Notes from
Cardigan
Nonprof it Or~nization U.S. POST AGE
PAID Canaan, N.H. Permit No. 1
Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire 03741
Volume 3, Issue No.
September . 1974
Autumn brings to New England cool nights , warm days, brilliant fol iage, crisp appJ es and 145 boys returning to Cardigan. They come from 24 states and 5 foreign countries. Houston, in the grand state of Texas, sent the la r gest number from any one city (1 1) and New York City is next with 9 boys. No matter where they came from, once here they are a l l Cardigan boys as they sett l e in and become part of our school family. This year's student body holds the promise of being one of our finest. We're thrilled and excited to have them here, and thank you, their parents, for letting us share this part of their growing up. · Every year we consider issuing these Notes through the summer months; but the schedule always seems to be so short and hectic that it's over before we have had t ime enough to co l lect our thoughts. As usual, a lot happened on our campus since l ast May. The Very Rev. Richard Rowland, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans , a nd father of a graduating Senior, gave the Commencement address. In the years his son, John, has been at Ca r digan, the Dean has never failed to be here to conduct at least one service in the Chape l each year, and he has never failed to reach the boys wi th a message in their own l anguage which t hey could understand and respond to. Commencement was certainly no exception. We miss l ooking forward to his visit and hope we can entice him back sometime again. The three weeks in June following Commencement and before the start of t he Summer Session are the longest period in the year that our campus is unoccupied. As you can imagine , it is one of the busiest times as we gave the dorms a thorough cleaning, some repa in ting, many minor repairs and prepared all the bui l dings and grounds for the boys and g i r l s who arrived on June 26th for our Summer Session. The group of 26 gir l s and 97 boys was the l argest Summer Session in our history. Although the first camping trip was rained out after on l y three days, the weather was generally acceptable during the rest of the sess ion. The summer schedul e includes five academic periods in the morning, a rest or reading per iod after l unch, and three periods of different activities in the afternoon. Study hal l runs every evening except Saturday, but two evenings a week there are group activities after supper unti l dark. This kind of schedule keeps everybody on the run - and we all seem to thrive on i t. Mr. Finkbeiner's prod uction of " HMS Pi na f o r e " at t he end of t he s ummer was a fi t t ing climax to a wonderfu l advent ure. Stude nts departed with the i r parents on Saturday, August 10th; vi s itin g fac ulty heaced back to t heir homes and Winte r t eachi ng posts Sunday morning, and'Sunda y a ft e r noon a gro up o f over 70 Vocationa l -Ag r icu l ture teachers with the i r families from all ove r New Engl a nd moved onto the campus for a th r ee day workshop spo nsored by t he New Eng l a nd Elect r ic Coun c i 1 . C"I asses, lect ures, demonstra ti ons filled eac h morn ing and afte r noon, and t he cooko ut Mo nday evening for the entire group brought a l most 190 peop l e t o eat s t eak and co rn -·o n-t he-cob down by t he beach. Th i s was t he f i rst t ime we had hosted a confe r e nce for ad ult s , a nd i t proved to be a de l ightfu l experience. They enjoye d the campus to t he f ul lest a nd too~ adva ntage of a ll our fac il it i es and natura l surro und ing s for vacationi ng. Many of t he fam iJ i es came in t ents and campers and sta yed at Crescent Camps i te, just ha l f a mi l e up t he road pas t t he s choo l . Two dormitories were f ill ed with those who li ved on campus. The ma ln g ro up l e ft on Wednesday afternoon, a nd a bout 50 teache r s sta yed on for an add it iona l day fo r' a Tri -S tate Agri culture Wo r ks hop. A number of companies tha t s upply prod ucts of i nte r est to vocat iona l a nd a gr i c ul t ural teac hers sent representat ives and exhib i ts whi c h we r e set up in the a udi tor i um. The r e we r e :;up-