Gone 35 Years, Happy Acres Finds New Home on Facebook

It's been 35 years since Happy Acres Family Resort closed.

But the story of Middlefield's once popular vacation destination on Lake Beseck has now found a home in a familiar place — Facebook.

This week, lifelong Middlefield resident Pete Sibley launched a Facebook page dedicated to the resort that his father, Captain Jack Sibley, a World War I veteran, first opened in the 1930's as a fresh air camp for inner-city kids and that he briefly ran before it closed for good in 1978.

Sibley was inspired to launch the page after getting feedback from a 2011 brief that appeared on Patch.

"Our family vacationed there for most of the 60's and part of the 70's. There were swimming contests, square dancing and just a ton of fun," one commenter said.

Between the 1950s and 1970s, hundreds of families from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut visited Happy Acres Family Resort to escape the big city and enjoy things like square dancing, magic shows, free bingo and movie night.

"Year after year, the same people would come back, usually the same week, or about the same week so the same group of kids that hung out last year would then hang out again this year. It was quite an exciting childhood," Sibley says.

The first cottages at Happy Acres were originally built as Army barracks on Long Island. Jack Sibley later purchased them for a dollar apiece before bringing them to Middlefield.

"This was just his hobby. He was a businessman, he liked to make money but this is really what he enjoyed doing, being the host, everybody having a good time," says Sibley.

Asked about the memories visitors have shared, Sibley laughs.

"It's wonderful. It's flattering. It shows I wasn't the only one that was enjoying it."