The Story of Experience Camps

In 2009, Camp Manitou, a residential boys camp in Oakland, Maine, extended its camp season by one week to invite 27 boys and 30 volunteer staff to Maine for a week that would ultimately change the course of many lives. Manitou Experience was born. It was a week of all of the best traditions and activities that Camp Manitou had to offer, led by the cream of the crop of Manitou’s past and present staff and directors, and a handful of friends that we would soon call family. Amazing things happened that week. 57 voices cheered with the same volume as 300. New traditions began that would become the trademark of all weeks to come. We became brothers and sisters and friends and family. It was just the beginning. 

As each year progressed we saw the need for more and more camper spots, and ultimately new camp locations. As we grew, our name was changed to reflect our new national presence, and we became Experience Camps, with each offshoot including the name of its host or region: Manitou Experience, Somerset Experience, California Experience, Pennsylvania Experience, Blue Ridge Experience, and Midwest Experience.

In 2020, we were set to provide the experience of summer camp to nearly 1,000 kids at 5 locations. However, due to COVID-19 we made the challenging decision to not open our camps this summer. You can read more about that here.

While our name has changed to capture the essence of our growing organization, the heart and soul of our program is as strong as ever and always rooted in the foundation of the magic that began 10 years ago.