Written by Scott Shallcross. Published in the New Hampshire Boat Museum Winter Newsletter March 2015.

When my wife and I learned that the New Hampshire Boat Museum would be featuring an exhibit on Lake Wentworth this upcoming season we were pleased to share some of the history and personal recollections from our forty summers spent at Pierce Camp Birchmont on Wentworth with museum director Lisa Simpson Lutts.

We were both campers at Birchmont in the 1960’s and became staff members in the 1970’s. After a ten year hiatus we returned in 1984 to run the Boys Camp and Girls Camp respectively and give our sons the opportunity to experience overnight camping. My wife, Valerie Justice, currently is the camp photographer and I continue to Head the Boys Camp.  Birchmont has been a summer home to us in earnest as well as to thousands of campers and staff from around the United States and many countries.

Birchmont was originally founded as camp in 1907 when Professor Ambrie Fields and his wife purchased the historic Mt. Delight farm in East Wolfeboro from S.W. Clow.  Ambrie Fields was the principal of the Young Ladies Seminary of Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The camp attracted “girls and young ladies” interested in “nature studies and sports.”  Academic tutoring was also available.

In the 1930’s and 1940’s Birchmont was a summer camp for adults directed by Russell and Helen Hemmenway from Newton, Massachusetts. Individual cabins with fireplaces were rented to vacationers with meals served in a main dining hall. These cabins and the dining hall as still used today. Activities included hiking, horseback riding, swimming and boating.

In 1951, Forrester “Pop” Pierce purchased the property and the following year Pierce Camp Birchmont opened its gates as a private residential camp for children. Pop Pierce, an educator, football coach and athletic director, is regarded as a camping pioneer having opened America’s first Day Camp in 1918.

Third generation Directors, Greg and Laura Pierce, have been at Birchmont’s helm for 27 years.   Both attended Birchmont as campers, raised their two children at camp and maintain the many strong Birchmont traditions while continuing to improve the facilities and curriculum.

Every summer some 300 campers from up to 20 states and several foreign countries travel to Birchmont to enjoy fun, adventure, travel and a varied curriculum with an emphasis on waterfront skills and tennis. Performing arts, yoga, mountain biking, woodworking, Native American crafts, horseback riding, golf, archery, high and low elements ropes, baseball, golf, soccer, hockey, basketball, ceramics, arts and crafts, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, waterskiing are just some of the many camp offerings. Most importantly, campers learn to live independently, assume responsibilities, and develop lifelong friends.

On a personal level, some of my best memories as a camper include three day canoe trips down the Saco and Ossipee rivers, climbing Mt. Chocorua, the great baseball rivalry we had against the Wolfeboro American Legion Post team, learning to waterski and sail, competing against other area camps in sports and developing friendships with campers from different areas and backgrounds.

When my wife and I met with Lisa Simpson Lutts, she asked, “Why has Birchmont survived through the years when so many other overnight camps have closed their doors?” I immediately thought of the many lifelong educators and camp administrators who work hard to “engineer” a supportive environment for the campers. I also thought of the great natural beauty of Mt. Delight and Lake Wentworth.

Two Falls ago we hosted some 80 camp directors from around the nation as part of an American Camping Association Conference and they unanimously agreed that our facility and natural surroundings were spectacular. I am always proud to “show off” our campus.

Ultimately, I think that campers and staff develop a great sense of community, a sense of belonging and affection, and that helps Birchmont thrive.

We all had a really good time at the camper reunion held this past Sunday for Birchmont’s Florida campers.

Families from as far away as Jupiter and Miami drove to meet in the middle for some bowling and lunch together in Fort Lauderdale.  We had 30 families in attendance, and even met a few siblings who have enrolled for this summer.  The Florida campers won many prizes in the camp trivia contest, and all went home with a memento, this year’s official winter reunion long sleeve tee given out at the winter reunion in NY last month.

Most everyone agreed that while Florida is a great place this time of year, the only place to be in summer is Pierce Camp Birchmont in beautiful  New Hampshire!

Thanks to Greg and Martine Howes and Polly Goldman for helping us host a successful get together with our Florida camp friends.  It was nice for us to catch up after the reunion at Aruba’s on the beach in Fort Lauderdale where Polly got us the best seats in the house by the ocean.  Thanks of course to all our campers and their parents for joining us for the reunion .  Can’t wait to see you all this summer. It won’t be long now 🙂

Laura & Greg

The final camp countdown has begun.

What seemed like a beautiful endless summer of smiles and sunshine is now ending in just a few spirited days and starry nights under the Super Moon lighting up our lake and fields.

Our end of season camp musical production  was Shrek 2, The Musical. 40 campers brought this animated feature to life with rousing songs, fantastic sets, creative costumes complete with a life-size dragon puppet created by Head of Performing Arts staffer, Steve and a team at Arts and Crafts and Woodshop. With 3 Fiona’s cast to represent the character at different ages, we had several female leads along with Shrek, Donkey, and a host of smaller comic roles. The show’s finale to the very campy “I’m a Believer” was delivered with great energy and joy and the entire camp audience joined the cast in song. It was just one of those spirited, spontaneous moments that represents camp life so well. Literally, everyone got into the act.

Booth Carnival kicks off our Color War which is also called Carnival Week. It’s a throwback to a long standing tradition where the camp is divided into four teams by color and named by parts of a circus. Barkers, Clowns, Roustabout, and Rubes. Campers quickly learn the roles these people played in the setting up and breaking down of what was once considered the greatest show on earth. Campers come up with crazy booths run by their bunks , while fellow campers try each booth and pay with beans which are counted at the days end, with prizes given for originality and popularity. Of course there are dunk tanks, and cotton candy booths and all manner of homemade treats. This year’s Pioneer Girls had the Dirty Desserty booth in which they made clear cups of chocolate pudding with gummy earthworms and crumbled Oreos on top for a muddy looking mess of deliciousness.

Games of chance, live animal Safarai , a music dedication booth,  Kiss O Gram with Hershey kiss and note delivery system never failed to surprise and delight the recipients.

At Booth Carnival’s end, we announce the Color War teams and each group’s 4 Lieutenants chosen by their group counselors. Every child’s name is called out to join a team and campers run down the field to take their place. The weeks’ activities are almost at a close now. Impossible to explain all the events, and the level of enthusiasm and all out effort put forth by our campers all week long. Each group has their own Water Carnival at the lake…and this is surely a highlight. Swimming races, swamp a canoe, sailing, wake boarding, waterskiing, even fishing competitions all culminate in sunset BBques at the beach with “beauty burgers” and roasted “Indian corn” which has been shucked and soaked in canoes of lake water, dunked in butter and grilled to perfection. People who have long since graduated from their days at Birchmont still say that corn on the beach with camp friends is one of the sweetest of their camp memories , impossible to duplicate.  Tomorrow we will have our full camp Field Day, Songfest, Friendship Pact reading and we still have our Fireworks, Banquet Ball, Camper/Counselor Day, Candlelight, Cabin Parties, Last Will and Testament… What are all these strange sounding activities… Ask your camper, they will be home soon enough. Until then we hold fast to living life fully and joyfully until each camp day is done and Taps sounds through the trees .

“The trouble with camp, is that camp ends , it ends for the summer, and then one day it ends forever….Decades later that first chilly rustle of leaves on a late August night still retains a mournful quality , that means saying goodbye to friends you won’t see for 10 months, if ever again… For those lucky enough to go to camp embrace it, it is at least as enchanted as the forest of Arden”
Frank Rich
New York Times
Theater Critic, Author