Pinewoods Camp is a
traditional dance and
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
camp located on of woodland between
Long Pond and
Round Pond in
Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is the oldest continuously run folk dance camp in the U.S.,
and is arguably the most popular and well-known camp of its type.
History
Initially known as "Pine Tree Camp", Pinewoods was founded in 1919 by
Helen Osborne Storrow as the first National Girl Scout Leadership Training School.
In 1933, the facility was converted for use as a dance camp. The name was changed to Pinewoods Camp in 1935.
Storrow died in 1944, and left the property to Lily and Rick Conant, who operated the property until 1976. At that time, the Conants transferred its ownership to a newly created nonprofit organization, Pinewoods Camp, Inc., that now runs the facility.
Pinewoods was added to 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 ...
in 2009.
Activities
Each summer, Pinewoods Camp hosts over a dozen sessions, some of which are a week long, and others of which take place over a weekend. Each session features music and dancing educational programs for adults and is run by one of five Program Providers:
* The Country Dance and Song Society
* The Country Dance Society, Boston Centre
* The Folk Arts Center of New England
* The Folk Music Society of New York
* Royal Scottish Country Dance Society
The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS), was founded on 28 November 1923 as the Scottish Country Dance Society by Jean Milligan and Ysobel Stewart of Fasnacloich, who wanted to preserve country dancing as performed in Scotland, countr ...
, Boston Branch
Pinewoods has played a central role in the development of country dance
A country dance is any of a very large number of social dances of a type that originated in the British Isles; it is the repeated execution of a predefined sequence of figures, carefully designed to fit a fixed length of music, performed by a ...
traditions in the United States.
Grounds and facilities
Pinewoods's facilities include four open-sided dance pavilions (Hands Across, Pine Hollow, Ampleforth and Newbiggin), a dining hall and kitchen, a camp house, and rustic cabins for up to 140 campers (plus offices, staff housing, and support facilities). Three of the pavilions and the dining hall were renovated as part of a recent capital campaign and are handicapped accessible
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...
, although some other facilities are not.
File:Pinewoods 1.jpg, Hunsdon House, a house with several rooms for campers
File:Pinewoods 2.jpg, Nonesuch, a cabin on the shore of Round Pond
File:Lads 2 Pinewoods.agr.jpg, Lads 2, a two-person cabin
File:Pinewoods Main Hall.jpg, Dining hall and kitchen
File:Serving area Pinewoods Dining Hall.agr.jpg, Serving area in dining hall
File:Ducks on Long Pond.agr.jpg, Ducks invade the swimming area on Long Pond
File:Sunset Long Pond.agr.jpg, Sunset on Long Pond
See also
* Country dance
A country dance is any of a very large number of social dances of a type that originated in the British Isles; it is the repeated execution of a predefined sequence of figures, carefully designed to fit a fixed length of music, performed by a ...
* Contra dance
Contra dance (also contradance, contra-dance and other variant spellings) is a form of folk dancing made up of long lines of couples.
It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th ...
* Folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
* International folk dance
International folk dance includes Balkan dance, Middle Eastern dance, contra dance, Hungarian dance, polka, Chinese dance, and Japanese dance. Clubs featuring these ethnic dance genres are enjoyed by non-professional dancers for entertainment. ...
Notes
References
External links
*
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Dance in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Buildings and structures completed in 1919
Buildings and structures in Plymouth, Massachusetts
Summer camps in Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Temporary populated places on the National Register of Historic Places