Camp Carnes is a historic private summer camp in

Holderness, New Hampshire Holderness is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,004 at the 2020 census. An agricultural and resort area, Holderness is home to the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center and is located on Squam Lake. Holderne ...

. Located on an island in Squam Lake's Carnes Cove off

New Hampshire Route 113 New Hampshire Route 113 (abbreviated NH 113) is a east–west state highway in east-central New Hampshire. NH 113 begins in the Lakes Region at an intersection with U.S. Route 3 and New Hampshire Route 25 in Holderness, and stretches eastward a ...

, the 1894 camp is one of the first to be established on an island in Squam Lake, and forms part of the extensive set of properties owned by the locally prominent Webster family. The camp was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2012.

Description and history

Carnes Cove is a tongue of Squam Lake projecting northward on the northwestern part of Squam Lake in northeastern Holderness. Carnes Island is one of the smaller islands in the cove, located between Groton Island, the largest, and the northern mainland. The Squam Lake area was largely agricultural into the last quarter of the 19th century, when interest began to build in the area as a summer tourist destination. Frank and Mary Webster, he a partner in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co., summered for several years at the Asquam House hotel in Holderness before purchasing Carnes and Groton Islands in 1894; the earliest known island camp on Squam Lake is that of the Cook family on Kent Island, established in 1886. Prior to their purchase, Carnes Island had housed a fishing shanty used by William Carnes, which they replaced with a more gracious building. Although supposedly rustic in character, the Websters brought maids with them to the camp each summer, and served meals on linen and china bearing the name "Camp Carnes". The Websters later purchased large tracts of the nearby mainland, where they developed the

Webster Estate The Webster Estate is a historic summer estate in Holderness, New Hampshire. Located near Carns Cove on Squam Lake off New Hampshire Route 113, the estate belongs to the locally prominent Webster family. It includes a number of houses: the Home ...

Description and history

See also

References

Further reading