There is a fish pond located in front of the Aspen Lodge that, according to the Camp David Tour site, was originally built there to use as a water supply in the event of a fire. The site describes how the water is "pumped from the pond to the top of a concrete-lined spillway where it cascades over the rocks and returns to the pond". The pond was first stocked with rainbow trout at the request of President Eisenhower.
I received an email from someone who took care of the Aspen Pond in the early 1970s. Upon his discharge, he was given the photo of Nixon and Brezhnev signed by President Nixon. He provided some additional information about the pond:
"In the picture of Nixon and Brezhnev at Aspen fish pond, the fish in there at that time were Japanese Koi and Golden Orfe plus floating water hyacinth and some water lilies. The log in the foreground was cut out as a bench where FDR would sit and fish. The log has been replaced several times because of decay and rot. FDR then was fishing for stocked bass and trout."
In front of Aspen Cabin, the President’s abode at Camp David, is a man-made rock pond, filled with imported, exotic fish. A call was placed to the Camp’s CO:
“Sir, the President is on the line,” said military aide.
“Yes, Sir, Mr. President,” my husband said, “What can I do for you, Mr. Reagan?”
“Well…..,” came the slow, steady voice, “You need to get over here right away, the poor fellas are floating belly up!”
Below are some more photos of the pond.
President Johnson and Ambassadors Ellsworth Bunker and W. Averell Harriman in April 1968;
CyrusVance, Jody Powell, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Hamilton Jordan in September 1978
President Ford in front of the Aspen pond in 1974
September 1978
Google Maps view of the pond in front of the Aspen Lodge
The first whitehouse.gov website was launched in October 1994. The official White House website was redesigned multiple times during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. Below are the Camp David pages from each administration. You can visit each original website page by clicking on the screenshot image.
President Obama playing basketball at Camp David in July 2009
The photo above shows President Obama playing basketball with senior staff and their family members at the Leatherwood Court during a retreat at Camp David on July 18, 2009. President Obama was reported to have played basketball on his first trip to Camp David in February 2009 and on subsequent trips.
In January 2009, Black America Web reported that President Obama would "become the first president in history to build a basketball court at Camp David". They reported they received information from an unnamed source that Resilite was working on a project at Camp David taking measurements for wall padding for a basketball court.
I could not find any follow-up stories confirming this and a quick search on FedBizOpps found no basketball court-related materials for Camp David (a long shot, I admit...). So, did President Obama build the basketball court pictured above at Camp David? The question remains unanswered.
In August 2009, Boston University basketball player Sherrod Smith got the chance to play basketball with President Obama at Camp David. The story, photo and video about this opportunity is on the BU website.
Captain's Cup Dodge Ball at Leatherwood Court at Camp David
The Eisenhower Presidential Library has a Camp David page containing photos and interesting links to documents related to Camp David.
The above guidebook describes a 1959 Camp David with four guest cabins in the White House Staff area: Sycamore, Hawthorn, Walnut, and Laurel. It also includes a description of recreational facilities available and some photos of the guest cabins.
Movie theater in Hickory Lodge - May 2001 (National Archives)
Movies are shown in several locations around Camp David. President Eisenhower enjoyed watching movies in the Aspen Lodge and had a projection booth installed along with a motorized screen that retracted into the living room ceiling. Eventually, the use of VCRs and DVD players replaced the need for the projector. However, when President Reagan was in office, he still preferred using the film projector at Aspen over the VCR and enjoyed watching old movies from the 1930s and 1940s. The Ronald Reagan Presidential library has a list of all of the films he viewed while in office including 344 movies at Camp David!
President Reagan and Nancy Reagan watching "Lord Jim" in 1985 (Reagan Library)
Movies are also shown at a small theater inside the Hickory Lodge. The 2007 book What A Party! describes a 1998 "Good Will Hunting" screening weekend at Camp David attended by a group including Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Robin Williams, and Gwyneth Paltrow. After having dinner at Laurel Lodge, the group headed off in golf carts to the theater in Hickory where "everyone sits on couches or overstuffed chairs and in the front row are two love seats."
Hillary Clinton writes in her memoir that her daughter Chelsea and a "busload of friends" celebrated her 16th birthday at Camp David. Following a birthday dinner at Laurel Lodge, they headed over to Hickory to watch movies and go bowling.
During the 1978 Camp David peace negotiations, a movie projector was set up in Holly and 58 films were shown there over the 13-day summit. Laurel Lodge also has a big-screen TV.
When Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev met with President Eisenhower at Camp David in 1959, the two leaders watched a U.S. Navy movie about the nuclear submarine Nautilus; they also watched a Western. The following is a list of movies that were available for viewing during that visit:
Presidential diaries also give us a glimpse into the movie-watching activities at Camp David. Here are some entries from Richard Nixon's diary over two weekends in September 1970 and Jimmy Carter's diary from 1977.
President Kennedy, son John Jr., and daughter Caroline - March 1963
President Kennedy began using Camp David regularly in the Spring of 1963. He had a bridle path cleared along the inside of the camp perimeter fence and a pony ring built for his daughter Caroline's pony, Macaroni. A stable was also built for the horses that First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy had arranged to be transported to the camp.
This 1963 newspaper article about a Presidential visit to Camp David reports that President Kennedy's helicopter "landed on a recreation field which had been temporarily converted into a riding ring for Mrs. Kennedy and five-year-old Caroline".
Susan and Steve Ford and friends rode horses at Camp David over Labor Day Weekend in 1974
The Reagans also enjoyed riding horses at Camp David. However, President Reagan was reportedly "appalled" to find that Richard Nixon had paved over many of the old riding trails so that he could ride around in a golf cart instead. Reagan had the trails restored and the National Park Service rangers brought in horses from nearby stables. Over time, the Reagans extended their rides to include some trails outside the camp perimeter fence.
President Reagan in 1983 Riding with Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo in 1981
President Reagan and Vice President Bush ride horses at Camp David in July 1981
President and Mrs. Reagan, son Ron Reagan and wife Doria - October 1983
July 1984
In the book The Reagan Diaries, President Reagan wrote on October 3, 1981:
"Windy & cold but we rode & for the first time went out a back gate into the Catoctin National Forest. Followed an old road that led to a stone ruin of what was a summer hotel in 1933 when the lady owner Bessie Darling was murdered by her doctor boyfriend. During World War II it was used for briefing foreign intelligence officers. It's a tumbled ruin now."
I wanted to see if I could find the path President Reagan took that day out the back gate at Camp David to the ruin of the old hotel. According to the National Park Service website, Bessie Darling ran the old Valley View Manor. They have a map on their website that shows the location. A quick check on Google Earth revealed the Camp David back gate and a path that led into the direction of the old Valley View Manor. Below are some screen shots that show the back gate, the path to a clearing, and the ruins of Bessie Darling's house.
Camp David back gate
Trail leading out the back gate to a clearing. The Valley View Manor ruins are further past the clearing
I came across an interesting blog post written by someone who hiked to the Bessie Darling house on the Halloween anniversary of her murder. It is difficult to view the actual ruins on Google Maps since they are in a heavily wooded area. But who needs Google Maps when you have photos of the actual site?
Bessie Darling's house - The Valley View Manor Ruins of the house in 2008
The path from Camp David to the clearing is easily visible. The old road that President Reagan rode on past the clearing to the Bessie Darling House is obscured by trees. I could not find any documentation on the clearing or whether it is related to Camp David or not. Below are some close-ups of the clearing on Google Maps and Bing Maps.
Close up view of the clearing - from 2007 Google Maps
The 2007 image above shows the clearing on the way to the Valley View Manor. There appears to be a building on the left (see closeup view from different angle). The same area displayed in a more recent Bing Map below looks like there might be some construction going on in the area of the clearing.
View from Bing Maps - March 2012
I went back to Bing Maps a month later and noticed that the map image had changed and a prominent paved path leading to the back gate at Camp David was now visible.
Chestnut cabin is located near the Hickory Lodge. According to the Camp David Tour site, the Chestnut cabin originally housed the 24-hour telephone switchboard. The staff who operated the switchboard also lived in the cabin. The only other reference I found to Chestnut cabin was in The President is at Camp David. The book describes Chestnut during the Ford Administration as a place you could obtain cribs, strollers, and high chairs.
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is the medical cabin / infirmary at Camp David and was built during the Carter administration. It replaced the original camp dispensary which had to be torn down because of structural problems caused by years of moisture damage and termites.
In 1991, President Bush experienced shortness of breath while jogging at Camp David. He was taken to Eucalyptus for an examination where it was discovered he had suffered an atrial fibrillation, which is a rapid irregular heartbeat. He was later flown to the Bethesda Naval Hospital for additional tests. First Lady Barbara Bush describes this incident in her book Barbara Bush: A Memoir.
