Maine Memory Network

The names of camps throughout Maine and elsewhere often provide a clue to the relationship of camping and ideas about Native Americans.

Many early camps were based on the idea that overcoming the ills of contemporary society (urban and industrial problems) required helping youths experience a more "primitive life."

Lanier Camp in Eliot identified American Indian life as the first of three stages that children or adults needed to understand before reaching the highest level of social organization (farm and home).

The "primitive community" was expected to awaken a sense of individual powers, which later would be developed into a sense of community.