And on a humid August day, despite the threat of rain, the annual Sekon Steak Roast got under way. Smoke from the grill wafted under white tents, and the 30 or so families gathered.

AUCTION BID

Their stories of revival are pushing four generations here.

It was an auction on July 11, 1964, that put the fate of Fish Rock Camp into many ordinary hands.

A thousand people came to bid or watch the place sell.

Nolan Powell was a schoolteacher in 1964 when he inadvertently bought the former library building.

At 84, he smiles telling the story now.

He had been on vacation with his family and went to the auction with a friend; the first three Sekon buildings had sold for between $10,000 and $15,000 apiece.

Nolan raised his paddle as bids for the library hit $7,900.

It was about one year's salary for a teacher at the time. He thought the price was going up.

"All of a sudden I heard going, going, gone,' and I sort of shook my head."

Meantime, Nolan's wife, also a schoolteacher, pulled up in a station wagon with six children in back, packed up for the ride home to Rochester.

They didn't leave that night.

Scott Powell, one of Nolan's five sons, was 9 and remembers the moment well.

"We saw him walking toward us with a hand full of papers and a smile on his face. I could have sworn I heard her say, What did he do now?'," Scott grinned.