Special Report: Celebrating 75 years of Hidden Valley!

Hello Everyone,

Even if you have not been around HVC for the past 75 years (or the past 10 years, or the past few weeks) you can share in the excitement of our 75th anniversary.

We are certainly recognizing that in 1948, two school teachers brought a dozen children up to Maine from New Jersey to create a farm and work-camp on an old homestead. (Read more history here, including critical info about our Indigenous forebears.) That was a huge accomplishment!

A llama cart!

The Log Cabin, built by HVC campers in the 1970s

Even more so, we also celebrate 75 years of what was then a brand new way to organize community life at a camp…No uniforms, no religious services, no guns. Instead, cooperation replaced competition as a central element in peer relationships. And this new camp provided more choices, more recognition of individuals’ interests and needs and a greater devotion to diversity along all dimensions.

Former owner Jay in his element!

As the camp’s founders said in 1951…

If you, as a thoughtful parent or guardian, are increasingly concerned that your son’s or daughter’s summertime activity shall be happy, healthful, safe and creative…

If you believe with us, that young people today require and rejoice in genuine opportunities for self-expression under mature and sympathetic guidance…

If you share our conviction that boys and girls revel in sensibly supervised adventure “out in the open” away from home and deserve just such freedom during summer days…

If you are anxious that your child shall enjoy the great satisfaction of acquiring skills, of learning to work and play happily with others, of adjusting easily to a wholesome community life in a mountains-and-meadows, lake-and-green-woods setting…

We have absolute confidence that Hidden Valley will prove a continuing delight to you and yours.

These values continue to flourish in this very special place.

– Peter and Meg

P.S. Check out even more HVC photos from the last 75 years at our interactive timeline!