Witch Hazel Cabin

Witch Hazel cabin in 1961

Witch Hazel is the nearest cabin to the Aspen Lodge.  It was one of the original cabins at the camp and had two rooms plus a bathroom. Back in FDR's time, it was known as the "Grace Tully Cottage" because FDR's secretary, Grace Tully, used to stay there.

President Kennedy turned the cabin into a nursery with rooms for young Caroline and John John, a nanny, and a playroom. President Johnson then modified the cabin to make it suitable for his two teenage daughters.

The cabin was renovated in the early 1970s.  President Nixon's secretary, Rose Woods, used to stay in Witch Hazel when she was at Camp David.

The close proximity to the President's cabin has its advantages (or disadvantages, depending on which way you look at it...)  Zbigniew Brzezinski, Assistant to President Carter for National Security Affairs, had this experience during the 1978 Camp David summit:

"One night the President phoned me at 4:15 a.m., and I went to his cabin. He'd been to bed, but he started thinking of something and wanted to discuss it. My cabin, named Witch Hazel, was next to his, Aspen, and I walked over." 

The satellite image below shows the Witch Hazel cabin and its location near the Aspen Lodge.

Google Maps satellite view of Witch Hazel cabin

Sources: The President is at Camp David; Camp David Tour; People Magazine; Google Maps; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library; The Reagans: Portrait of a Marriage