A Tenants Harbor children’s camp that closed 20 years ago will be saved as a place for Maine kids to learn about themselves and their environment, if a pending deal goes through.
Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center, established 21 years ago in Lincolnville, has signed an agreement to purchase Blueberry Cove from owner Ann Goldsmith, long-time camp director. Blueberry Cove is believed to have been the first interracial camp in Maine, enrolling disadvantaged children from Boston and New York City and offering them scholarships. Local children were also recruited with financial aid.
The effort to buy and revive Blueberry Cove Camp would protect 1,400 feet of unspoiled waterfront in the inner harbor, and ensure that 25 acres on Harts Neck remain essentially undeveloped. It is one of the few parcels in the area not carved into house lots. The property has sloping fields, woods, two natural sand beaches and sunset views across the water.
In recent years, Goldsmith resisted offers from individuals to buy Blueberry Cove for private residential use, in the hope of finding a group that could carry on its legacy of helping children. Tanglewood is currently involved in a $1.1 million fund drive for the Blueberry Cove project.
Founded in the 1940s by educators Bess and Henry Haskell, Blueberry Cove served about 50 children until the 1980s. After that, Goldsmith and others organized retreats and workshops for two decades. Programs included Paint Maine and a Healing Camp for families affected by AIDS.
Tanglewood occupies 830 acres of Camden Hills State Park, has several dozen camp buildings, and is committed to maintaining low tuition rates plus scholarships for Maine children, regardless of ability to pay. The camp is a partnership of the state Bureau of Parks & Lands, University of Maine Cooperative Extension and the nonprofit Tanglewood Corporation.
The Ducktrap River runs through Tanglewood’s Lincolnville property, but the camp has no permanent access to saltwater. Acquiring Blueberry Cove would expand camp programs for sailing, studying tidepools, visiting islands, swimming, fishing and exploring and learning about the marine environment. Blueberry Cove has a main lodge, a dozen smaller buildings and a dock.
Goldsmith has said that “everyone at Blueberry Cove was given the freedom to grow and develop within a structure providing safety. When the balance between freedom and the structure is just right, the learnings are never forgotten, the connections are limitless and the course of a person’s life is deeply affected, whether that person is seven or 70.”
Tanglewood’s board of directors, which voted unanimously to buy Blueberry Cove, believes the Tenants Harbor camp will enhance its mission “to teach Maine youth and adults to be effective and caring citizens of the earth through affordable environmental education, and nature-based experiences.” Tanglewood hopes to inspire young people to live responsibly in their communities and society. An old Blueberry Cove brochure says the camp “creates an atmosphere for growth and the development of individual skills in harmony with self and the environment.”