Despite the Great Depression, Sycamore Island and the club's members were clearly having a good year in 1932. They had just re-built their club house several years before (just finishing it up before the 1929 market crash) and had no idea yet of the flood devastation that would visit them in 1936. (Click on either map to see more detail.)

This wonderful map takes a snapshot in time to a period when the land in Bethesda was a bit less developed than today. You can compare it to the aerial photo taken in 1937.

This map of Sycamore Island was drawn by Ruth Finckel in 1931. A copy of the map is on the wall in the clubhouse. Note the buildings on Sycamore Island were completely different than is the case today. Claire Conner tells us that the boathouse was the center of fun and activity on the Island in the 1930s and had an upstairs loft where members would often stay overnight.