NEWFOUND

Elizabeth Horton founded Camp Newfound for girls from Christian Science families on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire in 1915. The camp was moved to its present location on Long Lake in 1918. From an advertisement in The Christian Science Monitor, "Aunt Monitor E liz abeth" purchased, sight unseen, the picturesque peninsula of land that is still Camp Newfound . Aunt E liz abeth worked diligently to rea liz e her "Newfound ideal." During the snowy winter of 1919, the first Camp buildings - some of which are still in use today - were brought by rail cars from New Hampshire to the small town of Harrison , Maine . The cabins were sledded from the icy banks of the village about two miles across frozen Long Lake to the new Camp property. Today, there are second, third, and fourth generation campers attending Newfound, campers who return, along with many others who have joined our Camp family over the years, to carry forward the rich history and the culture of simplicity and joy that continue to bring meaning, beauty, and life to the wood and stone of the original buildings and the natural setting.

OWATONNA

Colonel George Stanley started Camp Ropioa (Reflection of perfection is our aim) in 1922 for boys attending the Christian Science Sunday School. The camp was located just up the hill from Newfound on rolling fields and woodlands that stretch down to Long Lake . In the early 1940's, the camp was sold and became a private camp for boys of all faiths. Finally, in 1955, Ropioa was dissolved. At that time, a group of former Ropioa campers, led by Frank Hayden Connor, Sr., formed a not-for profit corporation to purchase the camp, and renamed it Owatonna (a Native American word for "straight as an arrow"). Some of the original buildings at Owatonna are still in use. The Lodge that crowns the hill contains plaques naming feather award-winners from decades past through the present - as well as countless happy memories for both Ropioa and Owatonna campers.