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Community Corner

Camp Farnam: Durham's Hidden Retreat

An idyllic woodland setting and a location that's just remote enough makes Camp Farnam the perfect retreat for children living in the city.

Camp Farnam in Durham is less than 30 miles from New Haven, but the contrasting landscape of campground to city is world's apart.

Each summer, since 1951, children from the city and surrounding area have been coming to the camp located at 285 Maiden Lane, where a dirt and sand lot with a few cars and a shop sits unassumingly on the side of the road as if to say 'Nothing to see here, no camp in these parts, move along.'

Don't be fooled. The lot - its presence reminiscent of mock vending machines and false walls in convenience stores leading to underground night clubs in the city - leads to a narrow, empty path into the woods.

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It's long and it's steep and the coarse, slippery gravel is a far cry from comforting as sounds from the highway fade into silence - the kind of silence a city girl has to get used to.

The path cuts abruptly through unkempt, untrimmed, un-suburbanized wilderness, towering on either side. Thick, undisturbed tangles of nature thrive without any expectation to be tamed and landscaped into some faux wilderness with convenient hiking trails carved through it.

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The feeling of removal and seclusion finally begins to set in as a sign for parking pokes out into the clearing. Welcome to Camp Farnam.

A retreat, a reunion, a birthday party, any party - is what comes to mind, crossing through the clearing, past a first aid hut to find a camp counselor. The possibilities are endless, but, first and foremost, it's a retreat for children, and it's been as such every summer for the last six decades. 

State forest surrounds the 72 acre campground, with a few trails webbing out from the camp site. An olympic-sized pool and an impressive basketball court can be seen from a satellite view on Google maps. Other activities include arts and crafts, hiking, nature studies, sports, field events, nutrition, cookouts, drama and dance. The American flag waves about at the head of a pavillion constructed by a team from Yale's School of Architecture.

In recent years, the camp has used grants to renovate the facilities.

The camp honors the land's Native American predecessors by naming each of the dark red, wooden cabins after tribes like Iroquois, Apache and Black Hawks.

Camp Farnam also offers a Family Swim Program, M, W, F from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m., $75 per family; an Early Morning Adult Swim Program, M - F, 6:30 - 8:30 a.m., $75; as well as Competitive Swimming and Diving Clinics (TBA) throughout the Summer swimming session - July 11 through September 2. Applicants must pass a swim test. All children must be accompanied by an adult in the pool.

Registration for 2011 has closed. 

Interested in the camp site for personal use? Camp Farnam can be rented out on the weekends for camping, parties, reunions, family picnics or whatever your needs might be. For more registration, regulation or renting information, call 203-562-9194.

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