Towering Pines Blog

October has to be one of the best months of the year! The leaves begin to change color, the weather gets colder, and most importantly the MLB playoffs start. While watching this year’s stressful yet exciting MLB playoffs, I can’t help but think of some of the memories I’ve made at Towering Pines.

During my the summers as a camper, I always remember walking to free swim, and seeing Hal Morningstar sitting on the waterfront benches wearing his Detroit Tigers hat. Hal is nothing short of a legend at Towering Pines. Hal worked at Towering Pines from the 1970s until 2011. Hal was in charge of driving the ski boat, tutoring and various other things.

One of Hal’s unofficial jobs seemed to be updating campers and counselors of what was going on in the world of major league baseball. Hal knew everything! Hal knew which teams were leading the divisions, the players that were selected for the all-star game, and a lot of baseball history. Not only was Hal a baseball guru, but he was also filled with tons of stories about camp. One of my favorite stories that Hal ever told me was a story about a CIT in the 1970s hitting a home run over a line of pine trees and into the horse pasture during a camp baseball game.

Just like baseball, Towering Pines is filled with decades of memories and stories. Even though Towering Pines doesn’t have stories about Great Bambino and Billy goat curses (thankfully!), Towering Pines does have stories like Eddie Solomon claiming that he was a bigger Chicago Cubs fan than me (which he still isn’t!). Or Eduardo Silva getting called big Papi whenever he would wear his David Ortiz Boston Red Sox shirt, which was David Ortiz’s nickname in baseball.

Stories like the Chicago Cubs winning their first world series in 108 years is what makes baseball great.  And stories like Hal Morningstar, Eduardo Silva, and Eddie Solomon is what makes camp Towering Pines equally as great and memorable.

by Alex Harlow