1960-1979

June 21, 1842

•The sixties witnessed another event unusual to these grounds when in 1966, Sarah Ann Crabtree was dedicated to the Lord by the camp president, Clinton Taber.

•In the fall of 1974 a Maine Central freight train derailed in North Belgrade (about one quarter mile north of the campground) and dumped several thousands of gallons of oil into the lake. Much of that oil coated the shoreline and the lake bottom. Although the railroad made an attempt to clean up, some of that oil is still surfacing six years later.

•A greater tragedy befell the encampment, however, on May 1, 1975 when a fire of undetermined origin destroyed some eighteen buildings, including the Bethel, The D.V.B.S. cottage (formerly the preachers’ cottage and more recently boys’ youth camp dormitory) and causing some $12,000 worth of damage to the tabernacle alone.

•With a loan from the Maine State Conference and donations from across the country the tabernacle has been repaired, the rubble removed and the grounds leveled. To date only one small building has been erected and the north side of the campground remains barren.

•But God has been good to Lakeside during her first one hundred years and there is every reason to believe that His blessing will continue to rest upon her until her work is accomplished and the Savior, in whose cause she has labored through the years, returns to set up His eternal Kingdom. “Even so come, Lord Jesus.”