The Skipper and Sam filled every room with their energy, but the camp would not have been possible without Old George or Nell Edwards. Little remains of him but a worn portrait. Nell, on the other hand, left behind a house full of personality.
Ellen Edwards had served in the Red Cross with Sam and that acquaintance had inspired the initial invitation to the Aloha camps. During the school year Miss Edwards worked as a nurse at St George School in Rhode Island, but once the Bakers founded The Adventurers Camp at Dingley Dell she was game to join them. She bought a little house across West Shore Road and offered accomodations - and undoubtedly perfect British service - to the families who brought their boys up to the island in person. Nell adored the British royal family and on quiet nights would read about them while listening in her living room to records on the Victrola. She was a traveler, too, collecting a set of silver spoons from the Columbia World's Fair and candlesticks from Norway. We have no likeness of her; perhaps she was the chronicler who took our many pictures of The Skipper, Sam, Lou, and the boys on their travels.
The camp closed in 1938. There may have been talk about reopening, someday, after things had quieted in Europe. The Aladdin sat patiently on shore, still a landmark for passersby, sheets and lines stowed at camp for when they would be needed again.
In the meantime, The Skipper lent his genius to the war effort; Sam guided Louis through his schooling. When they could they escaped New York for Vermont, no matter how short their visit. Nell, too, spent as much time as she could in that idyllic place.
But their dreams of a future at Dingley Dell were not to be.
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