Camp St Charles Inc

It is impossible to write a comprehensive history of Camp St. Charles, since the people who have lived, worked and played there really formed the camp. What follows is a brief series of highlights, which attempt to show some of the development of Camp St. Charles, as we know it now.

In 1950, a peninsula of land, located in Rock Point, Maryland, was donated to the Society of the Divine Savior, known as the Salvatorians. For the next few years, seminarians, brothers and priests from Divine Savior Seminary in Lanham, Maryland spent many days and weeks clearing the land of the dense undergrowth and groves of locust trees, which covered the area.

The Mess Hall was the first permanent building erected at Camp and was used for sleeping and eating. The Chapel soon followed. A contractor built both buildings although the timbers were cut from local gum and oak trees and trimmed at the local sawmill just up the road. Large, heavy-duty oak picnic type tables were built, again from local lumber, for use in the mess hall and are still in service today.

The first actual camping season was held in 1952. There were about 60 boys living in tents that year. Cabins 1, 2, and 3 were soon built, using lumber from trees cut to clear the main field. Cabins 4 and 5 followed, and what is now cabin 6 across from the pool was built as a staff lounge called The Dew Drop Inn; A large supply of dented juice cans donated to the camp made up most of the liquid refreshment.

Camp has come a long way from the activities of the first season: softball, swimming, and row boating. Canoes were acquired in 1960, and a rifle range was built for a shooting sports program. Also during the early 60's, The Herk arrived at camp. The Herk was a 26-foot navy ship-to-shore launch, powered by a GM 671 diesel engine also obtained from Navy surplus. Loaded up with a few teams of kids, the Herk would make late night sweeps armed with spotlights and crab nets. The produce of these nighttime expeditions provided the fare for many a crab feast. One of the best trips on the Herk was across the Potomac River to Westmoreland State Park for swimming and a cookout. After an hour on the water, the Herk was nudged gently up on the beach and a marine landing took place. The park personnel were glad to see campers and staff pull away in the late afternoon.

Originally, only Salvatorian brothers, seminarians and priests worked at Camp St. Charles. However, for most of the Camp's history, young men from the Washington, DC area have also been hired. Most of these young men have been campers themselves. In 1974, the first three women were hired as counselors. Today, the staff is half men and half women. They have filled all of the positions at camp ranging from Director to instructors in swimming, boating, archery and riflery as well as arts and crafts. In 2001, Camp St. Charles welcomed the new century with our first session for girls. We accepted 38 girls in Session One. This session was such a success that in 2002 we opened all sessions to girls. We currently have about equal numbers of boys and girls in each session.

Since those early beginnings in 1952, thousands of children have passed through our camp gate. In the words of one camper. now an architect on the West Coast, "It's great to hear that camp is still going strong. I hope you are doing well, also!!! I had such great times at Camp St. Charles. I still think of those times often. I will remember them for the rest of my life. Sometimes it feels like camp never really existed, that it was just some dreamland. Maybe that sounds odd. However, that's how fondly I think back on those times."

The most important thing that we can be proud of is that we are still fulfilling our two basic goals after all these years: helping children to learn respect and care for God's great gift of creation; and secondly, learning how to respect and care for one another. That is why Camp St. Charles was founded and why it still exists today.

-Relections on Camp St. Charles by Fr. Melvin Tracy, SDS

-Edited by Fr. Glen Willis, SDS