of hose was too short, but a quick trip to Walmart got me another 25′ which was enough to get water. No sewer connection yet but he dismissed that as an easy thing that would be done by the weekend. “It’s what I do” he said.
Well, it is now Friday and it isn’t done yet. I can live another week without a sewer connection – the black water holding tanks are 60 gallons each and I have two of them. But the lack of any construction activity in the 3 days I have been here makes me doubt that anything will get done in a timely fashion.
So a brief history of the campground, as given to me by Mike. The campground was started by a relative (uncle?) and was operated for many years, mostly, it appears, as a traditional campground for people with tents and pop-up trailers. No sewer connections and the water and electric connections were spotty and not suitable for modern RVs. The uncle died and his wife tried to run it without him but failed. It closed over 25 years ago and has sat idle for a quarter of a century.
Enter Mike and his wife. They decide they can turn it into a successful RV campground. The original plan was to open in 2020 but the pandemic hit, so plans were delayed a year. More recent delays were due to permitting and shortage of construction materials (Mike says he waited over 3 months for delivery of the metal roof for the recreation building).
The campground currently has an office building that had been abandoned for 25 years which looks to be serviceable but in need of cosmetic work, a swimming pool which looks old but Mike says it has a new liner and just needs a water treatment pump and a new fence, new propane tanks, a new septic system and 3 structures under construction: a recreation hall, a bathhouse and a “pavilion” which I think means an open-air structure where people can gather to avoid sun and rain.
No site has upgraded electric service and no sewer lines have yet been run, except the one to Mike’s site. But Mike is confident that he will be open by July 4th, just 6 weeks away. I am skeptical. Maybe if he has an army of construction workers but no such army has yet appeared. He has booked a 70-RV rally for the end of July. I have no idea how he expects to have 70 RV sites – and all 3 buildings – ready in just over 2 months.
Mike is quite proud of the site preparation that has been done in the lower area – I believe an area that was wooded in the old campground. This is the area that will allow him to book a 70-RV rally and it is where the pavilion will be located. But it is just an open field of dirt right now.
There are a couple of minor things that make this campground – and the whole quixotic project – somewhat bizarre. One is the only completed new structure on the property – the shed housing the goats. That’s right, folks. The goat shed was completed before the bathhouse. Another is the fire truck. Why is there a fire truck on the property? I don’t know. I can only speculate that Mike offered to store it as a favor to town officials. You know – those people responsible for issuing permits.
The siding on the goat shed – and the siding that apparently will be on all other structures as well – is pine boards that Mike milled himself from trees cleared from the lower area. He says he has 35,000 board feet of siding ready to be installed. Pretty impressive. And I think it will give the whole property a very distinctive look.
If he can get the buildings finished.
It will be interesting to see how this develops.
If I am allowed to stay.