STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Quinipet is a summer
residence camp for children and a religious retreat center for youth and adults affiliated with the United Methodist Church,
located at Jennings Point/Stearns Point on Shelter Island in Suffolk County, New York. The camp is significant under Criterion
A for the history of how part the island was used as a summer resort in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
and how it reflects the trend of organized camping for children that developed in the early-twentieth century. Organized camping
was connected to a number of philosophies such as improving the health of children by providing healthy summer environments,
military training for young boys and the growth of scouting and other organizations that included camping as part of their
regular activities. Quinipet is also significant under Criterion C and Criteria Consideration A as a property owned by a religious
institution that derives significance from architectural or artistic distinction, in this case from the arrangement, design
and age of the camp buildings. The camp is a combination of nineteenth and early-twentieth century buildings of different
architectural styles interspersed with mid-twentieth century buildings that follow an established pattern of camp design and
materials and common-sense placement that was advocated in advice manuals and guidelines of the period.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Organized camping
came to Shelter Island in 1922 when Camp Quinipet was founded, offering a chance for boys to sail, swim and spend the summer
(or part of it) in a rustic setting. Shelter Island was a perfect place for a camp, being an “island sheltered by islands,”
the name given by the local Native American inhabitants who occupied it before English settlement began in the seventeenth
century. The sheltered nature of the island kept population growth relatively slow but by 1730, the population was sufficiently large
enough for the Town of Shelter Island to form from the Town of Southold. Due to the fact that it was an island, the local
economy remained tied to the shipping, agriculture and fishing industries well into the nineteenth century. The slow pace
of growth and development also maintained the rural character of the island, making it attractive for camps and vacationers.
It could be argued
that Camp Quinipet was actually the second organized camp to be established on the island, following the Shelter Island Grove
and Camp Meeting Association, but it was the first with activities specifically directed toward a youth audience. The Shelter
Island Grove organization was a Methodist summer camp focused around religious experiences for adults, even though families
also could spend the summer at the camp in rented cottages. The largest “camp” building on the grounds was the
Prospect House, a hotel with accommodations for 150 guests. The religious purpose of the Shelter Island Grove group was clearly
different from the goals of the organized camp movement that was beginning in the late-nineteenth century that was centered
on youth recreational activities.
As an outgrowth of
the “strenuous life” philosophy of the period, organized youth camping had its beginning in 1861 when Frederick
Gunn and his wife Abigail took a group of school boys for two weeks of hunting, fishing, and trapping in Washington, Connecticut.
The camping trip was the ultimate “field trip” for the boys, allowing them to experience the wilderness while
strengthening character, body and spirit through rough living. Camping was also viewed as a being a much more affordable activity
than spending the summer at costly resort, thereby making it accessible to more people and much more democratic. As the camping
idea caught on, organizations like the Young Men’s and Women’s Christian Associations adopted camping as part
of their activities. The first YMCA camp was established by Sumner Dudley in 1885, located in Essex County, New York, offering
an affordable camp experience for all children, regardless of background. Camping became an integral part of the overall program for scouting when the Boys Scouts of America was founded in 1910 and
the Girl Scouts organization in 1912. The American Camping Association also began in 1910 with the purpose of creating models
and standards for boys and girls camps throughout the country.
Organizations like
the scouts and the American Camping Association began publishing guidance manuals on how to plan, manage and operate a camp.
By the 1920s, camping was viewed as more of an educational experience than recreational, emphasizing outdoor education and
social interaction. According to the Playground and Recreation Association of America, the organized camp was “an educational
agency, rather than a place where parents can park their children for the summer or as a place in which to have a good time:”
Those who are thinking of the organized camp as an educational agency are not, however,
thinking of it in terms of a transplanted public or private school of the old standardized pattern. They are thinking of it
as a place where the various qualities and powers of the children and young people may be released through contacts with natural
environmental influences and through programs based upon the natural interests of the children. The programs are to grow out
of the living conditions of the camper rather than forced upon them from the outside.
Camps were strongly
encouraged to have themes and directed activities supervised by trained camp leaders, focused on what the camper would take
away from the experience.
Crucial to its success
was planning all aspects of the camp from the educational program to selecting and laying out the site. Manuals and advice
books described a planning process similar to planning a neighborhood or small city in terms of infrastructure, housing and
meeting objectives. Things to be considered were proper sanitation, availability and quality of water and placement of roads
as well as to how the site was to support the overall camp program. Model camp layouts suggested arrangements that could suit
a wide variety of natural sites and programs that ranged from military formations to topographical placements that grouped
buildings according to the natural landscape. Manuals also stressed that the buildings be rustic and comfortable, but not
too comfortable to prevent the campers from wanting to remain in their quarters.
.
Camp Quinipet occupied
approximately twenty six acres or all of Jennings Point, also known as Stearns Point. Two brothers, the Rev. Dr. Lester H. Clee and the Rev. Dr. F. Raymond Clee from
New Jersey, bought the land for a summer camp for boys from the Huntington Land Company after plans to develop the point as
a residential area failed. Both men were involved in civic affairs and the Young Men’s Christian Association and its
organized camping programs, but apparently left the administration of the camp to others after its founding in 1922. At that
time, the property included a working farm and farmhouse and four large residences built by a previous owner. Unfortunately
no records exist explaining how and if the camp used the buildings prior to 1947 or if it was the Clees who named the camp
by combining the Latin words quin and petros
that literally translated into five rocks.
Little is known about
the early years of Camp Quinipet, but from a few surviving maps, the camp at first followed the military style of camp layout
with quarters laid out in a semi-circular formation and the remaining facilities grouped close by. This pattern could have
resulted from the camp directors following the advice of the camp manuals or it could have been influenced by the military
boy’s camp on nearby Plum Island that was basically a boy’s boot-camp founded around 1916. A number of these military
youth camps flourished in the early twentieth century, especially during World War I when the campers were literally being
trained for the military or were to augment the ranks of farm laborers to help combat wartime food shortages.
Around 1945, the
Clees sold the camp to a private owner who subsequently failed to make it a success. The Clees continued holding part of the
mortgage and entered into negotiations with the private owner to sell the camp to the New York East Annual Conference of the
Methodist Church. Dr. Theodore Bobolin strongly encouraged the conference to acquire the property as a retreat and training
center and youth camp. Dr. Bobolin was the director of Camp Epworth, another training center and fresh air camp near Mattituck
and his intention was to expand the recreation program. The First Methodist Church of Brooklyn assisted Dr. Bobolin by selling
the sanctuary to a developer and donating the proceeds for the purchase of Camp Quinipet. The Conference finally closed on
the purchase in 1947. Dr. Bobolin moved all camp and retreat activities to the Shelter Island facility over the next several
years and closed Camp Epworth in 1957 citing safety concerns from encroaching development and increased traffic surrounding
the Mattituck property. The Shelter Island property offered a much safer, more rustic location, as well as adequate facilities
for the camp program, complete with a beach for swimming and boating, hiking trails, two tennis courts, a baseball diamond
and a volley ball court.
From the time that
Camp Quinipet became the property of the New York East Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc., the new
camp administration also began making plans to bring the camp up to modern standards and surveyed which parts of the property
could be readily integrated into the camp program. Planning manuals at the time advocated a more common sense approach to
layouts that would support the functions and education programs of the overall camp. The “unit” arrangement became
a popular pattern for camps where campers were arranged in small groups in shared quarters. This less military approach was
strongly recommended for younger campers since it mimicked a family arrangement and included quarters for the camp counselor
for on-site supervision. This type of arrangement was seen as strengthening a camper’s social skills and in fostering
a sense of camaraderie among initial strangers.
Quinipet’s
planners demolished the pre-1947 camper’s quarters and built new units located in selected areas of the property. According
to existing camp records, the new units were built from salvaged World War II barracks buildings purchased from Camp Upton.
The units were arranged on a modified topographical layout: the Cliff Cabins were sited overlooking the bluff toward Southold
Bay; North and McConnell were nestled in a wooded slope near the center of the camp; and the three Willard Buildings were
grouped on higher ground with a clear view of the bay. Common buildings were located near the center of the camp to promote unit interaction and space for large group activities.
Camp manuals suggested including a nature center and Quinipet added a small barn at the very center of the grounds in a wooded
area for this purpose.
Manuals also recommended
amateur dramatics as a part of the education program with a separate building suitable for presentations. Around 1950, a large,
rustic looking building known as Wesley Hall was added that consisted of a large, open interior space roughly two-stories
in height with a large stage at the south end. The dining hall was also added across from Wesley Hall, which also followed
design recommendations from camp planning manuals that stated the hall should be large, rustic in appearance but with modern
kitchen facilities and accessible to a road for deliveries. An important feature was the use of several large windows that
would provide natural light into the building and allow campers views of the natural landscape, allowing a little bit of nature
inside and reinforcing the camping experience.
Manuals also recommended
that all camps should have an infirmary, and that it be set apart from other buildings for common-sense considerations such
as providing a quiet place for recovery and the need to quarantine ill campers from others. The Quinipet planners decided
to use the Jennings farmhouse as the infirmary, the oldest building on the property and one that was already physically separated
from the main camp in terms of distance. In the early nineteenth century the north ferry went from Greenport to Jennings Point
docking in the eastern part of the point. A small, one and one-half story building was constructed around 1830 as a residence
for the ferryman. Around 1850, a larger, two and one-half story vernacular Greek Revival style house was attached to the building,
which may have included temporary lodging for ferry passengers. By the mid-nineteenth century, the ferry landing was shifted
east to Dering Harbor and the house became part of a farm owned by Morancey Jennings and a barn was built on the property.
After 1947, the house became the camp’s infirmary and the barn was used for the boating program due to its close proximity
to the water.
Quinipet’s
future plans included a retreat center and youth leadership training center. Again following the common sense approach, the
existing buildings on the west side of the property were selected for these purposes. The buildings were part of what had
been the summer retreat of John N. Stearns and his family.
Stearns was a silk
manufacturer from New York City who bought the Jennings Farm and all of Jennings Point in 1880 and built a large summer residence
in 1882. Stearns added three large “cottages” or summer residences for his married children and their families,
building a total of four summer homes over the next twenty years. He also added a small, wooden gazebo that rested on a rocky
outcrop off the north shore of the point.
After Stearns’
death in 1907, the remaining family members lost interest in the Shelter Island property and sold the lands and cottages to
the Huntington Land Company in 1913. The company’s intent was to develop the land into private homes and divided the
twenty-six acres into twenty-two lots. Three roads were cut through the property: Bellevue Avenue that curved through the
center of the development, a short road that ran from Bellevue to Rocky Point Road along the south boundary, and Poplar Road
that ran just south of the barn north to the water. Eleven large lots extended from Bellevue Road to Shelter Island Sound
with five lots containing existing buildings. The remaining lots were grouped in the center of the planned development with
one of them containing one of the Stearns cottages. The lots failed to sell and the Huntington Land Company sold the entire
property to the Clee Brothers around 1922.
In 1947, the Stearns
“cottages” still existed but suffered from neglect. The camp planners wanted to turn the main Stearns house into
a training center but it was too large for their plans and as they felt, beyond repair. The house was demolished and the grounds
became a parade ground/sports field. An outdoor chapel was built behind the demolished Stearns House. Another house known
as the Colonial Cottage was also demolished in 1965 and the Willard buildings, a grouping of three campers’ quarters,
were built in its place. The other remaining Stearns era structures, two houses and the gazebo, were incorporated into the
overall plan with repairs made to the houses for use as retreat buildings. The location of the two buildings, renamed Asbury
and Jesse Lee, were ideal for the adult retreat center since they were on the far western end of the property, keeping them
separate from the main camp, but still a part of the natural surroundings. Based on advice from planning manuals, Camp Quinipet
also placed its offices and residences for personnel on the opposite end of the camp in areas away from the main camp activities.
Camp Quinipet’s
directors and administration recognize that the property represents at least three distinct time periods of Shelter Island
history: the early period of ferry travel in the early nineteenth century; the summer resort era of the late-nineteenth century;
and the development of organized camping in the early twentieth century. In the 1970s, a survey was done of the historic buildings
on camp property to assist with additional planning and maintenance. Camp Quinipet continues to balance the preservation of
the older buildings with the needs of a modern camp by finding new uses for existing structures, such as the infirmary and
barn. The camp also reflects the era (roughly the 1920s through the 1960s) when the concept of organized camping for children
in the United States flourished and matured. Camp Quinipet’s founding and development reflects this period of maturity
and is living document of camping history and another important piece of Shelter Island history.
