Summer Camps
Penobscot Marine Museum
Canoeing, swimming, singing and telling stories around a campfire, hiking, and learning to navigate in the woods, cook over a fire, and tie knots are as much of the youth summer camp experience today as they were over a hundred years ago when Maine became a premier sleepaway camp destination for the children of well-to-do urban families.
Back then, though, the desire to get kids outdoors for the summer grew out of worry about crowded, overheated cities where disease spread easily and a belief that time in nature built health, independence, and character. Today, attending summer camp has become a tradition in and of itself.
Beginning in the late 1800s, youth summer camps were primarily for boys from affluent urban families, but girls’ camps soon followed, and over time the camp experience broadened beyond the leisure class to include more middle- and working-class children.
Then, as now, each camp had its own vibe and purpose. Early camps were focused on physical activity, teamwork, and wilderness skills. Today, the traditional outdoors experience remains popular, but camps now range from arts and performance to academic enrichment to therapeutic programs, like Camp Sunshine on Sebago Lake, which offers retreats for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.
Many of the camps founded in Maine in the early twentieth century still operate today, some run by the same families welcoming the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of former campers.
