The Signs of Holden

In any community, Holden Village no exception, a system of signs is vital to the health and welfare, the safety and security of those persons living there. Signs are used here in much the same way they are used in other places. They give directions on how to get from one place to another, they provide information, they name places such as buildings and streets, they provide necessary warnings.

Holden has all the requisite signs used in all the ordinary ways, but there are instances in which it can be truthfully said that creativity supersedes necessity and our signs get, shall we say, a little out of the ordinary...well, OK, way out of the ordinary.


Those of you who know Holden well, are already racing ahead of me and the pictures, already knowing which signs I might choose to include in a piece titled, "The Signs of Holden," for at Holden, you certainly have the ordinary, but here the ordinary always exists side-by-side with the unusual. Any Holdenite can tell you that.

For those of you who have never been to Holden, just enjoy. This is a particular and highly focused, and somewhat unusual look at Holden you might never see again. As always, you are invited to come and see for yourself.

This old tub decorated with flowers, and reading the same, hangs at the entrance of the storage area under Lodge 2. It is the area where the "Lawns and Gardens" crew stores all of their gardening tools and supplies and seeds.

About a mile from the village, there is a wooded area next to Railroad Creek that is a campground for hikers and for those who come to the village for the purpose of camping. The campground itself is slightly off of the trail, but a sign points the way.

These signs are affixed to the front of the compost bins just above the garden. Holden composts all of its waste food, and after a long and complicated process of "cooking," the final product is placed in these bins for use nearby on the lawns and gardens. Very politely, with a "please" and a "thank you," the passerby is asked not to add anything to this particular bin.

A friendly and hand-painted sign welcomes one and all to the garden itself. An additional sign beneath is the "mama" to all who enter, "Close the door!" The garden is surrounded by an extraordinarily high fence necessary for keeping out the deer and other wildlife which would delight in eating the vegetation down to a nub.

A series of curiously written signs gives instructions at the entrance way into the "Linen Technology Center. " This unique style of writing is posted within the laundry itself...more directions and instructions.

One of the most curious signs at Holden is not in any way the result of any decision made by those in charge of these matters here in the village. It is a sign on a metal plate affixed just next to the opening of a commercial washing machine. You can see for yourself that it reads, "Do not put any person in this washer." Enough said. We won't. Never happens.

The bowling alley and the pool room were favorite recreation areas for miners and their families when Holden Mine was open and are favorites even today with guests. At one time there was a barber shop inside. While the barber shop is still actually there, it is not possible to get a haircut and a shave as it was in former times.

The Village Center, as the name implies, was and is the center for village life...social and spiritual. Used in the summer for worship services and concerts and plays, in the winter it serves as an indoor basketball court. The bowling alley and pool room are located just beneath
the main area of the Village Center and many a concert has been punctuated by the sound of bowling balls rolling down the alley and hitting the pins.

Holden Village sits right on the edge of the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area. This sign is alongside the trail to Hart Lake and Holden Lake and informs the hikers that they have entered a wilderness area.

New to Holden Village this summer are signs atop the various monitor wells warning anyone so inclined, "Do not fill."

The directors have made a concerted effort to rid the village of these signs which at one time were placed squarely in front of every toilet in the village. One of them, however, is still in place (I am not saying where). It is true that the signs were not very welcoming to guests...or rather the results of following the directions on the signs were not very welcoming to guests...but the real reason for their being banished is that it was found the drain field needed more water in order to function effectively. I am certain that children left Holden without learning a single Bible verse, but every one of them remembered this particular little couplet. For a time there were even tee shirts (yellow tee shirts) with the slogan "Let it mellow" written on the front.

One of the favorite activities at Holden is hiking, and once you are out of the village a bit, there are signs pointing the way to the more popular trails.

The Hike Haus has a unique arrangement of signs to distinguish it from the entrance ways of other similar buildings.

Across the road from the Hike Haus is perhaps the most famous entryway of all. This is the Garbage Dock where all of the separation of the garbage into its various components...recycle, landfill, burn, etc. takes place.Composting is done away from the village, understandably.

Outside every lodge are 3 labeled trash cans for guests and staff to use to separate their trash as they throw it away. We do not have a garbage pick-up service to do a drive-by-and-pick-up which means that we are responsible for the proper disposal of every piece of trash thrown away. The separation begins at the trash cans with signs reading "Burn," "Recycle," and "Landfill."

Placed across the road from the real snack bar is this whimsical sign for Squirrel's Snack Bar. I have no idea where the sign originated.

The real snack bar, famous for its "Holden scoops" is (maybe) the most popular place in the village. The ice cream is delicious and the scoops are monumental.

This sign is at the foot of the original steps leading from the road up into the miner's village which was called Winston. The homes had to be destroyed as they had become a fire hazard in the middle of a National Forest, but the sites are still there.

Each of the food storage lockers has its own name. Jaws is used to keep frozen foods.

A safety cabinet located beneath Agape. It holds a variety of small safety gear items, goggles, gloves, ear plugs, and the like.

We did not need a sign posted on the Forest Service message board to remind us that we were in Bear Country. We could see bears everywhere...and often.

The bears have been so active in and around the village that new and specially worded signs of warning had to be placed over the outside garbage cans. For a time, the bears were coming right up on the porches at night, brought there on a whiff of something they thought they might like to eat.

The sign over the door at the Holden School. A small school in the wilderness, it is, nevertheless, a part of the Chelan School District.

This elaborately carved door is actually the outside door to what is called "the city sauna." The other sauna, a bit outside the village is "the river sauna."

And, finally, the sign that says it all...that sums up the feelings and the attitudes of most all who come here and thus motivates them to take special care of this place..."We have this treasure." The words are carved onto the face of the handmade lectern used in the Village Center for worship services and for vespers.