(by Devin Guilfoyle)
A work crew from Camp Mowglis, a boys’ camp in Hebron across the bay from Paradise Point, came to the Newfound Center last month. They did incredible work on our grounds, including rebuilding the chain gate on the nature center driveway, taking apart the center’s decommissioned owl enclosure, and clearing some brush on the walk up to the center. The campers were eager to help and enjoyed exploring the nature center during their downtime.
Through interactions between Newfound Center and Camp Mowglis staff, we learned that the histories of our center and their camp intertwine. Before the land that is now Paradise Point was donated to NH Audubon, it was owned by Colonel Alcott Elwell (along with his wife, Helen Chaffee Elwell), who was the director at Camp Mowglis from 1925 to 1953. Through the crew’s work, we were not only able to take better care of the land, but the camp and our staff were awarded the opportunity to engage in shared history and to realize the vision of conservation and outdoor education Colonel Elwell saw for Newfound Lake. We look forward to continuing to share history and engaging with Camp Mowglis next summer!
