© 2004 Beth Teele-Haidinger

last updated: June 25, 2015

Holloway's Island

Holloway’s Camp Background

Emory Holloway and his wife Ella Brooks Harris Holloway purchased the Holloway camp in 1926, after spending a summer renting another camp from Trapper Lombard. He was a college professor and author who wrote parts of his Pulitzer Prize book about Walt Whitman while in Meddybemps. He received the prize in 1927.
His son, Bob, was 10 years old, and their daughter, Rita was 7.  They spent every summer in Meddybemps until about 1960, when he was 75 years old, and he no longer felt able to negotiate his way around the island. He did live another 18 years and died in 1977.

The camp passed down to their son, Robert Howard Boone Holloway in the early 1960's and he made substantial changes in the early 1970's. He built a new boat house which now was wide enough for two boats side by side.  He had a large part of the front porch glassed in and enclosed to enlarge the liveable area of the house.  He purchased a new power boat with an 110 hp inboard/outboard power assembly.  He made a number of other improvements to the camp.

In the late 80's, along with 5 other lake residents, they founded their own utilitry company (called "MUD", for Meddybemps Utilities Distribution, Inc) and strung a telephone line underwater to the six camps. Several years later, in the early 90's, they laid an underwater electric power line to the same camps. They were: Holloway, Sager, Waldron, Putnam, Kelly and Jensen.  A few years later on, Towe also joined MUD. MUD was disbanded in the early 00's when the Eastern Maine power company took over the service.

Bob Holloway died in 2001 at the age of 84, having been predeceased by his wife, Dottie in 1978.

The camp then passed on to their children, Jack Holloway and Carol Tomasch.  Jack is famous around the lake for his homemade quarter scale tugboat. He has two daughters, Kate born in 1973 and Beth Conger, born 1974. Carol has a son, Michael born in 1981 and a step-son, Kenn born in 1965.

Submitted by Roland & Carol Tomasch, July 2006

 

2012 Dennys River and Lake Meddybemps Water Management, by Colby Bruchs

Photos from Pete from the Superfund Site - Indian Tribute, Sept. 2012.

For a peek at what is being sold by the LMA, click here

Ice above Town dock - 4.4.13

Ice below Town Dock - 4.4.13

Open water above camp - 4.4.13

Denny's River at canal mouth - 4.5.13

Denny's River upstream to bridge - 4.5.13

Broken ice and open water above dock - 4.5.13