Silver Bay and the Smile that Said It All

My Aunt Reeda is set to turn 92 this week. Growing up in western Maryland, she moved to New York City in the 1950s to be a nurse and to experience a world beyond the farms she had seen in Maryland. She was an explorer, living in New York City and Washington, DC, traveling throughout Europe, and enjoying museums and opera performances before returning to Maryland later in life to be close to family.

A Postcard with a view of the Silver Bay Association buildings and grounds on the shore of Lake George.

Aunt Reeda was always on the move and ready to go. When she returned to Maryland, she worked in the emergency room at the hospital in Hagerstown. Family members suggested that after everything she saw in New York City and DC, she liked the energy of the emergency room. She would volunteer to work shifts around holidays like Christmas because coworkers had covered for her so she could return home when she was in New York. My cousins, brother, and I still talk about her ability to navigate New York City and its bus routes. She never had a problem expressing herself or providing her point of view.

She had moved to New York City with a nursing school classmate from West Virginia, Elsie, who was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor.  While Elsie left soon after arriving in New York due to the death of her father, she and Aunt Reeda formed a lifelong friendship that included joint vacations at the Silver Bay YMCA camp, which held annual Lutheran conferences and other Christian retreats.

As a child in the 1980s, I recall Aunt Reeda saying she was headed north to Silver Bay. She would return with gifts for family members that included t-shirts and mugs from Silver Bay and Lake George. I remember visiting my grandmother’s house and Aunt Reeda describing her trips.  She mentioned picturesque views, family-style dinners, prayer gatherings, and quiet reflections at the heels of the Adirondack Mountains. At the time as a young boy, this did not appeal to me at all, especially when I learned the cabin lacked air conditioning. 

Long after I outgrew the t-shirts, Aunt Reeda shared stories about piling into a vehicle and engaging in group excursions while based at Silver Bay to visit Fort Ticonderoga, exploring downtowns with bookshops and small restaurants, tasting wines at a vineyard, and even visiting a start-up ice cream shop in Burlington, VT that was quite the rage called Ben & Jerry’s. These stories would come up as she was visiting with my kids and when we would take a trip together. Aunt Reeda, my kids, and I have traveled together to upstate New York, New England, New York City, and North Carolina.

During the pandemic in early November 2021, my children and I went to Vermont for a little escape and invited Aunt Reeda to join us.  After experiencing the true stick season and a few businesses on a well-deserved pre-holiday break, we crossed the state border from Middlebury towards Ticonderoga picking up NY State Route 9N. Before long, we were on Lake Shore Drive and began to see Lake George on the left and mountains on the right.

It took Aunt Reeda a few minutes to realize where we were headed. But, after we passed a highway sign noting Silver Bay was ahead of us, Aunt Reeda lit up when she figured out where we were. Previously, she had only been to the area in July and August, when the trees were green and lush blocking much of the lake view from the highway. She shared with us how much bigger Lake George looked. While some things had changed in the last 40 years, there were buildings, signs, and places of interest she remembered. For me, Aunt Reeda’s big smile was a highlight of the trip.

Knowing the impact that Silver Bay, Lake George, and the Adirondack Mountains had on my aunt and the conversations and memories it prompted within my own family based in Maryland, I cannot help but think of this beautiful place and the many other happy memories and stories that they have provided to families and friends far beyond the foothills of the Adirondacks.