On a warm summer night in 1981, 3-year-old Anna Drummond sat on the floor of her parents’ Grand Laker canoe. Her father, Greg, paddled a mile across the calm water from Lindsay Cove to Cobb’s Pierce Pond Camps — a remote Maine sporting camp in Pierce Pond Township that served as the family’s summer home for two decades while her parents worked there.

“Dad didn’t start the outboard motor,” she said, “so we glided beneath a bright moon over water as smooth as glass. Halfway across, a beaver surfaced and slapped its tail, shattering the moon’s reflection. I burst into tears, certain the moon had broken apart and fallen into the pond.”

Now 47, Anna remembers that night vividly.

“As a child, I couldn’t understand why my parents and sisters weren’t panicking,” she said with a laugh. “Now when I think about what Cobb’s Camps meant to me then, and still means today, I’m filled with gratitude.”

Long celebrated as a fly-fishing mecca for trophy brook trout and landlocked salmon, the camp traces its roots to 1904, when Charles Spalding established a cluster of log cabins on the shores of Pierce Pond.

In 1958, Floyd and Maude Cobb purchased the sporting camps from the Grieves family, spending the next quarter-century building a reputation as a premier fly-fishing retreat. Their son Gary and his wife Betty took over in 1982, expanding the business while helping protect the surrounding watershed. Today, a third generation, Andy Cobb, proudly continues the family tradition.

In the early 1900s, more than 300 sporting camps drew trainloads of “rusticators” from Boston, New York and Philadelphia seeking refuge in the North Maine Woods. Today only a fraction of those historic lodges remain. While some have added modern amenities, the essential experience has changed little: Guests relax in private log cabins, watch the evening light fade over the water from screened porches, and share hearty, home-cooked meals in the main dining lodge.

As one of roughly 40 traditional sporting camps still operating in the state, Cobb’s Camps has survived for over a century, not simply because of its renowned fishing, but because generations of families have returned to Pierce Pond to reconnect with the wildlands, with tradition and with one another.

Part of the camp’s enduring appeal is its remarkable setting. Surrounded by more than 11,000 protected acres managed by the Pierce Pond Watershed Trust, the wildlands offer endless exploration, from quiet hikes and kayaking to boating and secluded island beaches. For many returning guests, this landscape becomes part of a lifelong relationship with the camp.

Anna’s aunt, Eileen Drummond, returns to Cobb’s every year. As a retired U.S. State Department nurse practitioner, her career included postings in Nigeria, Mongolia, Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Lebanon. Though her work took her from Baghdad’s Green Zone to Kabul, she grew up on a small farm in Sidney and always viewed her home state as her anchor.

“Although my international work was rewarding, I counted the days until I could set foot on Maine soil again,” Eileen said.

“Pierce Pond is simply magical. Even during the years my daughters couldn’t join me, I’d go by myself or drag a friend along. I absolutely treasure my annual September treks there with a group of Mount Desert Island women, a tradition we started in 1989. Ultimately, Pierce Pond is more than a vacation spot. It’s where my children and granddaughters developed their own lifelong love of the outdoors.”

Because Eileen didn’t particularly care for fishing, Gary and Betty Cobb encouraged her to explore the local hiking trails, inadvertently launching a new family tradition.

“When my daughter Heidi began having children, I took them hiking and camping at Pierce Pond,” Eileen said. “Now that I’m retired, our growing family rents a cabin and enjoys the home-cooked meals in the dining hall. My granddaughters, 9-year-old Willa and 6-year-old Hannah, love it just as much as I do. Last fall, Willa’s teacher asked her class to name their favorite summer activity. Willa answered without hesitation: ‘Camping, swimming and eating at Cobb’s Camps.'”

Such experiences lie at the heart of the enduring appeal of Maine’s traditional sporting camps.

In her seminal book, Maine Sporting Camps: The Year-Round Guide to Vacationing at Traditional Hunting and Fishing Lodges, author Alice Arlen captured the magic that has drawn generations of visitors to places like Cobb’s.

“Sporting camps still provide solace for urban refugees (meaning most of us), and a wilderness playground for those who love the outdoors. Most of all, they still provide a much-needed ‘port in the storm,’ far from the fractured, mobile, frenetic and alienating forces that impose on our humanity,” Arlen wrote.

For the Drummond family and countless others, that “port in the storm” is tangible. Cobb’s is a place where children learn to paddle canoes under starry skies, where grandparents walk the woods with grandchildren, and where a century-old sporting camp continues to prove that some traditions are worth preserving.

Ron Joseph of Sidney is the author of Bald Eagles, Bear Cubs, and Hermit Bill: Memories of a Wildlife Biologist, published by Islandport Press.