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PRICE COTTAGE - 1996

Price CampConstructed in 1996, the most recent camp to be built on Thompson's Point is owned by Jeff and Andy Price. It is interesting to note that this camp replaces the previous most recently constructed camp which was also erected by the Price family in 1960. Ben and Jane Price built on the site of the former home of William and Marian Obomsawin, son and daughter of Simon Obomsawin who was widely believed to be the last full-blooded member of the Abnaki tribe. A cannonball was later found on the site, although there is no reason to believe that anyone ever fired a cannon at the Obomsawins.

Simon served as caretaker for the Association in its early years, and one of the Point legends involves his tenure here. A camper walking the path at night allegedly spotted something large up in a tree. Believing it to be a bear, he went to get his gun. When he returned he found that the "bear" was Simon's wife who had climbing into the tree and fallen asleep. William and Marian were good friends and neighbors to Point campers. They earned a little money making and selling baskets and their unique cedar furniture to campers, and their vegetable garden provided fresh fare for many Point tables. Back when Vermont paid a bounty for rattlesnakes, Obomsawin relatives would occasionally row over to New York's side of the lake to catch snakes and bring them back for the bounty. In 1959 a tragic fire took William's life and Marian left the Point to live with relatives. According to the account of the fire in the October 13th, 1959 Burlington Daily News, Obomsawin means "Make Fire".

Ben and Jane Price came from the New York City area where he worked for the Herald Tribune. They built a one-story shingle cottage that differed from the mainstream Victorian ambiance of the Point "proper". For years they sought to gain approval from the Town of Charlotte to make over their camp. Finally, in 1995, a year after Ben's death, the Town granted a permit. A traditional "Adirondack-style" camp was finally fitted into the Point, completing the journey started by the elder Prices four decades earlier.

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