UPDATE: Sharon passed away on Friday, March 14, 2025. Click here to read her obituary.
Sharon Soule Hammond Macintosh
Sharon Soule Hammond Macintosh
Inducted onto the Wall of Fame on April 6, 2024.
Tribute by Ro Woodard
The Lady Who Lived at Timbercrest Before it Was Timbercrest
It all started with almost not reading the article in the Post- Journal’s Living Section with a photo of a smiling women and her Christmas tree and ended with the discovery of a bit of living history of Camp Timbercrest. See https://www.post-journal.com/news/top-stories/2023/12/charging-through-life-at-85/ for the story.
I had skipped over the section, not interested in a fluff story, but for some reason later in the day I returned to that section of the paper and saw in the photo caption something which caught my eye - the mention of Camp Timbercrest. This smiling lady pictured with her Christmas tree had lived at Timbercrest! I immediately dubbed her “The Lady who lived at Timbercrest before it was Timbercrest.” I read the whole article, ordered the memoir she’d written about herself and her brother growing up, and wrote her a letter on a photocopied piece of old stationary (thank you Natasha Johnson Patchen for supplying it) with an aerial photo of camp and invited her to speak at our next Friends of Timbercrest Work Weekend.
Two weeks later I received a phone call from Sharon who is a delightful, funny, and engaging conversationalist and full of stories about living at camp before it was camp. She answered many questions about camp - Willow Bridge was their driveway, the wishing well was their spring box which brought water to their house - their only running water, and Mr. Jackman’s first name was Tommy. She referred to the trailing arbutus which used to grow in the area between Bellinger and Jackman Lodges before the trees grew in and about seeing Great Blue Herons flying over and finding Pink Lady Slippers in the woods. Keyser Lake now occupies part of the pastures of their farm and their house was the boarding house for an old sawmill before her family lived there. Sawmill? A story for another time. The house and barn were located very near to the present-day Bellinger Lodge.
Sharon graciously accepted my invitation to speak and asked if she could bring her son, Kelly, who would be her ride to camp. Of course, he was invited. Several weeks later she called again and asked if she might bring her grandchildren and great-grandchildren as they would like to see where Grandma grew up and where so many of her stories were born.
Friends of Timbercrest hosted 14 members, four generations of her family and both Sharon and Kelly regaled us with humorous and poignant stories of growing up on the property that would become the camp we love.
Sharon may never have been a Girl Scout, but her sense of adventure, fun, and wonderment about the out-of-doors and love of camping surely makes her one of us.
She has shared her recipe for Camp Mush with me. When her family would gather to stay and camp together, she would get out an enormous skillet and ask would they like scrambled eggs or pancakes and invariably the answer would be both. Sharon would accommodate by mixing pancake batter with the scrambled eggs and frying up the “mush” together.
In the long history of camp, I had never given much thought to who may have owned, lived, and worked the farms which became Timbercrest. It is a bit of treasured living history to have had Sharon share her stories and love of Timbercrest before it was Timbercrest. Her memoir “Just Connie ‘N Me: A Recollection” is a charming book with lots of stories that happened right at Timbercrest. (Amazon Listing)
In her book she wrote of her childhood home: “The house that held all those rooms, drawers, windows, and that mattress* was bulldozed into the cellar to make way for a camp where other children and young people can gather, learn about life, and enjoy the out-of-doors and create their own memories. That place is called Camp Timbercrest.”
I think her prophecy came true.
*Regarding that mattress: you’ll have to read the book!
Inducted onto the Wall of Fame on April 6, 2024.
Tribute by Ro Woodard
The Lady Who Lived at Timbercrest Before it Was Timbercrest
It all started with almost not reading the article in the Post- Journal’s Living Section with a photo of a smiling women and her Christmas tree and ended with the discovery of a bit of living history of Camp Timbercrest. See https://www.post-journal.com/news/top-stories/2023/12/charging-through-life-at-85/ for the story.
I had skipped over the section, not interested in a fluff story, but for some reason later in the day I returned to that section of the paper and saw in the photo caption something which caught my eye - the mention of Camp Timbercrest. This smiling lady pictured with her Christmas tree had lived at Timbercrest! I immediately dubbed her “The Lady who lived at Timbercrest before it was Timbercrest.” I read the whole article, ordered the memoir she’d written about herself and her brother growing up, and wrote her a letter on a photocopied piece of old stationary (thank you Natasha Johnson Patchen for supplying it) with an aerial photo of camp and invited her to speak at our next Friends of Timbercrest Work Weekend.
Two weeks later I received a phone call from Sharon who is a delightful, funny, and engaging conversationalist and full of stories about living at camp before it was camp. She answered many questions about camp - Willow Bridge was their driveway, the wishing well was their spring box which brought water to their house - their only running water, and Mr. Jackman’s first name was Tommy. She referred to the trailing arbutus which used to grow in the area between Bellinger and Jackman Lodges before the trees grew in and about seeing Great Blue Herons flying over and finding Pink Lady Slippers in the woods. Keyser Lake now occupies part of the pastures of their farm and their house was the boarding house for an old sawmill before her family lived there. Sawmill? A story for another time. The house and barn were located very near to the present-day Bellinger Lodge.
Sharon graciously accepted my invitation to speak and asked if she could bring her son, Kelly, who would be her ride to camp. Of course, he was invited. Several weeks later she called again and asked if she might bring her grandchildren and great-grandchildren as they would like to see where Grandma grew up and where so many of her stories were born.
Friends of Timbercrest hosted 14 members, four generations of her family and both Sharon and Kelly regaled us with humorous and poignant stories of growing up on the property that would become the camp we love.
Sharon may never have been a Girl Scout, but her sense of adventure, fun, and wonderment about the out-of-doors and love of camping surely makes her one of us.
She has shared her recipe for Camp Mush with me. When her family would gather to stay and camp together, she would get out an enormous skillet and ask would they like scrambled eggs or pancakes and invariably the answer would be both. Sharon would accommodate by mixing pancake batter with the scrambled eggs and frying up the “mush” together.
In the long history of camp, I had never given much thought to who may have owned, lived, and worked the farms which became Timbercrest. It is a bit of treasured living history to have had Sharon share her stories and love of Timbercrest before it was Timbercrest. Her memoir “Just Connie ‘N Me: A Recollection” is a charming book with lots of stories that happened right at Timbercrest. (Amazon Listing)
In her book she wrote of her childhood home: “The house that held all those rooms, drawers, windows, and that mattress* was bulldozed into the cellar to make way for a camp where other children and young people can gather, learn about life, and enjoy the out-of-doors and create their own memories. That place is called Camp Timbercrest.”
I think her prophecy came true.
*Regarding that mattress: you’ll have to read the book!
Sharon's family came to enjoy the day.
Photos from the Post Journal Article referenced above:
Sharon with her brother "Connie"
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1956 Graduate of Randolph High
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Celebrating Christmas
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Friends of Timbercrest preserve, enhance, and promote Camp Timbercrest in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Western New York.
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This website is owned and operated by the Friends of Timbercrest (FOT). It is not an official website of GSUSA or GSWNY.
FOT works in partnership with GSWNY to preserve, enhance, and promote Girl Scout Camp Timbercrest so that it may always be a place where girls can connect with nature, try new things, and build confidence & self-reliance.
FOT works in partnership with GSWNY to preserve, enhance, and promote Girl Scout Camp Timbercrest so that it may always be a place where girls can connect with nature, try new things, and build confidence & self-reliance.