Going to Agawam requires planning and preparation. Follow the links
below to learn more about attending & visiting camp:
Driving Directions
Camper Packing List
Transportation to Camp
Visiting Information
Driving Directions:
NOTE: STATE OF MAINE HAS CHANGED ITS HIGHWAY NUMBERS & EXIT NUMBERS AS SHOWN
BELOW
Alumni families should note that there is a
new bypass around the center of Gray, Maine.
RECOMMENDED:
From the Maine Turnpike North (Interstate 95N), take
exit 63, formerly
exit 11 (Gray). Turn left after the toll. At the first traffic light, turn right
onto Rt. 26A (new bypass around Gray). Go 2.7 miles from the traffic light (Rt.
26A becomes Rt. 26) until a flashing yellow light at the Dry Mills Store. Turn left at
this intersection onto North Raymond Road. Go 1 mile on North Raymond Road and
turn left onto Egypt Road. Go 4 miles to the end of Egypt Road, where it intersects
with Rt. 85. Turn right on Rt. 85 and go 4 miles until you see the Agawam sign
on the right. (This route will have less traffic, and is our first
recommendation)
- OR -
ALTERNATE:
From the Maine Turnpike North (Interstate 95N), take
exit 48, formerly
exit 8 (Portland-Westbrook). Turn right at end of ramp, and follow Riverside
Avenue through several traffic lights to the intersection with Rt. 302. Turn
left at this intersection onto Rt. 302 West. Follow Rt. 302 West through
Westbrook, North Windham to Raymond, ME. In Raymond, turn right on Rt. 85 North.
This intersection has a traffic light and is located near the "Panther Run Rest
Area" and The Good Life Market. Follow Rt. 85 N. for 7 mi. until you see the
Agawam sign on the right.
FOLLOWING EITHER SET OF DIRECTIONS:
Turn in our access road, and follow it to
the bottom of the hill, just past our baseball field (on your left), and
report
to our Camp Office on your arrival. Parking on visiting weekends is in camp near
the flagpole. A member of the Sr. Club will be on hand to greet weekend
visitors. (Note: If you get to the junction of
Rt. 85 North and Rt. 11, you have gone about one-half mile too far on Rt. 85!
Turn around and look carefully on your left for the Agawam driveway, just past a
cemetery.)
Please drive very slowly and carefully when entering camp as people are
everywhere on the property and not used to automobile traffic during most of
their time at Agawam.
Camper Packing List:
You can access our
suggested packing list by visiting the
Amerasport website. They are the
official outfitter of Camp Agawam and can fill
all of your uniform needs. They also sell other items that may be useful to
campers. Many items, aside from the uniform, may come from your own wardrobe,
and need not be purchased through Amerasport.
After packing, please attach a
complete inventory of your boy's equipment and clothing to the inside of his
trunk cover. A trunk list for this purpose will be sent out with our May mailing
to parents. Boys seem to be bringing more and more unnecessary items.
Our cabins
are small! Please avoid over-packing.
MARKING BELONGINGS/NAME TAPES
Every
article brought to camp, including shoes, boots, and clothing worn
during the
trip to camp, must be marked with your son's name. Clothing should be
marked
with nametapes, which may be ordered through
Amerasport. If you request it,
Amerasport will attach nametapes to items bought through their catalogue. Our experience suggests that
it is best to sew in nametapes.
Please take care with
items that are frequently unmarked and often a lost and found problem:
tennis racquets, lacrosse sticks, baseball gloves, fishing poles, beach towels, swim
suits, raincoats and sneakers.
If you are ordering rental uniforms from
Agawam, we will need 20 nametapes by May 1st to mark your son’s clothing. If we
do not have nametapes when we are ready for them to be sewn on the rental
uniforms, we will need to add a $10.00 labeling fee to your son’s account.
EQUIPMENT:
We have a few specific suggestions about camp equipment...
Electronic
Equipment:
We want to keep Agawam "woodsy" and have the boys learn the value of
their fellow campers and staff for entertainment and friendship. We would very
much prefer that all campers leave electronic games, computers,
iPods, discmen,
palm pilots, cell phones, etc. at home. If these items are brought to camp, they
will be safely stored in our Office to be returned when a camper leaves Agawam
for home. However, as we invest trust and responsibility in our senior campers,
a boy who is 14 or older as of June 1 may bring a radio for limited use. Others
will be stored in the Office.
- Former campers must bring their Honor Bands to
camp.
- All gear is stored in a personal trunk or footlocker.
- No pistols,
weapons or
fireworks of any kind are allowed at camp.
- Skateboards and
roller-blades
cannot be used.
- Please do not send any deodorant spray cans.
- Boys may bring acoustic guitars, or other non-electronic instruments.
- Wristwatches always seem to get lost. They really are not needed at camp.
Please do not allow your son to bring his knife. Agawam provides knives for
camp-craft and for other crafts.
We have a strict policy
forbidding the use or possession of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and
illicit or controlled drugs. Campers may not bring these things to camp or
acquire them during their stay at Agawam.
Please send a can of tennis balls in
the trunk if your son will be playing much tennis.
Personal sports equipment
must be used under the same guidelines as camp-owned equipment.
Please be sure
to include a daypack or book bag, which will be used for day hikes, beach trips
and other out-of-camp excursions.
Camping Gear
All boys should bring their own sleeping
bag for use on regular overnight
trips, sleep-outs, etc. All boys, 12 and
older, should bring hiking
boots or sturdy walking shoes. Be sure
to break in new boots. In addition to those items, older
boys (13, 14 or 15) are required to bring:
(i) wool socks
(ii) polypropylene (or other non-cotton synthetic material)
long sleeved undershirt and
long underpants
(iii) a
wool or fleece winter hat.
Boys who anticipate taking many trips should also
consider bringing:
(i) a frame pack
(ii) a “camelback” or comparable
hydration
bladder
(iii) nylon wind pants. The Camp Agawam Fleece Pullover would be
also useful on trips.
We encourage boys to read and suggest that several books
be brought to camp. Please have your son leave "comic" type books at
home.
We hope that parents and relatives will
co-operate with us in keeping gum, candy, and other extra food out of camp.
CAMP UNIFORM AND OTHER CLOTHING
All campers and staff at Agawam wear a simple
camp uniforms. The boys' uniforms consist of attractive, serviceable T-shirts,
shorts, sweatshirts and optional sweatpants, maroon soccer shorts, and Fleece
pullover or raincoat with embroidered Agawam symbol. Other clothing, for cooler
or wet conditions, comes from your son's regular wardrobe. It is very
important
that your son have a waterproof, hooded garment ("raincoat") for his stay with
us. Wool sweaters or shirts are very important to have on trips. Boys may want
to bring one set of their own informal clothing for times when they go out of
camp for special occasions or when we have a coed activity with a neighboring
girls' camp. A complete list of suggested items is enclosed in the
Amerasport
catalogue.
If you are planning to have your son travel to camp by any means
other than private car, please arrange to send his trunk and other large luggage
ahead. There is no room for trunks and duffel bags, or bulky baggage, on the
chartered bus. Properly marked items are sorted and waiting in your son's cabin
when he arrives. Please be sure to include both first and last names on tags.
All baggage should be sent at least 10-days
before your son arrives:
Baggage should be sent via United
Parcel Service (UPS) if it meets the following requirements:
1.) maximum weight
per package, 150 lbs.
2.) maximum size per package,
130 inches in length and
girth (combined)
3.) item should be locked - send extra keys and combinations
to Agawam office
4.) label must be taped down with clear tape. Agawam has had
success using The UPS Store. for shipping trunks at the end of the season.
Put
two tags on each piece of baggage. In the case of brothers, please put each
boy's name on the proper trunk and duffel bag so that the baggage can be sorted
correctly upon arrival at camp.
Shipping Address
Camp Agawam
54 Agawam Road
Raymond, ME 04071
Transportation to
Camp:
Staff Members:
Staff members arrive at camp by car, plane, train, and
bus. We will pick up any staff member at the Portland Jetport, Greyhound Bus
Station, or the Portland Transportation Center (Concord Trailways Bus, Amtrak’s
Downeaster) free of charge. Please be sure to contact camp before you arrive
with details. Portland is about 45 minutes from camp.
Campers:
Campers arrive
by car, camp bus, or plane.
PERSONAL CAR
We would prefer that you arrive in
the afternoon of our opening day between 3 and 5 PM. But, if it is necessary for
your travel plans, you are welcome to arrive any time after noon. Please notify
us if you will be arriving before 3 PM.
CHAPERONED BUS
We plan a chartered
bus, chaperoned by Agawam staff, originating in Union, NJ, with stops in Darien,
CT and Lexington, MA. For preliminary planning purposes:
Union, New Jersey:
The meeting place is at the Union McDonald's Restaurant (Vauxhall Service Area),
just after Exit 140 on the Garden State Parkway, northbound (where Routes 22 and
82 cross).
Darien, Connecticut: The meeting place is at the Mobil Station and
McDonald's restaurant located on the Connecticut Turnpike, Rt. 95 northbound,
between exits 12 and 13.
Lexington, Massachusetts: The meeting place is at the
Lexington Sunoco and Rest Area on Rt. 128 and I95 northbound lane, at exit 30
(Rt. 2A).
AIRPLANE
We will meet or deliver boys for flights arriving at or
departing from the Portland International Jetport, Portland, Maine. Agawam
provides staff chaperones who stay with boys until they board, and remain at the
airport until the boys' flights actually take off.
Portland International
Jetport is served
by most major airlines. We would appreciate it if you could schedule travel on
flights arriving in Portland from late morning to mid-afternoon on our opening
day, and departing Portland between 8 AM and noon on the closing day. Advise us
of the flight details. Please be sure to confirm all flights, connections, and
"unaccompanied minor" requests. Send any return tickets to the Agawam office for
use at the end of the season.
Visiting Information:
Parents and relatives are welcome to visit on weekends
(Saturdays and Sundays) beginning the third Saturday of each season. One weekend
visit during the summer is recommended. We have found that motel accommodations
for the weekends in the middle of the season are rapidly booked. Please see the
list of places to stay near Agawam to assist you in making your
visiting plans.
The final weekend of camp is not a normal visiting weekend,
however, since many special in-camp events are scheduled then. Parents and
relatives who are in the area that weekend are welcome to have brief visits at
camp, but trips out of camp may cause unfortunate conflicts with boys' in-camp
schedules.
We also welcome parents at several special events over the closing
weekend – details are provided on the Important Dates section of the website
When our Awards Night concludes at about 10 PM on our closing night, campers
have the option to stay overnight or leave Agawam then with parents.
Fifteen-year-olds, concluding their last camper summer, have additional
activities that night and should plan to stay overnight and leave the following
morning.
We hope that parents and other visiting relatives will spend time
touring Agawam, meeting our staff and other campers, and seeing our camp program
in action. We try not to alter the normal routine of Agawam for visiting
purposes. For this reason, we ask that you not request mid-week visits.
1.) NUMBER OF VISITS: We recommend only one
weekend visit for the summer starting the third weekend of camp. We feel that
two weekends are too many, unless one of your visits is to pick up your son
at the end of camp.
2.) TIME TO COME INTO CAMP: Saturday and Sunday after 9:30
AM (Before 9:30, boys have responsibilities to clean cabins and complete other
camp improvement projects.) If you arrive in the Raymond area Friday, you are
welcome for a quick visit late Friday afternoon, after 4:30 PM. (Boys need to be
at dinner at 5:45, and should be in camp Friday evening.)
3.) TAKING BOYS OUT
FOR MEALS: Boys may be taken out for meals on Saturday and Sunday. Please sign
your boy out at the office before leaving camp and sign back in upon returning
to camp. Due to limited space, we usually are not able to invite you to eat with
us.
You may take another boy out only if his relatives are not coming to
visit, and, then, only if we have his parents’ permission.
4.) RETURNING BOYS
TO CAMP: Saturday by 7 PM for Council Fire, Sunday by 6:00 PM. Often, important
camp events are scheduled on Sunday evenings. Please remember to sign in at the
office before going to Council or returning to the cabin.
5.) REST HOUR: This is our quiet period. All activities are closed between 1:30
and 2:30 PM, except tennis.
6.) IN THE MORNING: Parents may observe activities.
7.) IN THE AFTERNOON: Parents may participate in activities under the guidance and
supervision of Agawam staff.
8.) GENERAL SWIMS: Parents are welcome to swim at either the morning or afternoon
swim period. Mothers may change clothes at our office or in the handicapped
bathroom in Mason-Yale. Fathers may change clothes at the Boathouse.
9.)
COUNCIL FIRE: Parents and friends are cordially invited to our Council Fire on
Saturday night at 7:20 PM.
10.) AWARDS AND VESPERS: All visitors are welcome at
our Vespers on Sunday morning at 10:00 AM, which all campers must attend, and at
our Awards Assembly which follows at about 10:30.
11.) FOLLOWING EVENING PROGRAM: Parents are requested not to go to their boy's cabin following any
evening program.
FOOD
Parents and relatives are strongly requested not to
send or bring candy, cookies or foodstuffs to camp. A well-balanced diet is
maintained and boys may obtain camp-supplied candy at regular intervals. All
food and candy brought into camp will be stored in the office or disposed of.
Please
keep all visiting pets on leashes.
