Round Bay Kids Learn About Spooky History At Summer Camp

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Nothing says summer camp quite like telling spooky stories at night.

Round Bay runs a beach day camp every year for kids of all ages. For 2018, organizers Micah Silengo and Kerry De Vivo created a separate river camp offering activities for kids in fifth through eighth grade, including a bike/hike to FroYo House and Help A Neighbor Day. Round Bay’s first ghost tour was held the last day of camp.

The idea came from Silego, who had recently gone with her daughter on a field trip that included history tours and a ghost tour. Both organizers wanted to include an event that would allow the kids to learn about the history of Round Bay. They decided on a ghost tour because they thought it would be more interesting for the kids.

“If we told them that they would be planning a history tour, they probably wouldn’t have been as excited about it,” De Vivo said.

To find the locations for the ghost tour, campers and adults were asked to share their knowledge of historic locations in Severna Park. The campers and their parents were divided into groups to interview people who lived in historic houses.

“The idea was that the campers would be very involved in the organization and execution of the tour,” De Vivo said.

On the night of the tour, each location was led by one of the campers or the hosts. Most of the neighbors also shared stories for their location.

The lunar phase helped create a spooky atmosphere for the tour. “There just happened to be a full moon that night,” Silego said.

The tour included stories about houses that had been converted from other buildings. One house used to be the old train station from when Round Bay was a railway extension to the beach in the early 1900s.

“There were probably 40 kids and adults going through their home and getting to see what was left of the train station,” Silego said.

For some locations, participants and hosts shared photos or showed objects that were important to that location. Participants shared photos of a residence that was too far to walk to that had gravestones in the yard. A resident at another location showed tickets to the old Round Bay dining hall.

Participants also told stories about a house on Askewton Road that is rumored to be haunted.

Both organizers loved that the tour allowed people of all generations in the community to participate.

“A lot of the neighbors who participated were the elders of our neighborhood,” De Vivo said. “They were all getting to participate in sharing the history of our community. Everyone was excited to be there.”

The campers also enjoyed the tour and hope to do another one next year.

“We should definitely do it again,” Gavin Fridley said. “It was really fun and I learned a lot about my community.”

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