Camp Kabeyun is a summer camp

Summer camp

Summer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....

 for boys established in 1924 on Lake Winnipesaukee

Lake Winnipesaukee

Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is approximately long and from wide , covering — when Paugus Bay is included—with a maximum depth of ....

 in Alton, New Hampshire

Alton, New Hampshire

Alton is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,250 at the 2010 census. It is home to Alton Bay State Forest and Mount Major State Forest. Alton includes the village of Alton Bay, a long-time resort located beside Lake Winnipesaukee.The primary settlement in...

, emphasizing individual, non-competitive outdoor activities.

History

The camp occupies an 89 acres (36 ha) site at the mouth of Alton Bay, with almost a mile of lakefront and two sandy coves; it is the largest undeveloped stretch of shoreline on the lake. The property includes an old Abenaki camping ground at Fort Point. Before its present use, the land was farmed for several generations. A small graveyard

Graveyard

A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...

 at the rear of the site, enclosed by stone walls, serves as burial place for the former owners' families, with headstones dating back to the 1840s.

Kabeyun was founded in 1924 by John Porter, a teacher at the Browne & Nichols School

Buckingham Browne & Nichols

Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, often referred to as BB&N, is a private school located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by the Charles River. The school educates students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. It was established by a merge of two independent schools, the Buckingham School founded...

 in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

. After renting for five summers, Porter purchased the property in 1929. The camp's name comes from a character in The Song of Hiawatha

The Song of Hiawatha

The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem, in trochaic tetrameter, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring an Indian hero and loosely based on legends and ethnography of the Ojibwe and other Native American peoples contained in Algic Researches and additional writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft...

. Kabeyun has no religious affiliation.

Camp Kehonka in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

Wolfeboro is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,269 at the 2010 census. A venerable resort area situated beside Lake Winnipesaukee, Wolfeboro includes the village of Wolfeboro Falls...

, which closed in 1985, long served as an informal sister camp. The New England Literature Program

New England Literature Program

The New England Literature Program is an academic program run by the University of Michigan that takes place off-campus during the Spring half-term. University of Michigan faculty and other staff teach the courses, and students earn regular University of Michigan credit. The program has been in...

 was based at Kabeyun each spring during the 1980s and 1990s. Kabeyun now hosts training workshops prior to camp. Following the regular season, Kabeyun holds a "family camp" through Labor Day

Labor Day

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...

.

John Porter remained active at Kabeyun as Director Emeritus until his death in 1978. He was succeeded as director by William Old, then a teacher at the Potomac School and later Headmaster of The Hill School and Powhatan School. Nick Latham, a former camper and sailing counselor, left a career as an engineer to serve as director from 1973 to 1995. More than 250 former campers and staff attended a memorial service for Latham held at camp in the summer of 2007, following his death from Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...

. Chuck Mills, a former high school English teacher, served as director from 1996 to 2010. The present director is Ken Robbins, an outdoor educator.

Since 1973, Kabeyun has been operated by the John and Anna Newton Porter Foundation, which also owns the camp property. If camp should fail to open for three summers, New Hampshire Audubon will hold the land in perpetuity as the John and Anna Porter Wildlife Sanctuary.

Program

Boys at Kabeyun choose their own activities without restriction. They sign up for trips each Sunday, and for in-camp activities daily at breakfast and at lunch. Kabeyun also emphasizes the importance of unstructured "down time" before lunch and dinner, and in the evenings.

Kabeyun serves approximately 220 campers, aged 7 to 15, each summer. Maximum enrollment is 120 campers. Most boys attend one of two four-week sessions, while some choose the longer seven- or eight-week sessions. Campers live in screened cabins, with restrooms and showers in separate facilities nearby. The camp has a counselor staff of about forty, more than half of whom were once campers themselves. Kabeyun awards more than $50,000 in need-based tuition assistance each summer.

Kabeyun offers a variety of hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, canoeing

Canoeing

Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....

, kayaking

Kayaking

Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...

, and rock-climbing trips, ordinarily ranging in length from one to five days, with two staff leading six campers on each trip. Most trips explore destinations within New Hampshire, while others travel as far as the Adirondacks

Adirondack Mountains

The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....

 and the Allagash River

Allagash River

The Allagash River is a tributary of the St. John River, approximately long, in northern Maine in the United States. It drains a remote and scenic area of wilderness in the Maine North Woods north of Mount Katahdin...

. The Kabeyun Mountain Club, which was founded in 1953 by Ivan Hall

Ivan P. Hall

Ivan P. Hall is an historian of Japan and former diplomat who came to prominence with the publication of his 1997 book Cartels of the Mind: Japan's Intellectual Closed Shop...

 – later a noted scholar of Japan – climbs Mount Carrigain

Mount Carrigain

Mount Carrigain is a mountain located in Grafton County, New Hampshire. The mountain is named after Phillip Carrigain, NH Secretary of State , and is on the south side of the Pemigewasset Wilderness, the source of the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River in the heart of the White Mountains,...

 each summer.

The sailing

Sailing

Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...

 fleet includes two Hobie Cat

Hobie cat

A Hobie Cat is a small sailing catamaran manufactured by the Hobie Cat Company. Begun as a manufacturer of surf boards in the late 1950s, Hobie began manufacturing catamaran sailboats in the late 1960s and has become the largest manufacturer of small catamarans in the world...

s, two Flying Junior

Flying Junior

thumb|Coen Gulcher helming one of the first Flying Juniors The International Flying Junior or FJ is a sailing dinghy which was originally designed in 1955 in the Netherlands by renowned boat designer Van Essen and Olympic sailor Conrad Gülcher. The FJ was built to serve as a training boat for the...

s, a Cape Cod catboat

Catboat

A catboat , or a cat-rigged sailboat, is a sailing vessel characterized by a single mast carried well forward ....

, several Sunfish, and five fiberglass Town-class sloops

Town Class (sailboat)

Town Class sailboats are lap strake one-design dories, constructed in either wood or fiberglass. The Town Class was designed as an affordable boat for the townspeople, hence its name.- History :...

. The Towns regularly embark on overnight sailing trips across the lake. Kabeyun also has a well-regarded dramatics

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 program; until the 1980s, the Kabeyun Amateur Operatic Society (KAOS) regularly performed Gilbert and Sullivan

Gilbert and Sullivan

Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...

 light opera.

Other in-camp activities include swimming

Swimming lessons

Swimming lessons is the process of learning to swim. In most countries there is a definition of a number of swimming levels that is reached in the process of the curriculum. The respective certificates of swimming tests are required for further training in aquatic abilities...

 (the only required activity for most boys), waterskiing, fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, windsurfing

Windsurfing

Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually two to four metres long, powered by the orthogonal effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a...

, nature

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

, tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

, croquet

Croquet

Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...

, athletics

Team sport

A team sport includes any sport which involves players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in which a group of individuals, on the same team, work together to accomplish an ultimate goal which is usually to win. This can be done in a number of ways such as...

, archery

Archery

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

, ropes course

Ropes course

A ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high and/or low elements. Low elements take place on the ground or only a few feet above the ground...

, photography

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

, woodshop

Woodworking

Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...

, leathercraft

Leather crafting

Leather crafting or simply Leathercraft is the practice of making leather into craft objects or works of art, using shaping techniques, coloring techniques or both.-Dyeing:...

, pottery

Pottery

Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

, and arts and crafts

Arts and crafts

Arts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with one's hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into handicrafts or "traditional crafts" and "the rest"...

. The camp newspaper, The Log of the West Wind, has been published weekly in season since 1928.

Philosophy

"We believe that one of the greatest gifts we have to give our campers is an arena in which they can dream and question and take risks in relative safety. One of our prime goals is to provide such a setting and to help each camper find success. We want everyone to find the knowledge that comes from doing, and to experience the thrill and dignity of accomplishment, whether in an activity mastered or a friendship gained.

"We also offer a special experience in good citizenship. We want Kabeyun to be a place where every individual counts. Through living together in our small community and following Kabeyun traditions of long standing, and the example and teachings of both our staff and returning campers, boys learn to be respectful of one another, and tolerant and understanding of the rights of others.

"These, we believe, are the greatest contributions Kabeyun can make."

-W. Nichols Latham, 1936-2006

External links

• Kabeyun website
• Camp ratings for Kabeyun
• Five Great Overnight Camps, The Boston Globe, February 10, 2008.
• A counselor's memoir, Josh Wolk, Cabin Pressure: One Man's Desperate Attempt to Recapture His Youth as a Camp Counselor (New York: Hyperion, 2007).