The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-07-22
BURNHAM'S TALL TOWER.
MOST PROMINENT FEATURE OF
 NIAYRIC CAMP GROUND.

tain Man Who Was Assured by the
 spirits That it Would Prove a Paying
 venture-Mistake somewhere.
 Among the many semi-shore resorts where Connecticut people go to enjoy a season of quiet and rest is Pine Grove Camp at Mantle. It is 50 far removed from the ordinary lines of shore travel that it is rarely noticed, and never. un- less one. while crossing the divide be- tween Mantle Bay and Mantle River, takes a good look to the north, when he will notice a cluster of pine trees about one mile up the river and just to the north of the state camp grounds. The only prominent feature Of the place is the tall tower which shoots it's white column seventy-f1ve feet above the tops of the tallest pine in the grove. Pine Grove Camp covers a plot of ground about forty acres in extent, almost en- tirely covered with pine trees, and with the exception of the south side adjoin- ing the state camp grounds. entirely surrounded by the tide waters of the Mantle River and Smiths Cove.
 The camp grounds are owned by the Connecticut spiritualists Camp meeting Association, which was organized as a voluntary association in 1881 and incor- porated by the legislature in 1SSS. The association divided the larger part of the land into streets and lots, the latter being twenty-five by fifty feet, and these are leased to the members by perpetual lease, subject to certain rules and regulations of the association.
 When the association was organized and the camp meeting projected, the Spiritualists' camp meeting at Lake Pleasant, Mass, was at the zenith of It's glory and great popularity and large attendance at the Lake Pleasant meet ings was the melting cause for the es- | Establishment of the Mantle enterprise. It was, however, as a counter attrac- tion a complete failure, but it grew, slowly but surely, until to-day there are about one hundred pretty cottages on I the grounds, most of them of a com modious and convenient character and by no means so congested as the gene ral rule in other camp grounds.
 The tall tower, above mentioned. is sometimes called Burnhan's Folly. It Is one hundred and twenty-five feet above the ground and stands on the highest point in the grove, making 1t about one hundred and sixty feet above the sea level; 1t is twenty-two feet square at the base and about eight feet square at the top, surrnounted by platform fourteen feet square sur rounded by a substantial railing. The I interior has floor about once in ten feet and, until one is pretty well up in the air, the rooms thus formed are used for lodging purposes when one can be found venturesone enough to spend the night there; 1t is guyed on four sides by a wire cable and so far it has with
 stood the gales of more than twenty
 years.
 The tower was erected by H. l.. I Burnhanl, who was a resident of New Britain. He was one of the original in lcorporators of the association and, soon after the camp grounds were estab- liished. he said he had received a com lmunication from the spirits that it would be the proper thing for him to lerect a tower. Mr. Burnham wasn't
 sure about the paying qualities of the d venture, for 1t was going to take nearly lthree thousand dollars of his hard l earned dollars, but he had trusted the spirits before and had profited by their advice and he finally allowed his spirit guides to overcome his objections, and has since served as a sort of Jacob's s ladder by which Inortals, who didn't seem to have the ability to attract their spirit friends down to earth could meet I them part way up and also as a bea-
 con to attract both mortals and spirits l to a truly spiritual rendezvous.
 The tower was never a financial sue T cess, the labor of climbing one hundred and twenty-five feet into the air was too strong an influence against drop ping the necessary number of dimes into the owners till to make it pay. and the swaying of the tower in a ] heavy wind discouraged people from
 using it as a lodging house. MT Burn-
 ham passed to the other country about
 ane years ago and with him probably
 the desire to keep the tower in safe
 working order. It will be only a ques- tion of time when the tower will be
 razed, which he, with so much faith in \ spirit guidance, built more than twenty
 years ago -Niantic Letter to the Hart | ford fto,i,-r |, f