We’ve been providing the best summer camp experience in Maine you could ask for since 1915, and we invite you to learn more about Camp Chewonki for Boys, Camp Chewonki for Girls and our signature Camp Chewonki Wilderness Trips for teens.
We celebrate the power of unplugging from ordinary life and plunging into the rivers, lakes, mountains, woods, and coastline of Maine and eastern Canada. Discover what’s out there – and then discover what’s inside of you.
Develop your leadership skills. Explore your interests. Become part of a small community where you belong, and take responsibility for the success of your group. Above all, if you’re looking for challenges, friendships, and a new understanding of yourself and the natural world, we want to take you outside.
Community
From stories around the campfire to sunset paddles along the shore, we build our camp community to share the challenges and fun as a team. Campers and wilderness trip participants return summer after summer to reunite with old friends and dive into the next adventure. At Chewonki, we expect every member of the community to contribute with an “all hands on deck” attitude.
Self-Discovery
There are few things in life that help build character and self-awareness like life at summer camp. We work with our campers to embrace authenticity, develop new skills, take a break from the ordinary and reflect on who they are, and what they want to be.
Summer Camp is a wonderful chance to grow and discover new interests with the guidance of excellent role models and compassionate counselors.
Embracing the Natural World
Unplugging from the pace of modern life has become increasingly rare for kids. Time away at overnight camp allows for simple living and nearly every waking moment outdoors in the natural world.
Camp Chewonki is founded on a love for ecology, wildlife, and learning about the relationship between humans and the world around us.
Unique Chewonki Features
- Separate Boys and Girls residential camps
- Multi-week wilderness adventure trips & expeditions (single gender and coed)
- Southern campus: 400-acre saltwater peninsula on the coast of Maine
- Northern campus: private lake embedded in pristine conservation land
- Multiple private islands off the coast of Maine and a network of exclusive north woods campsites
- A working farm where campers can help grow our food and help care for animals
- An 18-element challenge course – with low & high ropes
- Expert instruction in canoeing, whitewater & sea kayaking, backpacking, camp craft, wildlife & ecology
Chewonki Summer Camp Programs
We offer a variety of 10-day, 3-week and 7-week programs for children ages 8-16.
Camp Chewonki for Boys
Boys, Ages 8-15
Camp Chewonki for Boys has offered residential camp programming for 105 years. Options include 10-Day, 3-week, and 7-week sessions. The program revolves around the core curriculum, which includes outdoor living skills, natural history, farm and food systems, and watercraft activities.
Additional activities offered include woodworking, visual arts, performing arts, swimming, archery, and sports & recreation. Essential to the experience is a wilderness trip within each cabin, as well as time on the challenge course.
Camp Chewonki for Girls
Girls, Ages 8-16
Located on our newly established Eastside Campus on Chewonki Neck, Chewonki Camp for Girls offers residential camp programming for 10-Day and 3-Week sessions. The program revolves around the core curriculum, which includes outdoor living skills, natural history, farm and food systems, and watercraft activities. Additional activities offered include woodworking, visual arts, performing arts, swimming, and sports & recreation.
Essential to the experience is a wilderness trip within each cabin, as well as time on the challenge course. Camp Chewonki for Girls also offers three week extended wilderness trips for ages 11-16, where participants can dive more deeply into community building as well as skills in backpacking, canoeing, and kayaking.
Camp Chewonki Wilderness Trips
Coed and All-Girls Trips, Ages 14-18
For older kids and teens, we offer extended wilderness trips that are 3 or 5 weeks in length. The program revolves around much of the same core curriculum as Camp Chewonki’s residential program.
Outdoor living skills, natural history, and farm and food systems, form the foundations of every trip though they might look a little different than in the residential camps. Creating a community that is strong and inclusive of everyone is a strong suit of our trip leaders, and something that lasts well beyond the end of the trip. The disciplines of travel that we concentrate on are canoeing, backpacking, sea kayaking, and whitewater kayaking.
