OCEAN PINES—Ocean Pines is known for its amenities, including a top notch golf course, well-appointed swimming pools and the upcoming next generation of its popular Yacht Club. But former Boise Cascade executive Col. Howard Hall, who has been there since the beginning, says the homes started as a campsite and the amenities started with the Ocean Pines Stables.

The month-long Ocean Pines 45th anniversary celebration continues this weekend with a luau-themed buffet and free concert by Maryland native and former American Idol finalist Jimmy Charles and his band. It will be at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club &Marina from 6-10 p.m.

Hall recalled the early years of Ocean Pines, when the current site of White Horse Park and the Community Center was used as a campground, which has been long since sold and relocated to a site off Beauchamp Road. A convenience store was once located where the Pine’eer Craft Shop now stands. It was built by developer Boise Cascade for the 20 or so families who had set up tents or campers as they waited for water and sewer hook ups as their homes were being built.

Hall is one Ocean Pines’ original purchasers and still lives in the first residential development site, White Sail Circle. The lot cost $3,500. The lots were originally sold as recreational developments, he said, “But over the years it changed to a permanent home development.”

Prior to coming to the Pines, Hall had bought a farm in LaPlata after retiring from the Army Signal Corp following 30 years of military service. He first heard about Ocean Pines at a cocktail party when he and his late wife Marianne were invited to take a look at the development. They were told they could purchase a lot with 10 percent down and 10 percent interest and pay it over 10 years, he said. They went for it.

Afterward, he said, “My wife and I looked at each other and asked ourselves ‘What have we done?’”

He was then offered the job as Ocean Pines’ first recreation director.

The developer used the stables to help sell the property, Hall said. The stables were located in the area where the Sports Core and Worcester County Library are now. “It was the highlight of Ocean Pines at that time. Beautiful, beautiful stables,” Hall said.

It was understood that the amenity would not be permanent, he said, but after selling off all lots before schedule Boise Cascade moved out of the Pines. When it did, the company closed the stables and Hall bought them, leasing the land from Chase Bank. They offered riding lessons, pony rides for children, trail rides for adults and horse shows, Hall said.

Then in 1984, Chase Bank decided it did not want the liability of stables on its property, Hall said. The cost to move the stables was prohibitive, so the bank sold them to an investor from Pocomoke who disassembled the building and reassembled it as a warehouse and garage at another location.

In addition to the stable the first amenities offered were the Swim and Racquet Club, Beach Club,and Golf Club. In the early 1970s, Ocean Pines added its Sports Core Pool and tennis and racquet courts. There was onsite security at both the North and South gates, Hall said.

It was clear that the lure of the stables was an enjoyment for Hall, who said he had been a horseman all his life. He and his late wife were married for 64 years. He has three daughters, two grandchildren a one great-grandchild, who he said proudly, is an equestrian.

Hall still lives in his original home on a peaceful, well-manicured lot bulk headed on the cross-section of two canals. Of the current expansion of the Ocean Pines community, he said, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would develop as it has today.”