“I spent most of my time with Outing Club. It was the opposite of sock hops to meet men, or weekends away by invitation to men’s colleges for football games and booze.
As an OCer, if interested, you would start off as a Heeler. MHOC badge (blue and white, of course). You would be in charge first, of a meal and fun at the fireplace by the tennis courts. Order food from the commissary, get people to set up, have a program maybe, and clean up.
Next step would be the same for one or more trips to the OC cabin on Mt. Holyoke. If you were diligent, you got to be a Leader (“Leader” above the MHOC badge). As a senior, with a driver’s license, you could be a driver for the OC station wagon. Note: Cars were only allowed on campus for seniors in good standing, after spring break in my day.
OC helped to decide on the Mountain Day trips, and Leaders were used as leaders for the trips. The OC President was in charge of organizing the buses for Mountain Day trips, so she would know what the day would be in advance. If you noticed details, the cooks in the dorms would be cooking many extra hard-boiled eggs one afternoon – a sure way to tell that Mountain Day was the next day! [Note: Each dorm had its own dining room where you ate all your meals. They were sit-down meals. Freshman year I was in South Mandelle, with a pre-lunch class in the top of the science bldg: hop on bike, tear down and across the brook, up the hill, to set up for lunch! Wednesday evening, we had to dress up with stockings and there was after-dinner coffee with the house mother. Each person had a linen napkin, kept in a cubby; these were replaced with clean ones on Wednesdays and Sundays.]
The Outing Club cabin was a very special place to go off campus. We would bike there, with the OC station wagon following with our supplies. Up the path to the cabin, with its wonderful outlook over the river. The cabin had a lovely smell from years of fireplace wood smoke. There was also an electric stove so we could choose how to do our cooking (mostly one pot meals). Singing along with Phyl Wilson ’57 on her guitar. Rolling out our sleeping bags in the two lofts with their bunk beds, or on the floor in front of the fire.
My senior year, when I was OC President, the cabin burnt down in December. Luckily, no one was there at the time, and I am not sure if the reason for the fire was ever decided. It may have been that the mice finally chewed through some electrical wiring? OCers gathered money for a new cabin, but it will never replace the old one in our minds.
I remember men coming on road trips from RPI, Dartmouth, and Yale. I think enough years have passed that we can share that they slept in the building that housed the boiler room! One item which I would like to mention, is that on these road trips, the men might come to see a particular MHCer, but if she was not available, they would just go and find other OCers to spend time in the gym for sing-alongs, or go square dancing in Northampton, or hiking, canoeing… Really good group activities!
MHOC was a member of the Intercollegiate Outing Cub Association (IOCA). That meant weekends away from campus with other colleges – canoeing on Lake George I remember once; lots of hiking and camping weekends. One summer, just before the start of school, some of us MHOCers went on a camping trip to the Mt Marcy area of NY.
I think the best years of MHOC were 1955-1957. After 1957 graduated, with no cabin, interest fell off sharply.”