Happy 43rd Birthday Barn Day Camp
by Helen Richards-Peelle
It is hard to believe the Barn Day Camp(BDC) is turning 43 years old this year. In 1983 Ridge Satterthwaite was asked by the board to explore starting a new camp at Farm & Wilderness. That was the seed for the creation of the BDC and here it is 43 years later flourishing and servicing not only a F&W camp experience for the greater Vermont region but also for many other families who plan their summer vacation around sending their young child to the BDC!
Working mostly with Len Cadwallader, he and I visited many sites to determine the best location. The newly designed Woodward reservoir dam and lower barns created the perfect location for this new camp. I spent the winter of 1983 (while pregnant with my first child-Katie) designing and creating the structure of the day camp. The first summer was just the newly designed site and program for children of staff and a sprinkling of outside children. We had only 8-12 children for each 2 week session which at that time we had 4 sessions. This way we could work out the kinks to be ready to fully open for the summer of 1984. And open we did with enrollment shooting up very quickly and some sessions to full capacity.
I directed the camp for 20 years and stepped down when I took my first job as a school administrator. All three of my children, Katie, Reggie and Lilly grew up at the BDC and later went on to Indian Brook(Firefly Song), Flying Cloud, Tamarack Farm and as Counselors.
The Barn Day Camp and F&W experience shaped their lives as well as mine as I went on to lead three schools in Vermont. To this day the kids talk about their experience and what it has meant to their lives as contributing adults, how they see the world and the care and love they give to causes in which they care deeply. Their lives were certainly influenced by their camp experience, while their mother was busy creating and directly the newest Farm & Wilderness camp.
As a Vermont school leader, I brought the values I learned at Farm & Wilderness to my job. Tolerance and acceptance of others, working hard to achieve a goal, collaborating with others and striving for a caring, thoughtful inclusive school community for children to thrive and grow.
To know that the Barn continues to thrive and grow with the basic structures created 43 years ago is heartwarming. While I have been away for 23 years, many children in my community have attended the Barn and report positive experiences and look forward to returning. The magic continues. So happy, happy 43rd Birthday Barn Day Camp, may you continue for many more years.
Helen Richards-Peelle
BDC director 1983-2003
F&W Crew Co-Director for the off season(1981-84)
Camp Office Register for all the camps 1984-89
Designed and Co-director of School programs at Farm & Wilderness 1982-84