The Last Campfire

From Talking Documentary Podcast by Scott

November 17, 2025 · 43 min

About this episode

Filmmaker Amy Nicholson discusses her documentary 'Happy Campers' about the final summer at a working-class refuge on Chincoteague island.

Every summer, on the very edge of Chincoteague island, there was a little world called Inlet View. Generations came through: grandparents, parents, kids who grew up barefoot on the sand, all returning to the same sliver of shoreline year after year. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t curated. It was theirs … a working-class refuge built from patched roofs, borrowed tools, and a deep sense of neighborliness. And then one day it wasn’t. In this episode, filmmaker Amy Nicholson joins me to talk about Happy Campers , her lyrical, quietly devastating portrait of the final summer at Inlet View. Nicholson didn’t just observe this community. She lived in it, fell in love with it, and eventually watched it succumb to the economics of development. What began as a simple fascination with a hidden campground became a meditation on class, belonging, and the kinds of American communities we rarely see onscreen. Music: Greenred Productions This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

People in this episode

Host: Scott

Guest: Amy Nicholson

Topics covered

community
development
class
belonging
American culture

Keywords

Inlet View
campground
working-class
documentary
community

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Happy Campers

Places: Chincoteague island