Camp Robindel: all-girls sleepaway camp in Moultonboro, New Hampshire

Robindel is an activity camp rather than a school: there are no lessons and no timetable of classes. Each camper builds her own day from the programme, with instructors in every area and progression within an activity across the summer. The camp runs two published programmes — the full seven-week CR Full Experience and the two-week introductory 2 Weeks on Winni for the youngest girls.

Tuition covers the stay in a cabin, all meals in Garrett Hall, the full activity programme, evening programmes and Blue & White team events. The camp names separately as additional fees: transportation to and from camp, baggage shipment, optional horseback riding and senior trips for campers entering 7th grade and above.

Campers live in wooden cabins in groups, with staff living areas kept separate from campers’. Bunk beds are wooden; each girl has an assigned cubby for clothing, a shelf for personal items and her own space in the bathroom for toiletries. Every cabin has screened windows, a porch, electricity and a bathroom with hot water. The site is flat and compact, so cabins, dining hall and activity buildings are all within a short walk of each other.

All meals are included and are eaten together as a camp in Garrett Hall, the large air-conditioned dining hall that stands directly beside Lake Winnipesaukee. The hall is named after Chef Gary, who cooked at Camp Robindel from 1960 to 2021.

The daily programme covers archery, arts and crafts, culinary, basketball, fitness, gymnastics, horseback riding, lacrosse, library, mountain biking, performing arts, photography, pickleball, pontoon, ropes, ski, soccer, softball, swimming, outdoor adventure, tennis, water craft, volleyball and the Zen House, plus an evening programme every night. Senior campers also take multi-night trips: camping on the Maine coast, white-water rafting on the Kennebec River, climbing in the White Mountains and a six-day trip to Canada.

The camp occupies 75 flat acres with 1,500 feet of private shoreline on Lake Winnipesaukee, and the lake is visible from every corner of the site. The 7,000 sq ft Rec Hall holds the theatre stage and costume room and the gymnastics programme, with a 45′×45′ springboard floor, tumbling area, vault, three beams and uneven bars. The three-storey Art Barn houses a ceramics studio, a fine arts level, a crafts floor and outdoor patios. There are two fully mirrored fitness and dance studios, a Senior Retreat lounge with bean bags, couches and a ping-pong table, and the lakeside Garrett Hall dining room.

An all-girls camp running continuously since 1951, accredited by the American Camp Association, with a strongly multigenerational community: alumnae stay involved and many campers return summer after summer. The directors describe the aim as teaching skills so that girls understand themselves and others, develop self-worth and keep using those skills through life. Campers unplug from devices, and the Blue & White teams, camp sisters, cheers, songs, campfires and s’mores are the shared traditions that hold the summer together.