Salem News
By Stephanie Lyons
May 9, 2008

The end of the school year is on the horizon. For kids and teens, that means more than a two-month break from their classes. They look forward to summer vacation, with its long sunny days, warm weather, and for many kids, a fun camp experience.

The YMCA was a pioneer in camping and creating the traditional day camps we know today. In 1867, a YMCA youth director took a group of boys to a lake in New York and created a summer encampment. By 1882, there were enough YMCAs involved in similar activities that they were recorded in the national Y records.

The first official YMCA day camp was founded in 1885, and the nation's first permanent residential camp was founded by a YMCA volunteer on the shores of Lake Champlain in 1908. By 1914, there were more than 242 YMCA resident camps serving more than a quarter million campers each year. The YMCA was also involved in creating the American Camping Association with a YMCA camp director serving as its first president.

Today, YMCAs operate more than 1,600 day camps across the country, including traditional day camps run by YMCA of the North Shore: the Marblehead/Swampscott YMCA's Children's Island, Salem YMCA's Explorers camp at Winter Island, Greater Beverly YMCA's Sterling Woods and the Ipswich Family YMCA's Camp Takoma.

More than 4,000 children attended YMCA of the North Shore summer camps last year. The different sites offer different experiences. The staples of swimming, sports, and arts and crafts are offered at all the day camps, but some offer high and low ropes courses, hiking, sailing, kayaking, field trips and even occasional overnights.

The Salem YMCA has a long history of running summer camps dating back to 1900 with the founding of the "Coney Island" boys camp, which was located on an island off Salem Willows. Boys took skiffs out to the "island," now just a rock due to erosion over the past century, to learn about marine life and seamanship. Each year, one boy would be awarded the "Cole Cup" in memory of Leland Cole, a former YMCA board member, for his overall outstanding work at camp.

Today, the Salem YMCA operates a day camp at Winter Island. While this camp is not actually on an island, it does offer all the same water sports and marine appreciation.

A newspaper article from the Salem YMCA archives dated May 31, 1950, proclaims, "it is safe to say that no other YMCA in the United States has an island in salt water for its camping site and certainly no YMCA camp for boys conducts a program so fine an opportunity to learn sea and marine life." Yet five years later, their neighbors at the Marblehead/Swampscott YMCA began running a camp on what was known as Cat Island off the coast of Marblehead and bought the property in April 1956 for $12,000.

Now known as Children's Island, the Marblehead/Swampscott Y's day camp has its own history that transcends the organization. Originally used to graze sheep in the 1600s, the island was passed from family to family and over the years was used as a smallpox inoculation facility, a hotel, a sanitarium for invalid and crippled children and finally a day camp.

YMCA camps have changed over time to adapt to the needs of parents, children and the community. This year, Children's Island has added an additional boat option from Salem's Pickering Wharf to accommodate more families and make the camp accessible to more children.

In addition to day camps, the Y also runs various specialty camps that highlight a specific program area for children who want to focus on their favorite activity. Specialty camps include gymnastics, soccer, football, golf, competitive swimming, synchronized swimming, art, history, adventure, cooking, science, music and much more.

One popular camp run at the Greater Beverly YMCA is based on the Magic Tree House book series.

"Both parents and children love the Magic Tree House series because it challenges the beginning independent reader with rich vocabulary and exciting storylines," said Anne Curry, after-school curriculum specialist at the Greater Beverly and Salem YMCAs. "Parents like the idea of a literature-based camp so their children can revisit one of their favorite reading series."

Also new this year is SummerQuest at Crane's Estate, run by the Ipswich YMCA.

The camp is for children 9 to 12 years old and allows campers to explore the ins and outs of the Ipswich estate. Each week, campers will work together to create a Quest — a special kind of treasure hunt built around a fun theme — with a map and clues for others to follow. At the end of each session, family and friends are invited to use the map and clues to find their way to the treasure.

While the camps have changed over the years, the quality care children receive and lifelong memories they make have remained constant. Keeping with the YMCA's mission to provide quality programs for all, there are scholarships and financial assistance available to those who qualify.

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