The Construction of Fenimore Hall
For highlights on our first prayer cabin construction click here Fenimore Hall 
A new dining facility has been built which will seat up to 200 campers. Suits Hall, the current dining hall, was designed for 125 and has been seating over 200 people on the busiest weeks of camp. The dining hall will be consistent with the Adirondack Great Camp design of the existing buildings. Fowler is also committed to building in a way that honors our commitment to care for creation and praise our Creator.
The dining hall was built from trees harvested in British Columbia, Canada. The trees have been ut from "standing dead timbers." The diameters of the logs range from 12" - 16". Once the logs were assembled in Canada, they were shipped to the Adirondacks. The logs arrived before Christmas, 2007. What a great present. But a dining hall doesn't just appear. There was a lot of work that had to be done first. Let's walk you through the process so you can see how a dining hall comes about.
First you have to decide on where to locate the new building. In 2003, the Master Plan committee decided that the dining hall should be in the center of camp: right in the heart, or perhaps, the "stomach" of all that's happening. This way our cooks and helpers can also be connected with what the campers are experiencing and the "just passing through" crowd can keep all of the parts of camp connected.
In May, we had a ground breaking ceremony (Chris Hayes is shown here turning over the first bit of soil. We've used bigger "shovels" for most of the work since!) Over 200 people were present to celebrate and offer prayers for the workers and the work to be done.
Next came the issue of what had to be moved in order to build the new dining hall. Kelley Pavilion, that structure which has housed basketball, rollerskating, dinners, ping pong, fossball, guideboat and ADK chair building, began to get dismantled. The Fowler Boosters did most of the work during their annual Memorial Day gathering. It took a village to dismantle the pavilion beam by beam. The wood has been stored and will be used throughout the rest of the building projects.
Nelson got a nice ride on a trailer for about 50 yards to its new resting place on the far side of Suits Field from where it had been. Ultimately, Nelson will become the new Infirmary nestled squarely in the crossroads of camper traffic.
We'd show you these, but they're buried!!! Next came the clearing of the foundation site.
Under the dining part of the hall, we have "stamped concrete" which will give the look and feel of Catskill bluestone. Embedded within the concrete are tubes that can be used for radiant heat if the building is ever needed for more than summer use. Our hope is that we have planned for a variety of future contingencies.
Now let's look at the logs going up!
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Once the pavilion was gone, then we had to move two things: Nelson Lodge, which would still be in the footprint of the new dining hall and the power. 
The power lines had a different fate. One of the goals is to make camp more beautiful and easier to maintain. Burying the power lines was the best way to achieve this goal. Now they will never block a view nor will the capricious winds and snows take them down causing power outages and more work. By the summer of 2008 it is hoped to have all the power lines in the center of camp buried. 
The big machines came in and took out the old concrete from the pavilion. Then they dug a BIG hole and the shape of a dining hall began to appear. 
The foundation will allow for a 4 foot crawl space under the new kitchen which will accomodate some of the mechanics of the new hall. Also, will be the self contained COMPOSTING TOILET SYSTEM which will save an estimated 250,000 gallons of water a year and allow for a much extended life on a leach field (not to mention that they will never get plugged or overflow!!)
We also see this floor as being excellent for upkeep with thousands of sandy feet walking over it every day. 
The logs arrived around Christmas (a wonderful present for us!) and started to go up very quickly. The crew had cold, snow, hot, rain.... just about every season while they were putting the logs up. 
