We are doing a lot of work on Lewa Dock this year and are excited to improve on such an important part of the Sebago Wohelo experience. It has been fun to look back at Lewa Dock over the past 80+ years in our photo albums, below are some of our favorites.
1924 – Lewa dock in the background with no tower and uncovered racks of canoes. Boulders Dock with divers in front and the tents of Heavenlies Unit on the rocks.
1925 – (below) Six minute video of Watersports Day. Lewa isn’t the main attraction but it all happens in Boulder Cove. Lots of Footage of Boulders Dock with Towers. Swim races that include swimming under a canoe and through a barrel. In second half notice Barracks Unit (Tents and a cabin) in background where our canoeing beach is now.
DID YOU KNOW……. Lewa dock was originally built on top of the ice in the winter!
The log frame was constructed and filled with enough rocks to sink it. Then in the spring, the ice melted, sending the framework to the bottom securely weighted by the rocks (see how the dock is filled with rocks under the canoe rack below and in the construction photos at bottom of page). We then built the dock up from the solid framework in the lake.
1940 – (above) Probably Halsey Gulick (with Jill on bow), working on the engine on early “Migis” at Lewa dock.
(below) What will become Waterloo cabin, in 1940 a covered canoe storage.
1940 – Loons, Kingfishers and Chippies cabins without screens. Swim Shack is just a couple shelves.
Still 1940 – Look at all those painted paddles
1954 – Lewa dock was always the sailing dock also until soon after 1954 when the Sailing cove was created. These Nimblet boats were moored in Boulders Cove and reached by a canoe.
1965 – A fixture at Lewa dock for many years, Delaney Kiputh “Kip” , shown here with his swim staff, spent his summers at Wohelo and the rest of the year at the Yale Althletics Department.
That is a mini trampoline.
1965- The warmth of Lewa Dock. You can almost smell the hot cedar decking.
1986 – Kip with another swim crew 20 years later. I think we’re glad these guys didn’t get hold of that trampoline.
1992 – above – Lewa at the end of the film camera era.
Below – Fun, Friends and Sunsets in the past decade.
Above – Quincy on Lewa with decking removed and new posts around outside. (that’s Penny swimming around the corner after dropping her ball in)
Below – That big crane on a barge was the key to adding the new posts. They lifted the pole into position, felt around for a soft spot in the ground, and then hammered them in with a big weight on the crane.
