Camp Wandawega

08/19/2026

ESTATE SALE FIND!
(Every now & then an estate sale pops up that I can’t ignore)

This one was up on the North Shore.
huge old house.
The owner had been a liquor distributor who lived big life into his 90s.

His office looked like he’d just stepped out in 1973 and never came back.
8 tracks. answering machine. 8mm camera. Avon novelty aftershave.

The basement was a pure 1970s bachelor pad time capsule magc.
Pool & pingpong, conversation pit, fireplace (& insane wine cellar)
Heff vibes.

Then I hit the garage.
That’s where I found the tackle box for 45 bucks.

Inside was decades of fishing.
including a Langley “Fisherman’s De-Liar”
& unopened cans of cat food and corn for bait (& one random pin-up matchbook)

It wasn’t curated. It was lived. (and coated in what felt like rod grease & fish guts)
Trip after trip, year after year.
That’s why I love these places. You’re not really buying stuff. You’re buying evidence of a life.

the only unboxing video you’ll ever see on this feed is slide no. 2.
Everything else in this post was pulled from all over camp.
(& seeing all of it together reminded me that fishing has always been at the core of camp)

Forever it’s just shown up everywhere from our brochures & business cards to our lake maps & placemats. patches & postcards.
(and all the campers casting their lines here for a 100+ years and running)

Which is kinda why im obsessing over this complete stranger’s tackle box .

maybe he spent his Saturdays on little lakes like ours?

So this box is staying together.
(nothing in it is really special collectible-
i just wanna keep it all togeher,
it tells the story of one person’s lifetime spent chasing something that maybe he never caught.

so now It’ll live in the Department of Objects, alongside a hundred years of other people’s summers.

We don’t collect things because they’re valuable. We hold onto them because they carry fingerprints & little histories.

also, to justify my hoarding-
i keep telling myself that the object is just the excuse- The real artifact is the life behind it.

got a shot of a fish you caught in lake wandawega? DM us!

08/14/2026

When’s the last time you ventured out in the middle of the night to cast your line ?

These two showing us how it’s done ❤️GOODY VAULT™️ Ryan Cascarano

Good things are coming.

📸 Nathan Bobey Ryan Cascarano

08/10/2026

08/06/2026

Meet the newest additions to Camp!
(They’re officially open today)

Thanks, dwell, for featuring our tiniest expansion (and the elbow grease behind them)

We’ve always liked to think that good design has more to do with resourcefulness than resources.

Every project has two stories: the one you see, and the one it took to get there. We still see the white-knuckle drive to get them to camp, the 14-hour days and I spent building the interiors, Zach and Jesus building the roofs, the decks—powered almost entirely by skill, coffee, and creative profanity. (The finished photos never show that part)

One line from the story felt especially true:
“We’ve always been drawn to overlooked things that were built with ingenuity rather than prestige.”

That pretty much sums up the last 25 years here.

Thanks to Adrian Madlener for reminding everyone that behind every “design project” around here is usually Facebook Marketplace, a borrowed forklift, a local friend who says, “I think I can move that,” and several months of sawdust.

Because the truth is, we’re not collectors of expensive things.

We’re just collectors of good ideas that everyone else drove past.

And yes... these also have HVHC. (We’re not complete masochists.)

P.S. Link’s in our profile if you’d like to disappear into the woods for a couple of nights.

P.P.S. Thanks NathanBobey, & for making these things look (& sound) way better & bigger than they deserve IRL.

08/01/2026

When is the last time you :
Swam at midnight
shot baskets in the woods
got pulled down in tug-o-war

Thanks for sharing your View with us, Devon║Lifestyle Photographer

07/29/2026

ITS HERE!
Welcome to our new little Camp Rec. Dept.

READY. SET….
30 games.
1 tiny building.
( & unreasonable amount of signs)

We spent an embarrassing amount of time making every random birdie, bocce ball, relay baton & tetherball paddle has a home. (The question isn’t whether we can keep it this organized- it’s how long. Place your bets. 🎯

1. Tetherball
2. Badminton
3. Paddle Tennis
4. Tennis
5. Ping-Pong
6. Frisbee
7. Ring Toss
8. Bocce Ball
9. Bag Toss
10. Hula Hoops
11. Football
12. Soccer
13. Basketball
14. Volleyball
15. Yoga
16. Hiking Sticks
17. Croquet
18. Capture the Flag
19. Three-Legged Race
20. Potato Sack Race
21. Horseshoes
22. Shuffleboard
23. Tug-of-War
24. Wiffle Ball
25. Softball
26. Baseball
27. Walking Sticks
28. Relay baton
29. Jump Rope
30. Scoop Ball

07/29/2026

Camp Recreation Dept.

READY. SET….

30 games.
1 tiny building.
(& unreasonable amount of signs)

We spent an embarrassing amount of time making sure every badminton birdie, bocce ball, relay baton, and tetherball had a proper home. The question isn’t whether we can keep it this organized. The question is how long. Place your bets. 🎯

1. Tetherball
2. Badminton
3. Paddle Tennis
4. Tennis
5. Ping-Pong
6. Frisbee
7. Ring Toss
8. Bocce Ball
9. Bag Toss
10. Hula Hoops
11. Football
12. Soccer
13. Basketball
14. Volleyball
15. Yoga
16. Hiking Sticks
17. Croquet
18. Capture the Flag
19. Three-Legged Race
20. Potato Sack Race
21. Horseshoes
22. Shuffleboard
23. Tug-of-War
24. Wiffle Ball
25. Softball
26. Baseball
27. Walking Sticks
28. Relay baton
29. Jump Rope
30. Scoop Ball

📸 Nathan Bobey

07/22/2026

Today’s the day we finally get to share the cover. 🥲

A hundred years ago, someone else started this story. For the last 24 years, David and I have been lucky enough to help carry it forward. This book is our way of passing it on.

Can’t wait to send this little piece of Camp into the world next spring.

If you’ve spent any time at Camp, you already know this place has never been a two-person operation. ❤️ Thank you to our friends, family, camp team, creative collaborators, guests, and the 35+ photographers whose work helped tell its story.


ABOUT (publisher’s excerpt):

“In Return to Camp, you’re invited to visit the historic destination and bring the nostalgic style of camp into your everyday, with inspiration and introductions to the camp’s creative community. Nestled lakeside into over one hundred years of history, Camp Wandawega is not new, not improved. It is a gathering place inviting visitors to relive summer camp memories and lean into creativity deep in the Wisconsin woods. It has also become a must-visit and iconic getaway —despite proudly referring to itself as a “1/8th-of-a-star.” Return to Camp is a thoughtful guide to evergreen design. Evocative photography and a candid narrative reveal the storied past and unique restorations of Camp, from repurposed Girl Scout cabins to a treehouse built by friends. Surratt reveals how places become meaningful when they are shaped with memory and care. Featuring interviews with beloved guests who are leading figures in the worlds of food, art, architecture, and more, and guided by intentionality from interior design to personal collaboration, Return to Camp offers wisdom on both creating an escape and finding belonging, wherever you are.”

( learn more & Pre-order in profile )
Thanks - a bunch
Running Press Book Publishers Hachette Book Group 📖
Cover: Bob Coscarelli
Editor: Anna Shura
Designer: Jenna McBride
Dept. of Creative : Nathan Bobey

07/20/2026

Before pop-ups, there were street peddlers.

When , invited us to join the Logan Square Farmers Market inside OSB at we figured if we were going to sell Camp wares we might as well do it the way someone would have in 1925.

Since we just hit our 100th year, we figured this would be a good way to tip our hat to the era when the camp was founded.

So David tracked down a 3rd-gen farmer in Wisconsin who had a 100 yr old handmade iron street vendor’s cart. Then an original 1924 peddler’s license. Then a period goat bell (the kind street vendors rang as they made their way through neighborhoods)

We talked our pal Chess at into lettering cart crate “Notions, Curiosities & Camp-Wares for the Outdoor Enthusiast.”
Then hansens into silk-screened a custom-sewn duck canvas vendor’s umbrella. (We had it made by the only company in the country still fabricating period-umbrellas, a small shop in Mo. that recreates them for antique tractor restorations.

If you swipe to see original St. Louis trade catalog from the company that once supplied vendor’s umbrellas across the Midwest. A century ago, they weren’t just for shade- they were a peddler’s biggest advertisement, making a cart recognizable from halfway down the
block.

Turns out recreating something simple from 100 years ago is surprisingly complicated.

In the 20’s, the pushcart was neighborhood commerce. Long before pop-ups, vendors rolled through Chicago ringing bells & bringing everything from produce and flowers to cookware and clothing directly to the sidewalk. That tradition helped launch some of Chicago’s earliest entrepreneurial success stories - and laid the groundwork for the legendary street-food culture that would later make brands grow into eventual brick & mortars.

For the “after”... come find us this Sunday at OSB. Our Camp Sportsman’s Charm Bar, patch bar, & mini souvenir shop, will be bellied up to our friends & .

we’ll be peddlin’ camp wares, provisions, ( and whatever else we managed to haul down from Wisco & )

Come ring the bell, browse the wares & help us bring a little bit of 1925 back to Chicago.

07/13/2026

3 days in PHILLY (for meetings-turned camp inspo trip with the fam)
Here’s where we wandered… IDK what we missed?(already looking forward next visit)

Most of these spots survived because generations of folks cared enough to preserve them.
Historic businesses- all in old buildings with new lives

Elfreth's Alley
Oldest residential block in America. Obsessed.


One of the oldest manufacturers of flags in the US. 


America’s oldest family-owned Italian restaurant… served everybody from Biden, Sinatra & Taylor


Since 1863, America’s oldest candy shop. *see clip 🎥


1700s country estate turned women’s refuge, then invalid home, reimagined into GORG hotel

Janet Huffman
Meeting our publisher - working on “Return to Camp” ( offices in an architectural masterpiece 🙌)


America’s oldest LGBTQ+ book (& THRIFT) store

Boathouse Row
Never have I ever seen a more beautiful collection of houses (for housing boats)

Academy of Natural Sciences
One of the oldest natural history museums. (I now want a taxidermy fam of possums)

Anthropologie Flagship
Inside one of the last remaining Gilded Age mansions on Rittenhouse Square

Barnes Foundation
One of the world’s greatest private collections of art & The only place you’ll find Picassos, sharing wall space with spatulas.

Pizzeria Beddia
Bon Apetite’s “best pizza in America” (In a reworked garage you enter off an alley) 👏


An institution. Belly up w/locals. Try the Fishtown Scrapple, a local fishermen’s fave going back (Also, 1st time I ever bought merch from a diner).


We were lucky enough to meet the 3rd gen owner, who gave us an tour of this time capsule 🙏


doubles as a gallery space for old hippies. Aging hipsters. Art school kids. Epically layered with art & stories. Perfection.

Johnny Brenda's Fishtown
A former corner tavern that’s become one of the country’s great small music venues without losing its soul. (Or asbestos tile & sign)

* Also ! & SO MANY fat cats