One of my younger sons recently asked the question," I don't really understand - why do so many people want to buy land from us?"
The quick answer goes something like this.....People like a place to get away to, a place to go and be with family, away from their jobs and other stresses of life. Lots of folks who live in the country also go to camp. I think they go to putter on little projects in the woods. After thinking more about this question, thinking about my own desire to go to my camp, and thinking about folks who have bought land from us the past 25 years, here's what came to me.......
The dream of buying land IS all those things I told my son AND it's WAY more than that. It's a burning desire to have land you can go to, whether it’s 5 acres or 500. It's a deep seated instinct that we all have - a calling. I think it's imprinted on us much the same as a salmon feels the desire to swim back upstream to their beginnings. It's like a newborn animal in the wild immediately knowing its mother. WE ALL BOND WITH THE LAND AND MOTHER NATURE.
I work outside on beautiful land nearly every day. I breathe more fresh air than most and observe things in nature on a daily basis that most never see.....and yet I get this overwhelming urge every so often to go up north to camp - I can't wait...I need it.
The long drive, the packing, the arrangements aren't "a pain in the neck." They actually are a part of the journey and the excitement. In fact, sometimes just the anticipation and the process of getting ready to to go to camp is as great as being there! Most of you who either own land or dream about owning land, probably feel this but, like me, never really thought about why you feel this way. For those who don't have land or a "place to go," you must feel like something's missing. Maybe you never thought about it much.
Now that I have thought about it, I know that whether you live on Long Island or in Camden, we all instinctively need to a place to go - a place of our own - like the "Salmon Run" we witness in the North Country every year. We need that journey and we so, so look forward to it!
That's my answer, my son.
Dan Christmas