Summer is over. (Or is it?)

Ruins of merriment in the Rhode Island woods

These days, I’m increasingly convinced that our idea of what marks the beginning and end of “summer” is going to change considerably. On paper, summer is now over in the United States. But it sure doesn’t feel over. Last week, most of New England suffered yet another drenching heat wave. I had been planning to go north to hike the infamous Percy Peaks, but even the weather forecast above the White Mountains was climbing toward the low 90s! On a much more alarming front, tons of K-12 students in Massachusetts and other New England states are heading back to school buildings that aren’t outfitted with air conditioning—during the final act of the hottest summer of our lives. Or, to paraphrase Homer Simpson, the hottest summer of our lives so far.

This got me thinking about a strange place in western Rhode Island that I first heard about at a cookout . (I wish I could say it was a Little Rhody cookout, but I haven’t been invited to one yet.) In the 14,000 forested acres of the Arcadia Management Area, there used to be an active campground with sleeping cabins, fire rings, and a little water tower. Some people believe that the campground was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was responsible for a lot of recreational infrastructure in Rhode Island’s green spaces. It’s not easy to find historical records of the place. I tried. But during the last few decades, the campground was abandoned and left to rot. The ruins of this place are the foremost destination along the Shelter Trail, which squiggles through the evergreen woods of Arcadia toward a bluff called Penny Hill.