Rapidan Camp - Trout Pond

The Madison Eagle announces the President's choice of Rapidan to his new neighbors.

"Fishing seems to be the sole avenue left to Presidents through which they may escape to their own thoughts and my live in their own imaginings and find relief from the pneumatic hammer of constant personal contacts, and refreshment of mind in the babble of rippling brooks. Moreover, it is a constant reminder of the democracy of life, of humility and of human frailty - for men are equal before fishes. And it is desirable that the President of the United States should be periodically reminded of this fundamental fact - that the forces of nature discriminate for no man."
- Herbert Hoover

Fishing was the primary motivation for building Rapidan Camp at the headwaters of the Rapidan River. Although the Camp came to be much more than a great place to fish, the President's favorite activity provided much needed respite. Hoover's physician, Admiral Joel T. Boone said, "I never saw him happier than when he was on the Rapidan."

As part of the construction of naturalistic water features throughout the camp, the Marines built this trout pond. Reports of its actual use vary somewhat; some calling the trout in the pond "pets," others reporting it as a place to keep the non-native Rainbow trout, and still others describing it as a holding tank for trout intended for dinner. However, many who wrote of the pond remember daily feedings of beef hearts, a fact borne out by household receipts.