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Preserving the History & Heritage of Lake Winnipesaukee & Vicinity

 

SUMMER CAMPS
 

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OF LAKE WINNIPESAUKEE



Camp Menotomy, Meredith, NH

of their congregations. The association brought together Sunday school officers and teachers from many denominations and organized them into local, county, state, and national units.

From the years 1922 to 1950, the International Council of Religious Education had title to the property, and managed it through a Geneva Point Administrative Committee. As the camp grew, improvements -were gradually made to meet the needs of the growing community. Campers and staff stayed in the inn and some of the cottages that were on the original farm property. There were also tents with wood floors. Electricity did not reach the inn until 1926, and then only for the kitchen, dining rooms, and meeting rooms. Kerosene lamps were used in all of the sleeping quarters.

Until 1930, the largest meeting place was the old chicken house of the Roxmont Poultry Farm, which could accommodate only 150 persons on a level floor.

According to a reminiscence of Dr. Erwin Shaver in 1947, he wrote, "The first chapel services were held in the Chicken-coop—a conglomerate structure with rain-stained and -whitewash walls; the floors were part board, part dirt, and the original exits for the poultry still preserved! If one wanted to support the argument that the spirit of reverent worship can be had under the most ugly and incongruous surrounding, here was irrefutable evidence."

Eventually, a new chapel was dedicated on August 5, 1930. It was a white, two-story structure with four white columns across the front porch. There was a stage and auditorium, plus six classrooms. Later the two on the second floor were opened to permit a balcony into the main auditorium, and two on the first floor were opened to enlarge the auditorium.

In 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ of America was formed and the International Council of Religious Education (ICRE) became the Division of Christian Education of the new council, and brought with it the property at Lake Winnipesaukee. This Division Unit Committee, comprised of representatives of all the denomination cooperating in the division, elected the Geneva Point Committee, which, in turn, administered the camp on behalf of the division.

Geneva Point has become a resource for many as a center for conferences and leadership training laboratories. In recognition of this increasing role, and to more accurately identify its function, the name was officially changed to Geneva Point Center in 1966. Because the center was continuing to grow, particularly for its youth, there was a need for more adult housing. In 1966, the Lake View Lodge was built, which provided ten double bedrooms. In 1981, another complete ten-bedroom facility was constructed and was dedicated to Dr. Emily V Gibbes in honor of her years of service as associate general secretary for the National Council of Churches.

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