Essex on Lake Champlain
\"Essex
  • About
    • Essex, New York (Town)
      • Essex Maps
      • Essex, New York Weather
      • Town of Essex Government
      • Close
    • Essex on Lake Champlain (Blog)
      • Contributors
      • Sponsors
      • Testimonials
      • Get Involved
      • Close
    • Close
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Calendar
    • Add an Event
    • Upcoming Events
    • Close
  • Essex on Lake Champlain
  • Connect
    • Social Media
      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • Google +
      • Pinterest
      • YouTube
      • Flickr
    • Newsletters
    • GET INVOLVED
    • CONTACT
        • Your Name (required)

          Your Email (required)

          Subject (required)

          Your Message

      • Close
    • Shop
    • Search
        • Search
          • Close
        • Categories
            • Agriculture (518)
            • Architecture (76)
            • Arts (357)
            • Business (122)
            • Daily Doodle (62)
            • Dining (151)
            • Doodle Quotes (5)
            • Doodlebomb (3)
            • Education (298)
            • Entertainment (373)
            • Environment (28)
            • Essex Doodles (62)
            • Events (1712)
            • Exercise (54)
            • Government (247)
            • Health & Wellness (135)
            • Heritage (397)
            • History (183)
            • Hyperlocal (29)
            • Landscape (35)
            • Lifestyle (197)
            • Lodging (16)
            • Music (278)
            • Nature (260)
            • News (1228)
            • Nightlife (18)
            • Obituary (9)
            • Opinion (45)
            • Outdoors (177)
            • People (115)
            • Philanthropy (87)
            • Real Estate (3)
            • Recreation (214)
            • Resources (7)
            • Services (7)
            • Shopping (96)
            • Sports (22)
            • Transportation (71)
            • Worship (17)
          • Close
        • Archives
            • June 2018 (21)
            • May 2018 (30)
            • April 2018 (28)
            • March 2018 (30)
            • February 2018 (31)
            • January 2018 (26)
            • December 2017 (23)
            • November 2017 (25)
            • October 2017 (22)
            • September 2017 (32)
            • August 2017 (35)
            • July 2017 (30)
            • June 2017 (30)
            • May 2017 (35)
            • April 2017 (31)
            • March 2017 (33)
            • February 2017 (30)
            • January 2017 (35)
            • December 2016 (30)
            • November 2016 (37)
            • October 2016 (43)
            • September 2016 (53)
            • August 2016 (49)
            • July 2016 (59)
            • June 2016 (70)
            • May 2016 (57)
            • April 2016 (64)
            • March 2016 (69)
            • February 2016 (56)
            • January 2016 (46)
            • December 2015 (39)
            • November 2015 (43)
            • October 2015 (61)
            • September 2015 (57)
            • August 2015 (61)
            • July 2015 (54)
            • June 2015 (41)
            • May 2015 (67)
            • April 2015 (66)
            • March 2015 (72)
          • Load More
          • Close
        • Contact us
          • CONTACT US

              Your Name (required)

              Your Email (required)

              Subject (required)

              Your Message

            • Close
        • Close
      • Log In
        • Log Into Calendar
        • Log Into Blog
        • Close
      • Skip to primary navigation
      • Skip to main content
      • Skip to primary sidebar
      • Skip to footer

      Essex on Lake Champlain

      Essex, New York Community Blog Since 2011

      • Lifestyle
        • Agriculture
          • CSAs in Essex, NY
            • Essex Farm
            • Full and By Farm
          • Farmstead Catering
          • The Hub on the Hill
          • Reber Rock Farm
        • Outdoors
          • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
          • Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center
        • Entertainment
          • Champlain Valley Film Series
          • Whallonsburg Grange Hall
        • Arts
          • Adirondack Art Association
          • Essex Community Concerts
          • Champlain Valley Film Series
          • Essex Poetry Open Mic
        • Music
          • Essex Community Concerts
        • Shopping
        • Recreation
          • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
        • Health & Wellness
          • Lake Champlain Yoga & Wellness
          • NEW Health
        • Nature
          • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
        • Education
          • CFES Brilliant Pathways
          • Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center
        • Nightlife
        • Worship
      • Events
        • Christmas in Essex
        • Downtown Essex Day
        • Fourth of July in Essex, NY
      • Dining
        • Chez Lin & Rays
        • Essex Ice Cream Cafe
        • Essex Inn on the Adirondack Coast
        • Farmstead Catering
        • Old Dock Restaurant
        • The Pink Pig Cafe
      • Lodging
        • Essex Inn on the Adirondack Coast
        • The Cupola House and Cottage
      • Transportation
        • Essex-Charlotte Ferry
      • Heritage
        • Architecture
          • Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler’s Field Guide
        • Historic Essex
        • History
        • People
        • Government
          • Essex Post Office
          • Town of Essex Government
        • Vintage Essex Trivia
        • Vintage Essex Artifacts
      • Directory
        • Adirondack Art Association
        • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
        • CFES Brilliant Pathways
        • The Cupola House and Cottage
        • Essex-Charlotte Ferry
        • Essex Farm
        • Essex Ice Cream Cafe
        • Essex Initiatives
        • Essex Post Office
        • Farmstead Catering
        • Full and By Farm
        • Historic Essex
        • Lake Champlain Yoga & Wellness
        • NEW Health
        • Pedal Power
        • Reber Rock Farm
        • The Hub on the Hill
        • Town of Essex Government
        • Whallonsburg Grange Hall
      • Show Search
      Hide Search
      You are here: Home / History / The Kent Camp: John Bird Burnham and Kent School

      The Kent Camp: John Bird Burnham and Kent School

      May 16, 2014 By Geo Davis 3 Comments

      Tents at the Kent Boys Camp (Credit: 1915 Kent Camp Brochure)
      Tents at the Kent Camp (Credit: 1915 Kent Camp Brochure)

      Have you heard of The Kent Camp? Did you know that Kent School, a college preparatory school in Connecticut, has an historic connection (or two or three) to Essex and environs? It was news to me—welcome news—especially considering John Bird Burnham is once again at the heart of the story.

      I have mused upon John Bird Burnham’s adventures aplenty in recent years.

      • John Bird Burnham: Conservationist and Adventurer
      • John Bird Burnham: Crater Club & Log Cabins
      • John Burnham Adirondack Mountain Creams

      And Burnham’s wife, Henrietta (nee Du Bois), has also appeared frequently in my posts, especially those concerning Adirondack Mountain Creams.

      • Made in Essex, NY: Adirondack Mountain Creams
      • Authentic Adirondack Mountain Creams
      • The Legacy of Adirondack Mountain Creams

      In fact, I grew so intrigued with the Burnhams and their maple sugar enterprise that I started encouraging Essex friends to reinvent the delicacy that placed Essex, NY on the “national confection map” more than a century ago: An Essex, New York Tradition is Reborn.

      Swimming at Kent Boys Camp (Credit: 1913 Kent Camp Brochure)
      Swimming at Kent Camp (Credit: 1913 Kent Camp Brochure)

      But today’s post provides a new Burnham narrative. Not the Klondiker, the conservationist or the Crater Clubber. Nor even the scion of maple sugar confections. Today we discover John Bird Burnham, the founder of a rural summer camp for prep school students.

      The Kent Camp

      Whether I am a Burnham groupie or an Adirondack Mountain Creams groupie is for you to decide. Either way you can well imagine my excitement upon receiving word from Kathy Nadire about both. She and her husband purchased Barnaby House from Sally Johnson last October. Ms. Nadire explained that she originally “fell in love with Essex when my sister moved there in 2008”, but now she’s come across another intriguing Essex connection.

      My husband and I work at Kent School in Kent, CT, where we have been for nearly 18 years. I do research for the school, and I am wondering whether you know of the close association between Kent School and John Bird Burnham. Mr. Burnham sent three sons to Kent: John D., Koert and William.

      When John D. was at Kent, Fr. Sill, the Headmaster, asked the Burnhams to consider establishing a camp in the Adirondacks for the students (at that time all boys) — somewhere that the boys could go for the summer.

      The Kent Camp was established by John Bird Burham on what was then known as Warm Pond near Poke-O-Moonshine. The camp was on one end of the lake and the Burnham’s house was on the other end… The Camp ran from 1912-1920. Jack Burnham ran the camp for a few years, and then Ted Evans from Kent ran the camp. In 1920 Colba Gucker of the Lincoln School of Teachers College bought the equipment and moved the camp to Auger Lake in Keeseville. (Kathy Nadire)

      Fishing at Kent Boys Camp (Credit: 1915 Kent Camp Brochure)
      Boys Fishing at Kent Camp (Credit: 1915 Kent Camp Brochure)

      Ms. Nadire explained that the Kent School archive include materials about The Kent Camp, and she was generous enough to scan a 1913 brochure (and a few pages that differ from the 1914 and 1915 version) which is included here. According to the brochure, parents could entrust their sons to Reverend F.H. Sill for most of July and August for the tidy sum of  $150. Transportation via river boat and/or train could be arranged from New York City and Albany. Platform tents, spring water and fresh milk supplied by Mr. Burnham’s farmer, Henry Elliot, rounded out the essentials. Adirondack hiking, swimming, tennis and baseball provided the enticement. Though limited to twenty campers, the photographs from the first season suggest a great deal of merriment and adventure!

      In addition to extracurricular escapades from prep school students during summer vacation, Ms. Nadire suggest that The Kent Camp may also have served a more patriotic need.

      I believe that the Burnhams housed soldiers on leave from the war (WWI) and suffering from shell shock at the camp. (Kathy Nadire)

      Perhaps others in the community can help us flesh out the history of The Kent Camp?

      Adirondack Mountain Creams at Kent School

      Ms. Nadire offered a few additional insights regarding local connections to Kent School as well. I pass them along in the hopes that memories will be stirred and other readers may be able to contribute further details.

      I should also mention that Henrietta Du Bois Burnham used to supply the boys at Kent School with maple candy, in particular at Thanksgiving. She opened the Burnham home in Essex to any boys who needed a place to stay during Christmas break. The Burnhams were friends with A. G. Paine of Willsboro, and Paine was one of the first backers of Kent School when it was established in 1906. A G Paine sent his son, Peter, to Kent. Fr. Sill had a chapel at Flat Rock on the Paine property in Willsboro when the camp was in session. (Kathy Nadire)

      With so many layers to the Essex-Kent School connection, I hope that anecdotes, photographs and other archives will continue to surface, gradually amplifying this quiet corner of history. Thank you, Kathy Nadire, for bringing this intriguing information to the Essex community.

      See a gallery of images from the Kent Camp brochure below (click an image to enlarge):

      1913 Kent Boys Camp Cover
      1913 Kent Boys Camp Brochure Cover
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg1
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg 1
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg2-3
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg 2-3
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg4-5
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg 4-5
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg6-7
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg 6-7
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg8-9
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg 8-9
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg10-11
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg 10-11
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg12
      1913 Kent Boys Camp pg 12
      1915 Kent Boys Camp pg4-5
      1915 Kent Boys Camp pg 4-5
      Kent Boys Camp pg6-7
      1914 Kent Boys Camp pg 6-7
      1915 Kent Boys Camp pg6-7
      1915 Kent Boys Camp pg 6-7
      1915 Kent Boys Camp pg8-9
      1915 Kent Boys Camp pg 8-9
      Kent Boys Camp pg14-15
      1914 Kent Boys Camp pg 14-15
      Related articles
      • Adirondack Mountain Creams: Essex Tradition Reborn (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • John Bird Burnham: Crater Club & Log Cabins (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • John Burnham Adirondack Mountain Creams (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Old Brick Schoolhouse (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Vintage Postcard: Crater Club (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • John Bird Burnham: Conservationist and Adventurer (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Made in Essex, NY: Adirondack Mountain Creams (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • The Legacy of Adirondack Mountain Creams (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Authentic Adirondack Mountain Creams (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)

      Share this:

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • Pinterest
      • Email
      • More
      • Print
      • LinkedIn
      • Pocket
      • Reddit
      • Tumblr

      Filed Under: History, People, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Mountain Creams, Crater Club, Essex New York, Henrietta Burnham, Henrietta Dubois, Jack Burnham, John Bird Burnham, Kathy Nadire, Kent School, Ted Evans, The Kent Camp, Warm Pond

      About Geo Davis

      Geo Davis (aka virtualDavis) is a writer, storyteller and unabashed flâneur. He taught and coached at Santa Fe Preparatory School and The American School of Paris, co-founded Maison Margaux: "Paris à la parisienne" in Faubourg Saint-Germain, and owns Adobe Oasis in Santa Fe, NM with his bride.

      Geo chronicles adventures (and misadventures) of rehabilitating an historic Essex home at Rosslyn Redux: Reawakening a home, a dream and ourselves; blogs about doodling and other esoterica at virtualDavis.com; posts sometimes unnerving, occasionally euphoric, and always pollyanna "midlife mashups" at 40x41.com; waxes nautical at Sailing Errant; and delves into matters of parenting, babylandia, and childfreedom at Why No Kids? He meanders on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube and Flickr.

      Reader Interactions

      Comments

      1. Paul J. West says

        July 15, 2019 at 5:02 pm

        I am curious about whether the John Bird Burnham name was associated with Boy Scouts of America usage of land in the Essex or Willsboro, NY area for wilderness camping. As a scout in the 60s I attended several weekend camp outs at what was then referred to as Burnham Scout Reservation.

        Reply
        • Cory Haynes says

          January 18, 2021 at 6:54 pm

          Burnham Scout Reservation (BSR) on Long Pond in Willsboro, NY was named after Stanley J. Burnham. I am gathering information for the Adirondack District (originally the Adirondack Council BSA) for a historical overview of Camp Osgood, BSR, Camp Cha-Val-Co, and Camp Bedford. I would appreciate it if you could share with me any details, photos, patches, etc.

          Yours Cheerfully in Scouting,
          Cory L. Haynes
          District Committee Member at Large
          Adirondack District
          Twin Rivers Council
          BSA

          Reply
      2. Donna Evans says

        November 18, 2022 at 12:23 am

        So very interesting to read.
        John Bird Burnham was my gr grandfather. I have photos and letters and other forms of information. My father William DuBois Burnham attended The Kent school. You may have already
        obtained much of the same content that I have.
        Anyhow, thanks for the attention to history.
        Donna Burnham Evans

        Reply

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

      Primary Sidebar

      Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler’s Field Guide 

      Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler's Field Guide

      View all Essex Editions books...

      Follow Essex, NY on FacebookFollow Essex, NY on TwitterFollow Essex, NY on PinterestFollow Essex, NY on YouTubeFollow Essex, NY on FlickrFollow Essex, NY on RSS

      Search

      Top 10 Contributors

      • Katie Shepard (595)
      • Geo Davis (394)
      • Whallonsburg Grange Hall (259)
      • Avatar photoChamplain Area Trails (CATS) (208)
      • Avatar photoEssex Farm (205)
      • Olive Alexander (190)
      • Sara Kurak (165)
      • Avatar photoTom Mangano (142)
      • Avatar photoFort Ticonderoga (142)
      • Avatar photoLakeside School (116)

      Footer

      Resources & Policies

      • About Essex on Lake Champlain
      • About Essex, New York
      • Essex, NY Weather
      • Disclosure Policy
      • Privacy Policy
      • Submit a Story
      • Contact Us

      Popular Essex, NY Searches

      • Essex, NY
      • Essex, New York
      • Essex on Lake Champlain
      • Essex Charlotte ferry
      • Essex ferry schedule
      • Essex Charlotte ferry schedule
      • Full and By Farm
      • Essex Farm
      • timber rattlesnake
      • Essex NY fireworks
      • Christmas in Essex, NY
      • Champlain Area Trails

      Local Links

      • Adirondack Art Association
      • Belden Noble Memorial Library
      • Champlain Area Trails
      • Champlain Valley Film Series
      • Essex Community Concerts
      • Essex Theatre Company
      • Historic Essex
      • Rosslyn Redux
      • The Crater Club
      • Town of Essex Information
      • Whallonsburg Grange Hall

      Copyright © 2023 Essex Editions

       

      Loading Comments...