The camp at Laurel Park was founded in 1872 as a Methodist summer retreat and used as a site for religious camp meetings and other spiritual services. At the same time, it became a site for the popular traveling Chautauqua festivals of the era. The grounds were developed with the ideals of the Chautauqua movement in mind: as a place to gather and create an open-air “university of ideas” focused on lifelong learning through nature, music, oration, and the arts. This goal was the impetus for building Normal Hall and the Tabernacle, structures whose original purpose was to provide space for teaching and performing.
Throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900s, Laurel Park was known as a gathering place where Pioneer Valley residents could come to be entertained, educated, and inspired. Thousands of people came to traveling Chautauqua events on the grounds to hear the best-known speakers and entertainers of the day.
As other kinds of entertainment became more popular in the 1930s, interest in Chautauqua events and camp meetings waned. In 1968, the Springfield Camp Meeting Association turned ownership over to the cottage owners as the Laurel Park Association, which maintained the Park as a secular community. Around the same time, homeowners began winterizing their cottages as affordable year-round homes.
In 1985, a homeowners trust was formed, and they purchased the land surrounding the cottages from the Laurel Park Association. This allowed the Laurel Park Association (LPA) to become an independent non-profit whose mission is to carry out, in a smaller scale, the original ideals of the camp.
Throughout Laurel Park, the Laurel Park Arts has placed placards marking important historical moments.
NORMAL HALL
THE TABERNACLE
THE OLD POST OFFICE
PARKER MEMORIAL CHAPEL
THE DINING HALL
Below is a newsletter put together by the Social Union in 1981 (based on a 1957 Gazette article, and shared by former LP residents Don and Cindy Joy):
- The original 74 acres of Laurel Park were purchased by the Springfield District Camp Meeting Association in September 1871 for $7500. Lots around the Circle were sold on June 28, 1872, to area Methodist churches. Westfield paid $160; Northampton paid $150. The highest-priced cottage lots to individuals sold for $4.25. From this, they went down to the “not-giveawayable” point!
- On August 27, 1872, the grounds were formally dedicated. During Camp Meeting week, which followed, up to 8,000 people were present on some days! Trolleys from Northampton ran to the Park every 10 or 20 minutes.
- Normal Hall was built in 1892 at a cost of $1200. Part of the present kitchen was an office and post office.
- Thousands of people came to Laurel Park for Chautauqua Assemblies from 1887 to 1933. For 11 days, there were lectures, music, discussions, devotional services, courses in home economics for “building up moral character and to give a broader view of intellectual life.” The admission fee was $1.75, and board was $6.00 for the 11 days. It was reported that between 5,000 and 8,000 people attended Laurel Park Chautauqua in 1925.
- The Connecticut River Railroad moved an old depot building from Hadley to the hill in front of the entrance of the Park. During the Chautauqua Assemblies, three trains stopped each way daily. The round-trip fare from Springfield was 10¢.
- The Social Union donated the massive stone gates in June 1913.
- 710 trees fell in Laurel Park in the hurricane of September 21, 1938. The Association made $1000 by opening the Park up to a logging operation.
- In addition to the religious sessions and the Chautauqua attractions, Laurel Park has been noted for years for its social gatherings through the activities of its Social Union, and among those pleasant events were many Saturday evening suppers served cafeteria style on the shaded lawns outside Normal Hall.” – From the Daily Hampshire Gazette, August 22, 1957, at the time of the Centennial Celebration.
A Few Photographs from the Past…
Some of you may know the song “It’s a Small World” – – ‘It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears ……” Well, here is a Laurel Park version to be sung to the same tune! by Cindy Joy
It’s a place of laughter, a place of tears,
Where friendships last throughout the years,
There’s so much that we share,
that it’s time we’re aware,
It’s a good community.
There are narrow roads winding all around,
And the trees and flowers in the Park abound,
It’s a cool summer place,
with a slow easy pace,
It’s a nice community.
When a tour through here some folks do take,
Here are the comments we hear them make,
“Are these places for rent?”
“Can I set up a tent?”
“Please show me to the lake!”
Let us not forget our neighbors dear,
Our yards are one, they live so near,
When we open our door,
there are neighbors galore,
It’s a close community.
E’er since eighteen hundred and seventy-two,
Lots of folks have lived in the Park it’s true,
Some have come here to pray,
some like quiet, they say,
It’s an old community.
Chorus:
Laurel Park, it’s very clear,
Has a special atmosphere,
We’ve got something going here, –
A unique community.