Not long ago, my granddaughters came bursting into the house singing and shouting, “School’s out!” Needless to say, they were excited about the last day of school. As a retired teacher, I could have told them they weren’t as excited as their teachers were. The half days before Christmas vacation and the last day of school are the longest days of the school year! I’m sure those girls will have lots to do this summer, especially since their cousins from Virginia are here for the season. There are a lot of specialized camps offered every summer. The Mystic Seaport has some great ones.

I must say that my granddaughters’ excitement brought back my memories of summer vacations. Even way back in the 60s, there were things to do. Some kids worked at Whittles. Many of us went to camp. Camp Wightman, a church camp, was very popular. The Girl Scouts operated Camp Pattagansett and Camp Laurel (which my daughters later attended), and I spent several weeks at Camp Wakenah in Salem, the Pequot Council Boy Scout Camp. I remember one summer working on canoeing and lifesaving merit badges, and mile swim. There was another private camp on Gardner Lake, Camp Trupin, which was a lot more expensive than Wakenah!

I spent a lot of time in the summer at Williams Beach, which was run by the Mystic Community Center. Being too young to drive, I’d climb on my Schwinn, which had coaster brakes, no gears and newsboy baskets on the back, and coast down Oral School Road to River Road and then pedal down Pearl Street to West Main. Left on West Main, being careful to avoid the trolley tracks, over the bridge and up to Mason’s Island Road. From there to Harry Austin Drive, named after the longtime beach watchman, and coast down to the beach. The fancy YMCA that is now there was far in the future. Of course, the coasting on the trip to the beach was replaced by hard pedaling on the way home!

On the left were tennis courts where George Crouse taught many, many Mystic kids the sport. The beach had playground equipment such as swings, a couple of ball fields and a building with bathrooms and snack bar, which at one time was presided over by the late Darryl Williams, famous for his greasy cheeseburgers! Darryl, by the way, later retired as a lieutenant commander in the Navy Nurse Corps.

The beach itself did not have real fine sand such as Eastern Point or Ocean Beach, but it was free (there was a minimal fee to join the Community Center, but there were no beach stickers) and there was plenty of parking.

Since the beach was near the mouth of the Mystic River, the water was warm. The swimming area was dredged every year or so and seaweed nets were strung on pilings that were not driven into the riverbed but were held in place by round concrete anchors. Every fall these pilings needed to be removed. This meant a crew of us would go beyond the swimming area where the water wasn’t very deep and roll them around the dredged area and up to the shore. When I got a call each year from director Roger Quesnel a few weeks after the season ended, that began, “Hello, Robert Boy ...,” I knew I was going to wind up getting wet and having a sore back!

The beach had a raft and certified lifeguards, including some with Water Safety Instructor certification such as Sue Martel, who later married Darryl. When I got older, I helped teach beginner swimming lessons: “Put your face in the water and blow bubbles!”

When I was promoted from junior high after ninth grade, my father bought me a boat. It was a 14-foot Amesbury Sea skiff with a Goodyear outboard engine. That was just the thing to use to get to the beach. I’m glad I kept oars, because about halfway home one day the engine died. It was a long, slow row back to where I tied up in front of Mr. Fish’s house on River Road. We eventually replaced the engine with a used Evinrude that started almost every time.

It was about this time that the Boy Scouts introduced a Motorboating merit badge. The merit badge counselor was Officer Walter Swan of the Groton Police Department. My friend Walt Roderick and I were both in Troop 34 and we arranged to meet with Officer Swan to try to earn the badge. We used the police boat, which was a lot nicer than the outboards we owned. One of the requirements was to show the ability to come alongside a dock. Officer Swan asked us if we were familiar with any docks on the river and we told him Mr. Fish’s dock. Each of us made a couple of approaches and landings. In fact, Mr. Fish came out of his house to see what the problem was! He smiled when Officer Swan explained the program to him. As far as I know, Walt and I were the first two Scouts to earn the merit badge in the Pequot Council.

Of course, turning 16 changed things a little. That meant you were old enough to get a license and a summer job. My first job was as a counselor at Camp Wakenah. It didn’t pay much, but it was a great summer!

Robert F. Welt is a retired Groton Public Schools teacher who lives in Mystic.