Camp Log Tavern / Camp Indian Trails
The property began in 1922 as a tennis camp, but the original owners went broke building courts on what was
then swampland next to the lake's outlet. The site became a summer camp centered on a 90-acre, spring-fed lake of glacial origin,
roughly 2.5 miles in circumference and a mile across, known for staying cold, clear, and algae-free even in summer heat or drought.
Before refrigeration was common, ice was cut from the lake and stored packed in sawdust in an Ice House behind the kitchen.
The Miller years (1944–1962)
The camp was owned by the Miller family during this stretch — the account passed down comes from Judy (Miller) Feller,
whose parents ran it. During this era: An American Red Cross Aquatics School began operating at the camp in 1958. During one session,
a scuba diver tried to find the bottom of the lake, reaching ninety feet before the water grew too murky to continue. Swimming, boating,
canoeing, and fishing were core activities, with the lake supporting pickerel, bass, sunfish, perch, and catfish. In the early 1950s,
DDT drift from gypsy moth spraying wiped out much of the fish population; it eventually recovered and was later supplemented
by private stocking of lake trout.
Geography and naming
The USGS's 1917 Milford quadrangle map shows two adjacent lakes: "Big Log Tavern Pond" (today's Gold Key Lake) and "Little Log Tavern Pond,"
which is the camp's lake. Big Log Tavern Pond was once part of the Annenberg Estate before changing hands
several times and eventually becoming the Gold Key community.
Later legal/corporate footprint
Separately, business records show a company called Camp Indian Trails was incorporated on October 4, 1955,
and vintage camp achievement plaques from 1964 and 1965 survive, awarded for activities like fishing, rowing, and swimming
suggesting the camp operated actively at least through the mid-1960s.
What it became
Eventually the camp property was subdivided, and the surrounding community — now called Indian Trails --
was founded by some of the original campers and staff of Camp Indian Trails,
becoming a small, quiet residential enclave on Log Tavern Pond that persists today.