The Pass Family - Plywood Palace

Imagine being a kid, in the summer, in Alabama. Every summer you make the short trek from Georgia that seems like an eternity in the car when you are little. You know, however, at the end of that drive is one big glorious cool lake. Your only job in the world is to swim, jump in, play, eat, nap, repeat. Every day. At night, when you can barely stand up out of sheer sunburned exhaustion, sits a castle you have become accustomed to... it might be humble compared to some of the lake homes out there, but in your mind it is nothing short of a palace.

That's what the Smith kids got to experience on Lake Wedowee growing up. And that's what the Smith grandkids now get to experience at Camp Pass, and Camp Pass Junior.

Mark and Smith Pass have a place on the lake that they have had since the lake backed up. As Smith says, " We were invited to the lake in the early 80's and we decided that the lake was where we wanted to be." They bought the lot in 1983. "We were in our early 30's. We had two little boys and we would camp on the lot." Hardwood trees were the requirement, so they could have some shade. Smith says, "Then I got pregnant, and I said, "No way am I camping with a baby and two littles."

So they built a plywood, concrete block, tin roof home. It had a wood stove, no dishwasher, no washer, no dryer. It just had ceiling fans and indoor plumbing. The kids grew up going there.

"Every holiday, every vacation we were there. Because why would we go anywhere else?" says Smith.

As the family grew they added on wat they call the west wing in 2001. Then they had more bathrooms and a bunk room. At long last, they did add air conditioning. The kids were ecstatic. No more ceiling fans pushing around hot air.

Back when the house was very new, they had friends over who were, as Smith puts it, "as strapped as we were for cash. We had lawn chairs for furniture. And my friend said, "I think its a palace, the plywood palace."  And the name stuck.

They had lots of neighbors with kids and Mark taught everyone they knew how to ski. The cousins would spend weeks at a time. The kids would swim and the adults would read their books on the dock.

Fast forward to grandchildren - Smith and her sister in law decided that since they were grandparents, that they should do a camp. In 2007 Camp Pass started when the youngest three were still in diapers. They had that every year. In 2018, Camp Pass Junior began, when they had another set of the grands that were little and similar ages.

Smith says, " We would paint and then we would paint each other then we would take Dawn soap and wash them all down in the lake."

The Plywood Palace in on Wedowee Creek. They bought the land from Tony Messer right as he developed that area. "When it was rural we didn't have any boats but now we have lots of boats. I would put out buoys to protect the kids when boaters would come by," says Smith. When they have Camp Pass they have it during the week so that there is less traffic on the water. Now they have 7 grandkids ages 18, two who are 15, 10 and three 8 year olds. One thing they always do during camp is go to Flat Rock to swim and catch Minnows.

Smith says lovingly, " We live very simply. The plywood is on the inside and the outside. There is no carpet, no sheetrock. They only thing you can break is a light bulb! We do have one rule inside - do not sit on the sofas wet. Nobody wants to sit on a wet sofa."

By: Angie Stryker