The cold start to this spring may make summer seem far off, but if you want to send your kids to camp in the warmer months, the time for registration is now. The East End is home to many summer camps, including an enduring Girl Scout favorite, Camp Blue Bay.
Located on Gardiner’s Bay, this 179-acre camp in Springs has been home to countless campfires, sing-alongs, and overturned canoes since 1948. The postcard seen here from the East Hampton Library’s Harvey Ginsberg Postcard Collection shows a typical scene of four girls preparing a platform tent for habitation.
The original 95-acre site was half of an Edwards family farm. The Girl Scouts of Nassau County purchased the property in the spring of 1947. In July of 1948, the camp opened for its first official season.
When the camp was bought in 1947, before it opened the Girl Scouts were asked to suggest names for it. The winner was submitted by Girl Scout Patricia Katherine Burns Spaltro (1937-2020) of Mineola and Brownie Scout Eileen Elliot Porteus White (1940-2007) of Manhasset. The girls were honored for their winning entry with a plaque bearing their names in the Great Hall at the newly named Camp Blue Bay.
Some of the activities offered that first season are perennial summer camp favorites: swimming, boating, and crafts like whittling, taking leaf prints, and sketching the landscape. The camp proved to be very popular, with a fully booked schedule and a lengthy waiting list. The girls were so fond of their time there that a reunion was organized for those first-season campers in December of 1948, with a majority of the 192 registered campers in attendance.
While many things have changed, much of what is offered at Camp Blue Bay is the same as it was in 1948, and registration for the summer 2026 season has begun.
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Julia Tyson is a librarian and archivist at the East Hampton Library.
