WWII Army Mash Tents
In 1984, Sonlight had begun a 6,000 square foot lodge. This gave us a dining room, kitchen and upstairs sleeping area. But we had no other sleeping except small backpacking tents. So, the Presbyterian Church group, that was coming to Sonlight for their 2 weeks of camp, purchased 4 large Army Mash tents. These were about 20 feet by 30 feet in size. A church member brought up old pieces of pipe which he cut for tent poles. We used wooden pallets as flooring. As you can imagine, a lot of items fell through the pallets and onto the dirt. These tents were old smelly canvas, stored for years in some outdoor area. They smelled terrible. The roofs were full of holes so the rain just came through the roof and onto the many sleeping bags rolled out across the pallets. It was not the best place to sleep. In fact, it was quite horrible. But, now, Sonlight had some additional sleeping areas for kids.
We put the Mash tents where the cabins would go in the future. There was one where the Hilton now stands, one where Hi-UP is and one where E-Dub is today.
Over time, these were all replaced with real log cabins, complete with metal rainproof roofs, solid carpeted floors and furnaces for the winter months. Little by little, Sonlight is being developed as the camp facility you know today.