Camp Norchunkaw

Camp Norchunkaw History

Most of our knowledge of Norchunkaw is from the 1925 camp brochure which is shown with this article, supplemented by several newspaper items shown in the compilations by Art Pease on the website and in the full collection.

The girls’ music and drama camp operated from 1925 until about 1932.  In 1924 a group of 32 New York girls stopped to visit the Ryan’s on Upper Baker Pond probably as a precursor to the camp opening. A June, 1925 news item reports “the new camp for girls will be done soon”.  The cabins were almost certainly built by Warren Chase as they are very similar to those he had built at Camp Moosilauke.  Other buildings likely were pre-existing.  The property was comprised of three parcels, two purchased by Lucy Leonard in 1925 and the third by her husband, Louis Leonard, in 1926.  In 1925 the Leonard’s secured a $5000 mortgage from Patricia and her dentist father Dr. Edward P. R. Ryan.  

  The co-directors were Patricia Ryan and Lucy Leonard.  Patricia’s parents had purchased their summer cottage at Upper Baker Pond in 1925 and were summer residents for many years, later year round residents.  Both leaders were from Jackson Heights, Queens, New York as were the Ryans.

News items show annual concerts at the Wentworth Congregational Church, just as Pemi and Moosilauke camps did.  There were theatrical presentations at the camp, as shown by the well attended 1925 Frolic program. News describes a disastrous fire burning two cabins completely in July 1930 with loss of all the property contents of the two cabins but no personal injuries.  But it would have been a great setback to the camp operation.

In the 1930’s, likely due to the onset of the Great Depression and the stock market crash, financial trouble resulted and the Leonard’s defaulted on the mortgage and the ownership reverted to the Ryan’s.  The camp operation closed in about 1932 based on news items.