THURMONT: A Seafaring Town
By Bob Savitt On July 5, 1942, at a location in the mountains near Thurmont, Maryland, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a document entitled “U.S.S. Shangri La – Launched at Catoctin, July 5, 1942.” This “vessel” was not designed to sail the seven seas. Rather, it was intended to serve as a place for U.S. presidents to go to escape temporarily from the nation’s pressure-cooker capital – Washington D.C. Thurmont, of course, is not a seaport and the vessel is not a seafaring ship. The U.S.S. Shangri La is a mountaintop hideaway, created during World War II as a substitute for the then-vulnerable presidential yacht. FDR, a former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, authorized the conversion of a former campground to a presidential retreat run by U.S. Navy personnel. Through its many alterations
in its 80-years of service, Shangri La has continued as a Navy site officially designated “Naval Support Facility, Thurmont Maryland.” President Eisenhower gave the retreat its present name, Camp David, in honor of his father and grandson. As of this writing, it has served fifteen presidents and has been the scene of several historic meetings, including, most notably, the negotiation in 1978 of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel known as the “Camp David Accords.” Some of the fifteen presidents loved the mountain retreat and others not-so-much. President Ronald Reagan used it more than any other president – 571 days during his eight years in office. Presidents Bush 41 and 43 held many happy family gatherings (even a wedding!) at the camp. President Harry Truman found it to be dark and confining, largely because of the thick growth
Swimming pool used at Shangri-La. The new pool would be built under the Nixon administration. PhotoGATEWAY courtesy of Truman Library Institute2022 ı SPRING/SUMMER 26
Swimming Pool today behind Aspen, the Presidents quarters when at Camp David. THURMONTMAINSTREET.COM Photo courtesy Obama Whitehouse Archieves.org
