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Like most visitors who sign on to spend a weekend camping out tree house style at The Tree House Camp at Maple Tree Campground, Wanda Gomez followed a word of mouth tip when she booked a few nights.
by Michele Pearlstein and Rebecca Klein
It was her 10-year-old son who urged her to make the reservation at the Rohrersville, Maryland campground, located about 20 minutes from Frederick after he returned from spending a few nights there with his summer camp.
“He was just so excited and so mesmerized by the great outdoors,” shares this Northern Virginia mom, who lives right outside Washington, DC.
Guests can stay in an elevated rustic tree house, a more modern elevated tree cottage with a wood burning stove and balcony or pitch their own tents in a field or the woods. “Twenty acres of beautiful woodland, backed up to the Appalachian Trail on South Mountain, provide an ideal setting for year-round camping and hiking.The seclusion and peace and quiet of our campsites offer a relaxing atmosphere to ‘Get away from it all,’” reads the The Tree House Camp’s website. The campground is about an hour away from both the Baltimore and Washington, DC areas.
“He desperately wanted me to see the fun that he had there,” Gomez recalls. “In the evenings, he and I would listen to music, we’d dance around and we’d talk about things, talk about life, reconnect.”
“That was the best part,” reveals her son, Daniel Gomez. “Normally… in the city, she’s going to work, and I’m going to school. We really don’t get to hang out that much.”
“I am a single parent. He doesn’t have a lot of time to connect with me. A lot of the time, we’re just working to get through the week,” adds his mother.
We introduced ourselves to her, as she had to squeeze past our own brood of four little ones in the campsite’s bathroom early one morning.
For our 24 hour stay, we packed our two cars to the brim with toys and activities for our kids, only to laugh at ourselves as each of our 2-year-old daughters actually fought over who got to play with what dirt.
Had there been a playground or organized activities, we wouldn’t haveutilized them. Our own campsite keptthem entertained. The kids reveled in theabsence of home and restaurant tablemanner rules during our picnic breakfastand lunch. Months later, our older onesare still reenacting the trip — camping outmid-afternoon in a Dora tent in the familyroom.
Louise Soroko took over the reigns of The Tree House Camp nearly three years ago from her mother, who started the camp in 1971 with just two tree houses.
When guests make a reservation, she often makes this disclaimer: “I usually want to make sure people aren’t expecting Swiss Family Robinson…with a piano and a monkey.”
“Nothing,” is one of the activities she’ll rattle off when asked what there is to do. “Doing nothing is actually a very fun thing to do,” she says, emphasizing how kids will use their imaginations.
If you choose to explore beyond the campground, historic Harpers Ferry is just 10 minutes away. There is also fishing, caverns to explore, swimming and tubing, rafting, horseback riding and hiking nearby. You can also visit Charles Town in West Virginia, the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo in Maryland, and go outlet and antique shopping.
We ventured into nearby Boonsboro, Maryland where the adults and kids alike in our party were extremely pleased with our casual dinner at Vesta Pizzeria & Family Restaurant. We all inhaled the pizza. The Palace Salad, featuring red grapes, apples, gorgonzola cheese and grilled chicken topped with blueberry pomegranate vinaigrette, could have been a meal on its own. The restaurant’s owners, Dan and Stacie Aufdem-Brinke, are the son and daughter-in-law of best-selling, romantic suspense writer Nora Roberts. Roberts and her husband own Turn the Page Bookstore Cafe, just down the street.
Somehow we found room for ice cream at the Potomac Street Creamery, where one towering portion could have fed us all.
While we headed out for our dinner, many campers enjoy cooking right at their campsites on the charcoal grill or open fire.
The centrally located bathroom area is equipped with outdoor showers. At \the camp shop, you can purchase food items, firewood and other necessities you may have forgotten, including a big hit seller — the hamburger flipper. “Yes I’m making a small fortune in hamburger flippers,” quips Saroko.
Feel free to bring Fido, but you’ll have to leave the rowdy partying at home. All visitors must sign a quiet agreement, acknowledging that they will pay a $250 nuisance fee for loud noise after 11 p.m. A security person patrols the area late at night, reminding campers to have fun quietly.
“It was just a wonderful family environment,” describes Gomez. “I felt safe being in an environment that Louise had created there.”
The year-round campground, which requires a two night minimum stay on weekends, also welcomes weddings, family reunions and other groups. Spots in the eight tree houses, eight cottages and campsites fill up fast during the spring, summer and fall.
Our children made us promise a return trip. It won’t be a tough promise to keep.
The Tree House Camp at Maple Tree Campground
20716 Townsend Road,
Rohrersville, Maryland 21779
(301) 432-5585, www.thetreehousecamp.com
