The Portal

I’ve been asked explain why I suggested the “The Portal” as a new name for what has long been known as Camp Columbia. Here is what I wrote when I first suggested the name as a possibility. It appears to have stuck:

“The Portal”

This was my suggestion for a new name for the former Camp Columbia. First, the world ‘portal’ contains a lovely hint of Porter family name. Second, the word ‘portal’ refers in architecture to a larger doorway, or gate, the entrance to something important. In fiction and in film, ‘portal’ usually indicates a doorway to another time, place or dimension, a magic entryway to new adventures, which perfectly reflects what we want to do with this amazing property, a space that stirs the imagination and suggests transformations, news ways of seeing and doing things. The two arbutus trees leaning across the road halfway down the drive reinforce the impression I have, and which the new name conveys, of something magical about to take place.

Gary Geddes