Nature Friends Camp 1939-1950

High up in the Ramapoo Mountains
Where Snake Hill Road ends
Lies the camp of the Nature Friends,
The young Austrian refugees gather there
To spend their weekends in mountain air,
All of them Holocaust escapees,
They spend their vacations
In cabins 'neath the trees.
It was a place of discovery
Of sex, new love and liberty
In an ideal paradise setting
After fleeing a nightmare of misery,
They spoke mostly German,
But in high schools
And the free City College
They quickly gained
Their English knowledge,
They spent in the Camp
The best times of their lives,
And many of the girls met there
Are now their wives.

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2008 Alfred Charasz