Mont Lawn Camp is a 200-acre

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

located in the

Pocono Mountains The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos , are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, W ...

Bushkill, Pennsylvania Bushkill is an unincorporated community in Pike County, Pennsylvania, United States. Portions of Bushkill were seized by the United States government during the controversial Tocks Island Dam project and are now part of the Delaware Water Gap ...

. Every summer it serves as a sleep-away camp for hundreds of children from underserved neighborhoods in the

New York metro area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Mont Lawn Camp is owned and operated by The Bowery Mission and is accredited by the American Camping Association and the ECFA. In the offseason the camp is used as a retreat center for church and corporate groups.

Facilities and activities

Mont Lawn Camp is located adjacent to the

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is a national recreation area administered by the National Park Service in northwest New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania. It is centered around a stretch of the Delaware River designated the Middle ...

and includes 43 buildings, a large lake, pool, chapel, barn and a dining hall. Available activities at Mont Lawn Camp include rock wall, hiking, archery, canoeing, challenge course, and swimming. The Fort Plenty dining hall operates with support from parent organization The Bowery Mission in New York City. The Diebold Chapel, first dedicated in 1963, was fully renovated in 2007.

History

In 1894, the

Christian Herald The ''Christian Herald'' was an American weekly newspaper reporting on topics relevant to Evangelical Christianity, with an emphasis on engaging with humanitarian causes at home and abroad. It was inspired by the London-based newspaper which cease ...

established a children's home at Mont Lawn in Upper Nyack, NY to serve children from immigrant families living in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

. The first children arrived on by horse-drawn wagonettes after voyaging up the river on the

Steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

''Crystenah.'' Mont Lawn was the estate of the Rev. Lawrence Jewett, who had been pastor of the First Reformed Church of Piermont in the 1850s. In 1898, the

bought the property and incorporated the camp as the Christian Herald Children's Home Association. On July 4, 1905, a ceremony was held to dedicate a new Children's Temple with

Jacob Riis Jacob August Riis ( ; May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in America at the turn of the twen ...

as the chief speaker. In response to encroaching suburbanization the camp moved to its current home in the Poconos Region of Pennsylvania in 1961. Alfred P. Hampton, known affectionately as "Mr. Al," served as director from 1972 to 1989, after first serving as a camp counselor in 1950. After the Herald ceased publication in 1992, Mont Lawn Camp continued under the ownership and operation of The Bowery Mission.

References

Summer camps in Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains Summer camps in the United States Christian summer camps {{youth-org-stub