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By Diana Bowley, Of the NEWS Staff - ROCKWOOD- The recent sale of the privately owned Old Mill Campground on Route 15 in Rockwood will leave one less place for the public to gain access to Moosehead Lake.Rodney Folsom, a stockholder in West Outlet LLC which owned the 30-acre parcel, confirmed Friday that the property was sold Monday to Rockwood Trust. He declined to identify the operators of the trust but according to a deed filed with the Somerset County Registry of Deeds, the trustees are Therese Giguere, Christine Thabet and Andrew Poirier. Locals say the three people summer in Rockwood but have homes in St. Georges, Quebec. "We thought a long time about it [before we sold it]," Folsom said. He said his group had operated the busy 55-site campground and five rental camps for the past six seasons and had never taken a paycheck from the business, which played a role in the sale. The sale of the campground, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, left some longtime campers at the facility upset. "It's a shame," Keith Kinney of Hudson said Friday. Kinney said he had been camping on the property for 30 years and this year had rented for the full season. Public access to Moosehead Lake is very limited and this just compounds the problem, he said. Kinney said had he and others been aware that the campground was on the market, they would have attempted to gather the finances to protect the public's access to the lake. He said he learned of the sale last weekend. "There had to be other solutions to it," Kinney said. Folsom said the sale was not an easy decision for the owners. "We gave it careful consideration, we live up here and have to make a living year round and the other people are up here recreating," he said. Most of them either are or have made their living elsewhere. It came down to a business decision, he explained. Folsom said there are few businesses operating on the lake now because of the value of the property for residential use. Those campers who have reserved a site or camp can finish out the season, according to Folsom. The camps are traditionally operated from May 15 to Oct. 15. Letters will be mailed to the users to notify them of the sale. |