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A sporting camp is an establishment that provides lodging, meals and guide service for hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation and usually consists of a set of “camps” or cabins accompanied by a main lodge (which may or may not have guest rooms). Some also offer primitive outpost cabins. Traditionally found in forests and on lakes in remote locations throughout the state of Maine, sporting camps are a popular lodging destination that have offered a unique outdoors experience to sportsmen across New England and throughout the United States for over a century.〔(Maine Sporting Camp Association )〕 Sporting camps and wilderness lodges allow uniquely easy access to outdoor recreational activities and licensed, Registered Maine Guides along with the opportunity to experience camaraderie with like-minded visitors and a closeness with the surrounding natural environment.〔(Maine Professional Guides Association )〕 Although many sporting camps lack modern amenities such as electricity, indoor plumbing or cell phone coverage, they appeal to those who seek the historic tradition of a Maine wilderness experience. ==History== From colonial times through the early years of statehood, Maine's location off the main routes of travel was perceived as a narrow strip of coastal development with primitive living conditions in the interior.〔Starkey, pp.166&167〕 In 1846, Henry David Thoreau described every log hut in the woods as a public house. The camps and accompanying hovels for the cattle were barely distinguishable except the camps had a chimney. Beneath the chimney a fire was built on the dirt floor and surrounded by benches of split logs.〔Thoreau, pp.23&24〕 When recreational hunting became more popular with increased civilian ownership of firearms following the American Civil War, hunting and fishing opportunities of the Maine North Woods encouraged development of interior sporting camps as an alternative to resort facilities along the Maine coast.〔 Sporting camps were often built beside lakes so the breeze off the open water might blow away some of the black flies, mosquitoes, deer flies and midges which swarm in still air from late spring through early autumn.〔Thoreau, pp.292&293〕 A 1938 list of camps served by the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad included Bear Mountain and Pleasant Lake Camps, Big Lyford Pond Camps, Camp Chesuncook, Harford's Point Camps, Jerry Pond Camps, Kidney Pond Camps, Lily Bay House, Little Lyford Pond Camps, Pleasant Point Camps, Point of Pine Camps, Rainbow Lake Sporting Camps, Scraggly Lake Sporting Camps, Seboomook House, Shinn Pond House, Spencer Bay Camp, Umcolus Lake Camps, West Branch Pond Camps, West Outlet Camps, Wilson Pond Camps, and Yoke Pond Camps named for water features.〔Roberts, pp.288-296〕 Sporting camps served anglers from ice out through the summer and hunters until after the autumn frost; but were often vacant and unheated through the winter months when freezing temperatures might damage indoor plumbing. Flush toilets were uncommon enough to be mentioned in advertisements when available and a 1938 survey of roadside advertising noted very few.〔Roberts, pp.341-358〕 Many of the earliest sporting camps still remain in working operation today. Camps span the Pine Tree State from the Maine North Woods to the western mountains and on to the Down East region. Most are family owned and operated with guests who return every year, often from one generation to the next. Guests originally traveled by some combination of steamboat, railroad, horse-drawn carriage or wagon, canoe, or even by foot, although now many camps gain access by floatplane or unpaved logging roads. Some Maine sporting camps offer a traditional “American Plan” which, along with the lodging, includes three meals a day served in the camp’s main lodge. Most camps also offer a “Housekeeping Plan” for guests who wish to do their own cooking.〔 Many camps have canoes or motor boats available for rent along with guide service provided by wilderness guides licensed by the state of Maine for fishing, hunting, recreation, or some combination of the three. Most sporting camps are historic in their own way. Some were built specifically for sporting purposes around the turn of the century while others began as private residences or retreats and were renovated later to accommodate business needs. Many were work or logging camps in the 1800s before they were converted into sporting camps, and guests often learn camp history by talking to the owners. The popularity of sporting camps in Maine prompted outfitters and businesses such as L.L.Bean to provide hunters and anglers with gear that could withstand harsh Maine wilderness conditions.〔(L.L.Bean Company History )〕 Many camps lease the land surrounding their camps for exclusive hunting rights to offer improved hunting opportunities to guests. Sporting camp owners are typically environmentally conscious and dedicated to preserving the wild lands they call home.〔(Maine Sporting Camp Heritage Foundation )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「sporting camp」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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