My husband Jeff and I were recently inspired to offer a night at Patton’s Cabin with students. Patton’s is a place we have been saying we would get to–but we took stock and realized this is year ten at Thacher, and we hadn’t made it yet. So, there was no better time than the present. We planned for a Friday night. True confession: We did this in part because of our family tradition of “Fun Friday nights” with our boys. We thought Patton’s would certainly fulfill our family criteria of a fun event for a Friday. We also chose Friday because it would allow students to scoot off campus for a night and come back for sports commitments on Saturday, as many teams had games. We also staggered our departure times to accommodate late practices.
By 3:45 on Friday afternoon, our boys Hayden and Hiram, Jeff, our dog Cypress, five students and I were headed to Patton’s. We enjoyed a leisurely walk in with the sun sinking behind the ridge, opened the cabin and got dinner started. We marveled at the propane stoves, running water from a cistern and cozy wood stove. Soon after, our colleague Nick Van Sant arrived with several other students; they had hiked in under the light of the rising almost-full moon. Finally, Jerry and Keri Holden walked our last three campers in by 7:45 PM. From there, the festivities began in earnest–marshmallow roasting for s’mores, a roaring fire outside for singing (thanks to Evan Farese’s ukelele (CdeP 2013)) and card playing in the cabin. Eventually everyone fell asleep, and in the morning, we made pancakes. Margot Hughan (CdeP 2012) manned the griddle and did a fantastic job.
By noon, everyone was back on campus, ready for contests against Cate or heading to the barns for chores. Still, we all felt restored by our time away and amazed by the benefit of this little spot of heaven. From the maintenance parking lot to the front door of Patton’s was an hour and twenty minutes. I am sure that Clarence Patton never could have imagined back in 1898 that one hundred and fourteen years later, his homestead spot in the wilderness would offer such close comfort for those seeking a respite from the hustle and bustle of campus life. Fun Friday, indeed.