Camp O-AT-KA is a non-profit summer camp for boys in East Sebago, Maine, on the western shore of Sebago Lake. Founded in 1906 by Rev. Ernest Joseph Dennen of Lynn, Massachusetts, it is to date the oldest continuously running summer camp in the United States. [1] It began its life as the summer camp of the Order of Sir Galahad, an Episcopal church organization founded by Dennen in 1896. [2] Originally founded as an explicitly Episcopal camp, O-AT-KA allowed Jewish campers as well. [3] In the modern period, it is open to campers of all backgrounds. [4] It runs as a traditional summer camp for boys aged 7-16 and is accredited with the American Camp Association. [5]
During the off-season, O-AT-KA is also a popular venue for weddings and other events. It has been featured on Martha Stewart's website, described as making one, "feel like you stepped into a Wes Anderson film." [6]
Harrison is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Harrison is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. The population was 2,447 at the 2020 census. A historic resort area, Harrison straddles Long Lake and Crystal Lake. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area.
Sebago is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,911 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area.
Denmark is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,197 at the 2020 census. A number of ponds and lakes are located within the town.
Sebago Lake (Sih-Bay-Goh) is the deepest and second-largest lake in the U.S. state of Maine. The lake is 316 feet (96 m) deep at its deepest point, with a mean depth of 101 feet (31 m). It is possible that Sebago is the deepest lake wholly contained within the entire New England region, although some sources say that Vermont's Lake Willoughby is slightly deeper. Along with Lake Champlain, Sebago is one of the only lakes in the area that does not consistently freeze solid during the winter months, with total ice cover only occurring for a short period of time every few winters. Sebago covers about 45 square miles (117 km2) in surface area, has a length of 14 miles (23 km) and has a shoreline length of roughly 105 miles (169 km). The surface is around 270 feet (82 m) above sea level, so the deep bottom is below the present sea level. It is in Cumberland County, and bordered by the towns of Casco, Naples, Raymond, Sebago, Standish and Windham. The seasonally occupied town of Frye Island is on an island in the lake. Sebago Lake and the surrounding area is known for its erratic and sudden changes in weather during all seasons, likely due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and to Mt. Washington, a very notorious extreme weather hotspot. The name comes from the Abenaki sobagoo, meaning "it is the sea" or "it resembles the sea".
A summer camp or sleepaway camp or residential camp is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps are known as campers. They generally are offered overnight accommodations for one or two weeks out in an outdoor natural campsite setting. Day camps, by contrast, offer the same types of experience in the outdoors but children return home each evening. Summer school is a different experience that is usually offered by local schools for their students focused on remedial education to ensure students are prepared for the upcoming academic year or in the case of high school students, to retake failed state comprehensive exams necessary for graduation. Summer residential and day camps may include an academic component but is not a requirement.
Camp Modin is a Jewish summer camp in New England. It was established in 1922 in what is now Lake George Regional Park in Canaan, Maine. In 1992 the camp moved to Salmon Lake in Maine's Belgrade Lakes region. An early example of a summer camp intended to provide Jewish children with Hebrew, religious, and cultural education as well as recreation, Camp Modin has been described as "the prototype for camps sponsored by every branch of the community, from socialist Zionists to Orthodox Jews."
Camp Timanous is a summer camp in Raymond, Maine. It offers a traditional program of land and water activities, aimed at developing "Body, Mind, and Spirit". Camp Timanous is both a progenitor of the Maine sleepaway camping tradition and industry and is one of the oldest continually operating summer camps in America. In a typical summer, some 40,000 children participate in youth summer programs, mostly at one of Maine's 200 licensed summer camps, such as Camp Timanous.
Camp Kinder Ring is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), Jewish summer camp located in Hopewell Junction, New York, accredited by the American Camp Association.
Center Day Camp (CDC) is a day camp run by the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that coordinates, promotes, and supports the Jewish philanthropic, benevolent, educational, and communal activities in Southern Maine. It is located in North Windham, Maine, on the shores of Sebago Lake.
Surprise Lake Camp is a non-profit sleepaway camp located on over 400 acres (1.6 km2) in North Highlands, New York. It is the oldest Jewish summer camp in the United States.
Camp Avoda is a Jewish boys' overnight camp located on Tispaquin Pond in Middleboro, Massachusetts. It has been in continuous operation since the summer of 1927, making it the oldest Jewish boys' camp in New England.
Camp Airy is a Jewish sleep away summer camp located in Thurmont, Maryland at the edge of the Catoctin Mountain Park. Boys between the ages of 7 and 17 attend for one to seven weeks, depending on their age and interest. Airy is a fully accredited member of the American Camp Association. Camp Airy is the brother camp to Camp Louise.
Camp Androscoggin is an all-boys summer camp in Wayne, Maine, and one of the oldest in the state. It is ACA accredited. It was founded in 1907 by Edward M. Healy, a Department Head at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Healy became President of the American Camping Association (ACA) in 1916 shortly before his death.
Camp Mataponi is an all-girls sleepaway camp in Naples, Maine, United States for girls approximately 7 to 15 years old. The camp is situated on Sebago Lake and accounts for over 5,000 feet of lakefront property. Camp Mataponi has grown to accommodate about 500 campers. Originally, the camp was called Highland Nature Camps. In the 1940s, it was renamed to Camp Mataponi by new owners Morton J. Goldman owner of Camp Takajo, and Samuel and Lee Kessler, of Teaneck NJ, who also served as head counselors. The extraordinary culture and proud traditions of Camp Mataponi were thus born. The name Mataponi is of the Virginia Native American Tribe, historically located near the Mata, Po, and Ni Rivers.
The Order of Sir Galahad is an organization for Anglican and Episcopal boys and men, founded in Boston in 1896 by the Reverend Ernest Joseph Dennen. The Order's activities are structured around Galahad in Arthurian legend. The Order's summer camp is Camp O-AT-KA in Sebago, Maine.
Camp Cody in Freedom, New Hampshire, is a traditional, overnight, international, and co-ed summer camp, located along the shore of Ossipee Lake. Established in 1926 by Philip Axman in Cambridge, Maryland, Camp Cody began as a camp for boys, named after William "Buffalo Bill" Cody. It moved to its current site of Freedom, New Hampshire in 1941, where it remained a boys camp until 2001. Beginning as a camp with just 50 campers enrolled, the camp now serves hundreds of families from all over the USA and around the world, with a typical camper stay of two or four weeks. The campus, also referred to as the Cody Outdoor Center, is currently host to weddings, outsourced camp groups, events, conferences, and its own nature education program. The site functions year-round.
Camp B'nai Brith of Ottawa, also known as CBB of Ottawa, is a Jewish summer camp north-west of Ottawa, near Quyon, Quebec. The camp draws campers and staff from across Canada, the United States, Europe and Israel.
Camp Fatima is a Catholic overnight summer camp located in Gilmanton Iron Works, NH. The camp has a waterfront on the northern shore of Upper Suncook Lake.
Ernest Joseph Dennen was an American Episcopal clergyman. He was the founder and supreme director of the Order of Sir Galahad, which was an organization for Anglican and Episcopal boys and men. In 1906, he founded the Order's summer camp, Camp O-AT-KA in Sebago, Maine. He was also the author of several books, including Introduction to the Prayer Book, 1906; The Sunday School Under Scientific Management, 1914; The Manual for Leaders, 1921.
A Jewish summer camp is a summer camp dedicated to Jewish communities. In the United States these camps grew in popularity in the years after World War II and the Holocaust as an effort by American Jewish leaders to preserve and produce authentic Jewish culture. Outside the United States, similar camps are generally organized by various philanthropic organizations and local Jewish youth movements.
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