Spring Camping

This spring has been a busy time for many of our council properties. From activities such as troop camping, town-wide camporees, adult training weekends (including lifeguarding, boating and Basic Outdoor Living Skills), to council programs, resident camp open houses and even a few weddings. With all of these events combined we have served approximately 2,100 people between 7 properties in about 4 weekends! Way to get your girls outside and enjoying nature!

Summer is coming!

24 days until the opening day for campers at our resident camps. While camp registrations have been coming in, we still have plenty of programs with spaces in them. We are very excited for camp this summer and would love to have as many girls enjoy the experience as possible. Please help us in spreading the word that we are still accepting registrations and that all girls can attend Girl Scout camp, they do not have to be a current member.

Meet the Sunset Valley Caretaker

Name: Benjamin Schott

Hometown: Springfield, Missouri

Job/occupation: Full-time student, I have worked at the Appalachian Mountain Club for 7 years in various positions.

How long have you been at Sunset Valley? Since December 2008

Favorite outdoor activity? That's tough. Ski, bike, hike, camp, boat, just about anything.

The one thing most people don't know about Sunset Valley: The names of the mountains that you can see from the field are Madison and Adams.

Favorite quote: Only boring people get bored.

Pictures of Farnsworth

This is a view of the Dining Hall from the lake at Camp Farnsworth.





This is the Program Center at camp. This is the newest building on our property and houses the camp office during the summer.







This is one of the living units at Camp Farnsworth.







Some campers enjoying the lake.

Property of the Month

Property of the Month – April 2010

Camp Farnsworth is a resident camp located in East Thetford, Vermont. This property has been the site of a girls’ resident camp for over 100 years. The original owners of the camp were from Turkey and many of the units have Turkish names.
There is a building on camp called the Recreation building that is available for use year around. This building has a large meeting area, stage, small upstairs area, bathrooms, and a shower. There is a small kitchen area with a microwave, sink, and dorm-sized fridge.

There are several living units available at Farnsworth from platform tents to clusters of small cabins.

During resident camp, there is horseback riding in the three rings on camp, a low challenge course, boating, swimming, and arts and craft programs. Farnsworth is also a great base site for many local day trips including to King Arthur Flour, Montshire Museum, Billings Farm, Quechee Gorge, and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) Nature Center.

Community Service Thank You!

April 21-23, 30 students and their teachers helped us do some spring cleaning at Camp Kettleford and the Bedford Service Center.

They spent three long days doing a variety of activities from raking, picking up limbs and sticks from paths, and painting signs. We appreciate all they did in helping us get our properties ready for spring camping.

Calling all Girl Scout adults…

Did you know that you have the opportunity to WIN a FREE weekend at a GSGWM property for your troop? Help us spread the word about camp by participating in our promotion activity about camp. You can find the activity sheet with details and directions on our website on the Summer Camp page under Resources for troop leaders or you can click on the link below:

Activity Checklist

There are several different activities you can do with your parents and girls, and for each activity you complete, you will get entered into the drawing for the FREE weekend. Entries must be submitted by June 25th.

Earth Day is Coming

A Brief History of Earth Day

Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda." On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders asked Denis Hayes to organize another big campaign. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issues on to the world stage. Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link activists around the world. By the time April 22 rolled around, 5,000 environmental groups around the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries.

Spread this environmental spirit through your troop and into your community. If you live near one of our properties and would like to do a community service environmental project, please contact Kristine Jones at kjones@girlscoutsgwm.org and she can share some project ideas or camp needs.

Fire Extinguisher Inspection

Terry, from Tri-State Fire Protection Company, inspects the fire extinguishers from Camp Kettleford, Seawood and the Bedford Service Center.

Spring has sprung!

As we prepare our camp properties to open for the spring, they go through certain safety inspections to make sure they are ready for troop use. Some of these inspections include fire extinguishers, sprinkler inspections, and hood suppression inspection. Hood suppression applies to our properties that have commercial kitchens such as Chenoa and Sunset Valley. The hood is over the oven range and is basically a fire extinguisher for the stove.

On top of these required inspections, we also replace the batteries in all the smoke detectors at our properties and we obtain seasonal permits for the sites where they are required.

Opening days for our properties are:

Anne Jackson Lower Camp – May 1st
Anne Jackson Lodge – Available year around
Chenoa – May 1st
Essex – Available year around
Farnsworth Recreation Building – Available year around
Farnsworth rest of site – May 15th
Kettleford – May 1st
Seawood Lodges (Roost and Thaxter) – Available year around
Seawood Adirondacks – May 1st
Sunset Valley Lodges (Program Center and Barn) – Available year around
Sunset Valley – May 15th
Twin Hills Pixie Cabin – Available year around
Twin Hills – May 15th

Hope to see you there soon!

Pictures of Chenoa

This is the ampitheater at Chenoa. It is a great place to gather big groups for ceremonies or campfires.




Whispering Winds is one of the big cabin units at Chenoa. This particular building can sleep a total of 31 people in 4 different rooms.





This is a yurt at the unit Rocky Top. A yurt is a round tent. There are two yurts and a small cabin in Rocky Top.

Property of the Month

Property of the Month - March 2010

On the shores of Gregg Lake lies Camp Chenoa. A resident camp during the summer months and available for group camping in the spring and fall, Chenoa is a great facility for groups to use. There are several types of living units at Chenoa from clusters of small cabins to large cabin units.

Adventure is around every corner at Camp Chenoa! There is a 35-foot climbing tower that is available for groups to rent during their stay at camp. Gregg Lake is a 200-acre lake where you can swim and boat. There are great fields for groups to do activities or play games in.

Camp Chenoa is located in Antrim, NH and has many local attractions available to groups staying onsite. Keene, NH is about 33 miles from Chenoa and has the following attractions that groups might be interested in: Stonewall Farm, Colony Mills Marketplace, the Pumpkin Festival every fall, Otter Brook State Park. Also it is about 13 miles to Peterborough, NH which is a quaint New England town with a small downtown area that is fun for groups to explore.

Community Service Thank You!

On Saturday, March 13, two troops from Greenland, NH helped to clean up Camp Seawood after the windstorm. The girls from these Brownie Troop 22874 and Junior Troop 22401spent two hours helping Mike, the Director of Property, clean up the damage caused by the storm.

The girls picked up downed limbs and branches from trees and made piles for future cleanup with bigger equipment. The enthusiasm and energy of the girls was a welcome sight for property staff as we start a month of intensive cleanups at all our camp properties. If your troop or camporee is looking for any community service projects, please contact Kristine Jones at kjones@girlscoutsgwm.org for a list of project ideas.

Tree Harvesting

You may have noticed that we are and have been doing forest harvesting at several of our properties over the last two years. Ever wonder to yourself why? Here is the answer…


What can happen to trees over a period of time?

Trees are just like any other living thing. They can live for a long time but eventually they succumb to old age, disease or the environment. These trees die on the inside; once that happens then the insects move in and this weakens the tree even more. As in the "cycle of life," once there are insects, then the birds and other animals that eat insects start looking for the bugs. Woodpecker holes are an indication of this.


Trees are a renewable resource; just as at a grocery store we need to rotate stock. And for GSGWM that means to remove trees on a regular basis. Our philosophy is to then let natural regeneration occur. It is the most cost effective for us and best for the property.

We did have to cut a lot of trees during the timber harvest at a few properties, because this process had been neglected for several years. Now that we have a new process in place, we will be able to do a more simple and precise cutting in the future. Timber harvesting is an ongoing process that is part of using our resources wisely, keeping girls safe, and good forestry management.

Pictures of Seawood

This is one of the seven Adirondack shelters at Seawood. Each Adirondack has picnic tables and a fire circle for groups to use.






Here is a picture one of the three latrines available for use throughout the camp.







This is the kitchen area in Thaxter Shelter.

Property of the Month

Property of the Month – February 2010

Just a five-minute drive from many of New Hampshire popular beaches, Camp Seawood is located in historic Portsmouth, NH. Portsmouth is a great seaside town with lots of different activities for troops to participate in, check out this website on things to do in Portsmouth http://www.portsmouthnh.com/thingstodo/. Places to visit include Odiorne Point State Park (4 miles from Seawood), Strawberry Banks, Prescott Park, Isles of Shoals.

This property is a great facility for troops to use year - round. There are two winterized buildings, both sleep 16 people. Ranger’s Roost is a two story building, with nice kitchen and meeting are. There is a sleeping area upstairs with mattress. The bathroom facilities include four toilet stalls and two showers.
The other winterized building is called Thaxter Shelter. This building burnt down during the ice storm of winter 2008-2009, but has since been rebuilt. The building has a nice kitchen and gathering area, an area with bunk beds, and a small room for leaders to sleep in. There are no bathroom facilities in this building, they are shared with Ranger’s Roost.

There are also 7 Adirondack shelters at Camp Seawood. There are picnic tables and campfire rings at each Adirondack as well as a latrine facility located nearby. There is also a large fire circle in the center of camp and a pavilion called the Lobsta Pot.

Seawood is used by many groups throughout the year including, adult learning facilitators, troops for meetings, troop camping overnights, interest groups, Council programs and a 5-week day camp during the summer.

We have been conducting a timber harvest from during December 2009 – February 2010. We are doing this to remove some dead trees before they fall during a storm and to open up the tree canopy to encourage some new growth.

Photos of Sunset Valley

This is a photo of the field kitchen at Sunset Valley. The field kitchen is available for groups that are planning to camp out in the vast field at Sunset Valley.


This is the pavilion at Sunset Valley. It is located in the field behind the Program Center and the Barn.

Property of the Month

Property of the Month - January 2010

Sunset Valley in Gorham, NH is a great facility for groups to use. There are two year-round buildings onsite. The Program Center sleeps 24 people in three bunk rooms. There is a large industrial kitchen for groups to use while they are there, along with a meeting/gathering area. The Barn is connected to the Program Center and offers sleeping space for 16 in a sleeping loft. The Barn has a nice kitchen area and also has a meeting/gathering area.

During the summer months, Sunset Valley has plenty of room for tent camping, along with the use of the buildings. There is a field kitchen as well as a pavilion for groups to use. The property connects to the local Moose Brook State Park. Sunset Valley is a great base camp for lots of day trips in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire.

Over the past few years, a troop from Sanbornton, NH has spent many winter weekends at Sunset Valley doing all sorts of activities. Their leader shared, “We have done everything from badge requirements, to staying indoors all weekend and having a fashion show, snowshoeing and outdoor cooking. One year we helped to remove downed tree limbs and branches from the trail to Moose Brook. Another year we took our girls to Nestle Nook Estate and Resort in Jackson, NH to go ice skating as well as visiting with the reindeer. My girls love to stay in the Barn at Sunset Valley and look forward to seeing that orange furniture every year.”