Anonymous wrote:OP here--for everyone who actually contributed with suggestions, thank you all so much!

I realize now that maybe our best option would be to simply just consider camps slightly farther away--I don't think I would want to send her all the way up to the area I went to overnight camp (in New England), but it seems that there's some pretty good options in places such as PA and southern NY. With PA in particular, the drive wouldn't be THAT much farther than some of the camps I've already looked at in the area, and it seems many offer a bus anyways.

My concern about sending her to a slightly farther away camp has nothing to do with distance/driving time, but rather that she'll be the ONLY one from the DC area at camp. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of her having friends from all along the East Coast (as opposed to many camps in the area which mostly attract D.C. area kids), but I don't want her to be SO far away from everyone else that her camp friends would be having reunions that she couldn't go to because she lives too far away, no one in the area who she may be able to meet up with beforehand to get to know, etc. Most of the camps in these areas seem to cater mostly to families from NY/NJ/PA (and I guess FL).

Does anyone have suggestions of camps in PA/NY that a decent number of families from the DC area go to? We are actually from NoVA and I am perfectly aware that there's a good chance we will be the only Virginia family at any of these given camps (all of my Jewish friends in Virginia either send their kids to the "underwhelming" camps I described earlier or to camps that are actually Jewish), but I presume there are some that attract campers from Maryland.

Anonymous wrote:OP here--for everyone who actually contributed with suggestions, thank you all so much!

I realize now that maybe our best option would be to simply just consider camps slightly farther away--I don't think I would want to send her all the way up to the area I went to overnight camp (in New England), but it seems that there's some pretty good options in places such as PA and southern NY. With PA in particular, the drive wouldn't be THAT much farther than some of the camps I've already looked at in the area, and it seems many offer a bus anyways.

My concern about sending her to a slightly farther away camp has nothing to do with distance/driving time, but rather that she'll be the ONLY one from the DC area at camp. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of her having friends from all along the East Coast (as opposed to many camps in the area which mostly attract D.C. area kids), but I don't want her to be SO far away from everyone else that her camp friends would be having reunions that she couldn't go to because she lives too far away, no one in the area who she may be able to meet up with beforehand to get to know, etc. Most of the camps in these areas seem to cater mostly to families from NY/NJ/PA (and I guess FL).

Does anyone have suggestions of camps in PA/NY that a decent number of families from the DC area go to? We are actually from NoVA and I am perfectly aware that there's a good chance we will be the only Virginia family at any of these given camps (all of my Jewish friends in Virginia either send their kids to the "underwhelming" camps I described earlier or to camps that are actually Jewish), but I presume there are some that attract campers from Maryland.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I realize that sounds a bit harsh, so let me clarify. By "underwhelming" I don't mean that I think the facilities/activities/etc. are bad or anything--from most of the camps I've looked at, they all seem pretty wonderful and well-run.

By "underwhelming," I mean there are virtually NO camps in this area that seem to really have the "family" feel that I got growing up at the overnight camp I went to growing up (in the Northeast), and many of my friends did at their camp (I grew up in the New York metro area). Oh, and by "in the DC area," I mean within a few hours drive, so like anywhere in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, maybe even southern PA/the PA/MD border. I am researching overnight camps for my daughter and I have yet to find a SINGLE camp in this area that offers 3-4 week sessions/where most campers attend for at least a month and it seems like the same people return year after year. Almost all of the camps in WV/VA, etc. offer two week sessions at most, with the option to just multiply sessions if a camper wants to stay longer. Heck, I even found a camp (Sandy Hill) where you aren't ALLOWED to stay more than three weeks! And it seems like most people who go to those camps seem to go for a quick summer getaway/to try sleepaway camp out rather than it being their "home."

The one exception seems to be the Jewish camps in the general area, i.e. Airy/Louise and Capital Camps--which seem like really good camps and we are Jewish, so those are an option. However, my daughter seems awfully bored at Hebrew School and I'm thinking she would more enjoy a more secular-type camp, but I was hoping I would be able to find one that seems to attract a lot of Jewish families (similar to the one I went to growing up) so my daughter could make more Jewish friends through camp. Unfortunately, camps like those don't really exist in this area either.

Yes, I realize if I'm that desperate, I could just send her to a camp slightly farther away (i.e. the Pocono Mountains or NY), but it's just baffling to me that there isn't a better option in this area. The natural surroundings in the greater DC area are gorgeous, and it shocks me that almost none of the camps seem to really take advantage of the nature in the area--there aren't really any camps on a large lake that offer waterskiing/watersports for example, which was a big defining factor of the camps my friends went to growing up. With the general beautiful surroundings of the area, you would think more camps would take advantage of making their camp into a true "camp" experience with longer sessions and many returning families.

Does anyone get a similar vibe from camps in the area and moreover, have any theories as to WHY virtually no camps in this area compare to camps in the NE with long sessions, gorgeous facilities, and an extremely close-knit family feel?

Maryland has no natural lakes and Virginia has only a couple of small ones. W. Virginia may have one.

Kettle lakes, as natural lakes formed by glaciers are called, are not a feature of this region. That has a huge impact on the (lack of) water sports.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth considering Timber Tops/Pine Forest Camp/Owego. Not too far, good mix of kids fom the DC/Philly area. Great places, and Owego is a particularly special place if you have boys.

Funny you mention these camps--I actually have a friend from Maryland who recently told me about Timber Tops when I told her I was considering camps in the PA area! She said many kids from her kids' schools go there and to Owego. Timber Tops sounds like a wonderful place and it's one of the camps I'm looking into further/considering for my daughter.

Random question--do you know why there are SO MANY families from Maryland there? I don't mind at all that there are, and considering the location I assume there are a good amount of kids from other areas too. But the friend who I mentioned said that one of her friends said over half of the girls in her cabin were from Maryland?! Which is kind of shocking for a camp in a location that would presumably attract mostly kids from the NY area! Again, it's not at all a problem that there's so many Maryland families there, but there seem to be minuscule numbers of DC-area kids at other camps in the Poconos--what makes Maryland families attracted to these camps in particular as opposed to the several other Poconos camps, which have very few DC kids? Do Timber Tops/Lake Owego have some type of established connection to people in the DC area?

Again, this is all just out of curiosity!

Great question. No idea, but for whatever reason they seem to skew heavily toward the southern end of the Acela corridor. I guess the NYC kids just go elsewhere. But anyways, they are amazing camps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth considering Timber Tops/Pine Forest Camp/Owego. Not too far, good mix of kids fom the DC/Philly area. Great places, and Owego is a particularly special place if you have boys.

Funny you mention these camps--I actually have a friend from Maryland who recently told me about Timber Tops when I told her I was considering camps in the PA area! She said many kids from her kids' schools go there and to Owego. Timber Tops sounds like a wonderful place and it's one of the camps I'm looking into further/considering for my daughter.

Random question--do you know why there are SO MANY families from Maryland there? I don't mind at all that there are, and considering the location I assume there are a good amount of kids from other areas too. But the friend who I mentioned said that one of her friends said over half of the girls in her cabin were from Maryland?! Which is kind of shocking for a camp in a location that would presumably attract mostly kids from the NY area! Again, it's not at all a problem that there's so many Maryland families there, but there seem to be minuscule numbers of DC-area kids at other camps in the Poconos--what makes Maryland families attracted to these camps in particular as opposed to the several other Poconos camps, which have very few DC kids? Do Timber Tops/Lake Owego have some type of established connection to people in the DC area?

Again, this is all just out of curiosity!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I realize that sounds a bit harsh, so let me clarify. By "underwhelming" I don't mean that I think the facilities/activities/etc. are bad or anything--from most of the camps I've looked at, they all seem pretty wonderful and well-run.

By "underwhelming," I mean there are virtually NO camps in this area that seem to really have the "family" feel that I got growing up at the overnight camp I went to growing up (in the Northeast), and many of my friends did at their camp (I grew up in the New York metro area). Oh, and by "in the DC area," I mean within a few hours drive, so like anywhere in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, maybe even southern PA/the PA/MD border. I am researching overnight camps for my daughter and I have yet to find a SINGLE camp in this area that offers 3-4 week sessions/where most campers attend for at least a month and it seems like the same people return year after year. Almost all of the camps in WV/VA, etc. offer two week sessions at most, with the option to just multiply sessions if a camper wants to stay longer. Heck, I even found a camp (Sandy Hill) where you aren't ALLOWED to stay more than three weeks! And it seems like most people who go to those camps seem to go for a quick summer getaway/to try sleepaway camp out rather than it being their "home."

The one exception seems to be the Jewish camps in the general area, i.e. Airy/Louise and Capital Camps--which seem like really good camps and we are Jewish, so those are an option. However, my daughter seems awfully bored at Hebrew School and I'm thinking she would more enjoy a more secular-type camp, but I was hoping I would be able to find one that seems to attract a lot of Jewish families (similar to the one I went to growing up) so my daughter could make more Jewish friends through camp. Unfortunately, camps like those don't really exist in this area either.

Yes, I realize if I'm that desperate, I could just send her to a camp slightly farther away (i.e. the Pocono Mountains or NY), but it's just baffling to me that there isn't a better option in this area. The natural surroundings in the greater DC area are gorgeous, and it shocks me that almost none of the camps seem to really take advantage of the nature in the area--there aren't really any camps on a large lake that offer waterskiing/watersports for example, which was a big defining factor of the camps my friends went to growing up. With the general beautiful surroundings of the area, you would think more camps would take advantage of making their camp into a true "camp" experience with longer sessions and many returning families.

Does anyone get a similar vibe from camps in the area and moreover, have any theories as to WHY virtually no camps in this area compare to camps in the NE with long sessions, gorgeous facilities, and an extremely close-knit family feel?

Maryland has no natural lakes and Virginia has only a couple of small ones. W. Virginia may have one.

Kettle lakes, as natural lakes formed by glaciers are called, are not a feature of this region. That has a huge impact on the (lack of) water sports.

Anonymous wrote:The only people I know who regularly send their kids away for the summer are Jewish or WASPy, and they are from NY/Mid-Atlantic/New England. It's a regional/class thing. The reason those kind of camps don't exist here is because, historically, that's not what people did with their kids around here. And I'm not sure there's a huge demand for it, at least not enough to support a camp.

Anonymous wrote:I realize that sounds a bit harsh, so let me clarify. By "underwhelming" I don't mean that I think the facilities/activities/etc. are bad or anything--from most of the camps I've looked at, they all seem pretty wonderful and well-run.

By "underwhelming," I mean there are virtually NO camps in this area that seem to really have the "family" feel that I got growing up at the overnight camp I went to growing up (in the Northeast), and many of my friends did at their camp (I grew up in the New York metro area). Oh, and by "in the DC area," I mean within a few hours drive, so like anywhere in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, maybe even southern PA/the PA/MD border. I am researching overnight camps for my daughter and I have yet to find a SINGLE camp in this area that offers 3-4 week sessions/where most campers attend for at least a month and it seems like the same people return year after year. Almost all of the camps in WV/VA, etc. offer two week sessions at most, with the option to just multiply sessions if a camper wants to stay longer. Heck, I even found a camp (Sandy Hill) where you aren't ALLOWED to stay more than three weeks! And it seems like most people who go to those camps seem to go for a quick summer getaway/to try sleepaway camp out rather than it being their "home."

The one exception seems to be the Jewish camps in the general area, i.e. Airy/Louise and Capital Camps--which seem like really good camps and we are Jewish, so those are an option. However, my daughter seems awfully bored at Hebrew School and I'm thinking she would more enjoy a more secular-type camp, but I was hoping I would be able to find one that seems to attract a lot of Jewish families (similar to the one I went to growing up) so my daughter could make more Jewish friends through camp. Unfortunately, camps like those don't really exist in this area either.

Yes, I realize if I'm that desperate, I could just send her to a camp slightly farther away (i.e. the Pocono Mountains or NY), but it's just baffling to me that there isn't a better option in this area. The natural surroundings in the greater DC area are gorgeous, and it shocks me that almost none of the camps seem to really take advantage of the nature in the area--there aren't really any camps on a large lake that offer waterskiing/watersports for example, which was a big defining factor of the camps my friends went to growing up. With the general beautiful surroundings of the area, you would think more camps would take advantage of making their camp into a true "camp" experience with longer sessions and many returning families.

Does anyone get a similar vibe from camps in the area and moreover, have any theories as to WHY virtually no camps in this area compare to camps in the NE with long sessions, gorgeous facilities, and an extremely close-knit family feel?