Mark Sexton was kind enough to give me the payphone they used to have at TCC.
The payphone was installed during a time when cell phone usage wasn’t as widespread as it is now. Long distance calls at camp were running up a huge bill and the payphone was a means to an end to it.
As it turns out the phone never really worked very well due to the line service level available at that part of rural Kentucky. So they disconnected the pay phone and only allow local calls on their phone line now.
Nowadays cell phones are used much more often everywhere including camp. Although last time I was up there Verizon couldn’t hear me now.
No doubt that phone has a bit of history behind it. It was there from 1997 to around 2000 or so. There is a rule at camp that anytime a camper wants to get baptized they have to call home to inform their parents or legal guardian. One can imagine the conversations which took place on that phone. Whether it was a sigh of relief on the other end of the line…..or a sign of dissappointment from parents who never really wanted their kid converted to a born again Christian religion. And then there was the courage the camper must have had to call home.
Then there’s those other times where the payphone was used by a camper to call home so that parents could pick up their kid for disobeying the rules. No doubt that was definitely a sign of disappointment.
It was the camp’s connection to the outside world.
So eventually I would like to hook this phone up to my line and mount it in my kitchen. The problem is that the phone is locked up tight without a key. The phone requires a T-key, which can usually be found on Ebay. It also requires a key to open up the phone. I think I’ll have to take it to a locksmith to open it up.
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Update: 11/12/2005:
My T-key showed up. I can open the portion where the coins are stored. No coins left, but several different sized of screws were still there. There was also a sticker on the coin return box that said “Westmoreland Hardee’s – Outside” and a phone number. I think I know there this phone’s first life was….
Locksmith here I come…