Exploring the iconic Camp Sherman Store

CAMP SHERMAN — Driving Highway 20 — a main artery between Bend and Salem — can be a bit frenetic at times with bumper-to-bumper traffic all traveling well over the speed limit. Take the turnoff for Camp Sherman a few minutes north of Sisters, and the whole scene changes.

It’s a mere five miles down the road to the Camp Sherman Store, but once you enter the pine forest, with the familiar orange fall colors of the larch everywhere and towering ponderosa pine, one can immediately feel the tension fall away.

There’s even a custom road sign that reads, in effect, “if you’re in a hurry you’re in the wrong place.”

At the end of the road is the Camp Sherman Store, an icon for generations of people who have come from Portland, Salem and cities around the globe, to relax near the cold, clear gurgling waters of the Metolius River and the shade of the large pine trees.

Camp Sherman may be off the beaten path, but it remains a busy place nonetheless, even on a frosty fall Sunday morning.

Roger and Kathy White have been proprietors since 1996 and were busy behind the till helping customers with breakfast burritos and fresh coffee to go.

As a young girl, Kathy and her family would vacation at Camp Sherman, a two-hour drive “over the hill” from Salem. Her brother and his family bought the store in the mid-'70s from the Loars family. They sold it and it passed through at least two other buyers, eventually returning to the Loars. Kathy and Roger then purchased the historic store.

It’s a welcoming, unassuming place that is packed from floor to ceiling with a little bit of everything.

“We like to joke that if three people ask for the same thing in the same week, we probably need to stock it,” Roger White said.

One can pick up everything from bread and eggs to camping gear and gourmet wines. The goal is to have enough sundries, so visitors don’t have to interrupt their vacations to make the trek to Sisters, about 20 minutes down the road.

“The store is here for people, so they don’t have to bring everything with them,” Kathy said.

“A customer challenged me once, claiming that we probably didn’t carry caviar. I pointed out a selection of caviar just down the aisle,” Roger said with grin.

“And the deli sandwiches are to die for,” says local Kim Frederick.

“I call them Mitch-wiches, made by Mitch Martin.” Michele “Mitch” Martin has worked for the Whites for some 25 years.

“I just love the people and working for the Whites,” Martin said. She also feeds several Steller Jays that peck at the walkup window, looking for a peanut or two, much to the delight of visitors.

The store is also a mecca for fly fishing gear, especially rods and hand-tied flies. Fishermen can rent waders if they forget theirs or sprung a leak. And there are some high-end, hand-made bamboo fly rods if you have your credit card at the ready.

In the height of the fishing season, three employees (and fly fishermen themselves) who well know what is working on the river are behind the handcrafted wooden flybox display cases.

“Sometimes we have fishermen three and four rows deep holding fists full of flies they want to buy,” Roger said.

Camp Sherman started in the late 1800s as a place for Sherman County farmers who had just finished with the fall harvest to gather, relax, hunt and fish. The store opened between 1917-1918.

“Initially, farmers would sell goods out of their buckboards,” Kathy White said. “Then they erected a tent and the store followed. People think Camp Sherman was a logging operation or a military camp, but that was never the case.”

Soon a school, a church and community hall were erected on the grounds.

Today, there are 140 homes in the Metolius Meadows subdivision, plus 120 private seasonal river cabins on Forest Service land. Several campgrounds also dot the area. Mountain bike trails run circles around the area. To the west is Suttle and Blue lakes with even more water recreation.

The Covid-19 lockdown actually brought a new wave of visitors to Camp Sherman in 2019-2020.

“Lots of people flooded in here, camping on the forest as the campgrounds were closed,” Kathy said. People had cabin fever and wanted to escape from the city restrictions, she said. The area continues to remain busy, even in the off seasons.

There’s not only plenty of provisions at the store, but plenty to gawk at. Behind the checkout counter is a wall of antique bottles, cans and other memorabilia donated to the store as a sort of historic record of visitors. Money notes from countries across the globe hang from the ceiling and the width of the wall.

Historic photos and drawings decorate the walls. And over the years, cabinet makers and craftsmen have added their skills to keep the display cases, coolers and walk-in freezer looking like the original ones.

The Whites raised their two daughters, Lauren and Kelsey, at Camp Sherman. They attended kindergarten through eighth grade at the local school and then high school in Sisters.

“The grade school was just amazing,” Kathy said.

And yes, the Whites are thinking of retirement and have put the store up for sale. It sits on five acres of forest service land and comes with outbuildings. There’s a 25-year Forest Service lease on the property that will be renewed if the store sells.

Mid-May to mid-October the store is open seven days a week; off season it’s just Friday through Sunday. See their website at campshermanstore.com

— Gerry O'Brien is the editor of The Bulletin in Bend.