The view east from St. Regis Mountain of Upper St. Regis Lake in the foreground; Whiteface Mountain, twenty miles to the east, is just right of center on the horizon.

Born:  c.  1917

Died: July 9, 2015

Married: Allan Cameron

Children: Duncan Cameron, Alexander Cameron, Peter Cameron, Bruce Cameron, James Cameron

Judy Peterson Cameron came to camp at the St. Regis Lakes. She first started coming to the Adirondacks in 1919. She would take the train up from New York City, where she went to private school, and would come to camp for four months.

The family camp was called Evergreen Lodge on St. Regis and her parents stayed there. When her parents died, they left the camp to her sister and it became known as the Fenn camp.

A man named Harvey Street was the milkman and he would deliver the milk by boat. There was also a vegetable man.

Fred Jarvis' house is where the the restaurant is in Lake Clear now. He would bring the family over from the train.

Rita Ellithorpe was the postmistress for a summertime post office in St. Regis.

Judy lived in Wyoming with her husband. When her husband passed away in 1980, she moved here full time.

Judy's son Jim had his own boat at age 5.

In the beginning everyone knew everyone else. The camps didn't go on the market; if someone wanted to sell, they would sell to families or friends. It's only recently that they have been listed with real estate agents. Many of the children of the camp owners married each other, and so the families became very connected. There were 12 Idem sailboats, made in the 1880s when the camp owners hired someone in Maine to build twelve identical boats in order to have fair races. The same boats are raced today in the summer. Judy crewed on an Idem boat of the Spaulding family. The Spaulding family took over the camp on Birch Island. An Idem passes Camp Wild Air

Judy would go with the Countess Alicia Spaulding Paolozzi to visit the camp of Mildred Stokes Hooker. They were about 13 years old. Phelps Smith was there. He was an old man, and he would bring them down to a store at Paul Smith's. He would take them around the store and buy them things. He bought her a dark blue felt jacket that she still has.

John Trevor had a neighboring camp, the original camp on Rabbit Island. Dr. E. L. Trudeau took over a camp on Pearl Island. One of Francis B. Trudeau's sons was called "Neddy Stubtail" by the people on the lake. 1 The Trudeau boys were home schooled and always wore white suits.

The St. Regis camps started with tents and then gradually the tents became more formal structures. Then in the teens and twenties they began hiring architects.

Judy had five children. Her son Pete is married to Sarah Merkel, the daughter of Dr. Carl Merkel. Her son Jim Cameron lives at the camp still with his wife Lynn.

Judy and her husband bought a property across from the family camp. Both camps were water access only.

The family avoided going into Saranac Lake for fear of TB.

The Duncan family have been on St. Regis for five generations.

The Slade's camp was Under Pines.

When they first started their camp they had no electricity, but they did have water. Now all the camps have electricity. The electric lines run under the lake.

See also Judy Cameron Interview

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Footnotes

1. "Neddie Stubtail, the little boy bear" was a character in the Uncle Wiggily books for children.