Camp Nonesuch History

Camp Nonesuch In 1979, about twenty-five acres of land on Nonesuch Pond, located directly across from the Rivers campus, was put up for sale. Roughly half the land had formerly been used for a Girl Scout camp, Camp Mary Day, which had been operated by the Newton Girl Scout Council. Many of the original camp buildings, some dating back to the 1920s, were still intact on the property. The other half of the property had been the Algonquin Camp. Representatives of the Board of Trustees worked throughout the spring and summer of 1979 to negotiate the land’s purchase from the developer who had acquired it, and in that fall the school was able to acquire the thirteen acres of land that had served as the Girl Scout camp.

The land was purchased with the intent of opening a second summer camp at the site, but from the beginning the intention was clear that this new camp’s philosophy and program would be different from that of the very successful Rivers Day Camp. Headmaster Dave Berwind described the idea for this new camp as being “separate and distinct from our present Rivers Day Camp, which has a highly structured, sports-oriented program…” He said that this new camp would be “oriented toward the arts and nature, with a workshop type of format.” This difference in focus, coupled with the freedom campers had to choose their activities, have been defining characteristics of Camp Nonesuch since its inaugural season in the summer of 1980.

Toby Martin, a Rivers faculty member who worked closely with Paul Licht to help create the camp program and prepare the newly-acquired land for the inaugural camp season, served as the camp’s first director from 1980–1989. In his farewell to campers in the summer of 1989, Martin described what made Nonesuch special in this way: “Now, after ten years, we still hold fast to our principles of having a close-knit and caring community where both campers and staff meet the challenges of choice and responsibility. Seven-year-olds participate right alongside those who are twelve and thirteen, boys and girls together in a wonderful association which fosters mutual respect. A century ago, America’s educational trust was often represented by the one-room classroom, which placed children of all ages together out of necessity; we have done it here out of conviction. This sense of equality, unity and openness is perhaps the most special quality of everything that is representative of Camp Nonesuch.”

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At Camp Nonesuch there is a wide variety of arts and crafts, nature crafts, and sports activities offered in each camp session. In addition the camp takes advantage of its location on Nonesuch Pond by offering a large number waterfront activities, including swimming, fishing, sail boating, and kayaking. About a week before the start of each camp session, campers are presented with a list of activities for the upcoming two-week session and choose their activities for each of the daily activity blocks.

There are core activities offered every summer, so campers can expect to have the chance to do gimp, kayaking, soccer, tie dye, and nature crafts. But many interesting and unique activities are offered based on the interests and talents of the camp staff. Over the years Nonesuch has offered a large

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number of offerings that you are not likely to find at other area camps. In recent years these have included cartooning, clay animation, batik, models, aerobic dance, quilling, quilting, and creative writing.

Illustration by Jim Rutstein ’85.

The ability to choose which activities and when to do them is what makes the Nonesuch experience different not only from the Rivers Day Camp, but also most other area camps.

This freedom of choice continues to make Nonesuch a very popular summer camp. This philosophy also promotes tremendous loyalty among the campers, who tend to return year after year. This loyalty can also be seen on the part of the camp staff. Typically, a large number of counselors attended the camp and later served as CITs before becoming counselors.

Many continue to return to work at Nonesuch after high school graduation.

Martin served as director of Nonesuch for the camp’s first ten seasons. On his retirement, he was succeeded by John Gillespie, a member of the Science Department and one of the original nine Camp Nonesuch counselors who directed the camp for the next three summers, reinforcing the camp’s mission and molding its program.

Paul Karasch, a Rivers science teacher and member of the Technology Department, took over from Gillespie in 1993. The 2015 camp season will mark his twenty-second summer as director. Karasch has continued to grow the camp and expand its offerings, but he continues to embrace the camp’s mission and is motivated by a desire to keep the camp true to it. For Karasch, the founding of Nonesuch shares much in common with the founding of Rivers, and the spirit that motivated both continues to infuse the philosophy and program of the camp.

“In many ways Camp Nonesuch has a lot in common with The Rivers School. Rivers began as an alternative to traditional educational institutions in the area, an experiment if you will, to educate boys in a safe and secure environment. The open-air school was very much an experiment: a way to keep boys safe from the myriad contagious diseases of the early 1900s. Camp Nonesuch was founded in much the same spirit. A small group of visionary faculty from The Rivers School designed and implemented Camp Nonesuch as a place that would be very different from other day camps. A camp where choice, responsibility and calculated risk-taking were determined to be important tools in the emotional and physical development of children. A place where boys and girls of different ages play and learn together common only in that they each have the same desire and maybe even passion for a particular art, craft, or other activity. I like to say it’s like old neighborhoods used to be… boys and girls of different ages spending their summer playing together and enjoying each other’s company!”

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