A very condensed history of Brainerd is listed below with major events highlighted by the year they took place. If you’d like a more complete history, check this out!
1952
Lehigh Presbytery approved the purchase of the camp property.
1953
The first Junior High and Senior High camp sessions were held. Summer camp has been held every year since!
1955
The original dining hall (present day Arts & Crafts cabin, Geneva) was moved to its current location. The following year, it was screened to provide campers with a bug-free dining experience.
1958
Evergreen Cottage (present day Nurse’s Cabin, Farel) was built. It was later moved to its current location near Calvin Lodge.
1960
A fire destroyed Knox and Zwingli. Happily, they were rebuilt prior to summer sessions.
1961
Lightning struck Westminster House, causing a fire which destroyed the office and library.
1965
The swimming pool was constructed early in the year and used for the first time during the summer sessions.
1966
The outdoor fireplace and picnic pavillion were constructed.
1993
Calvin Lodge is made available to all visitors with a side porch and access ramp.
2000
The Peacemaking Committee of the Lehigh Presbytery constructed a labyrinth in the lower field to promote spiritual renewal.
The History of Brainerd Presbyterian Center
On October 25, 1952, the Lehigh Presbytery purchased the Abeloff Lake Property in Snydersville, PA for use as a camp site and other purposes for the Presbytery. This picturesque site consists of 36 acres, including a boating lake, swimming pool, lower pond, picnic pavilion, meeting/dining hall, craft outbuilding, a converted farmhouse that is now an office and resident building, and several other resident cabins quipped with their own bathrooms and showers. This facility enables the Presbytery to carry out its extended parish education program with its emphasis upon Biblical awareness, personal growth, and community responsibilities. Although not nearly as secluded as it was when purchased over 50 years ago, Brainerd still meets the Presbytery’s mission for camping ministry through its meadows, streams, lakes, forest areas and opportunities for spiritual growth in community.
Brainerd received its name from a Presbytery-wide contest where youth were asked what to name the camp. Someone suggested Brainerd Camp, based on David Brainerd’s ministry to the Native Americans in the Pocono region.
The ministry at Brainerd began in the summer of 1953 with a week for Senior High and a week for Junior High. From then on, camping sessions were increased each year, serving youth in Junior and Senior High. In 1959, Lackawanna Presbytery united with Lehigh Presbytery to jointly run camping programs for Junior and Senior Highs.
The camping ministry went on hiatus in the early 1970s when the main meeting building, Calvin Lodge (originally an old barn) was destroyed in an arson fire. For a few years, the camping ministry was shifted to Kirkwood Camp, a camp run by Philadelphia Presbytery. However, few children or youth from Lehigh Presbytery took advantage of Kirkwood’s programs and in the late 1970’s the current Calvin Lodge was completed and a new camping program established. By the early 1980s the program, which was nearly completely closed down at that time, began to flourish, and camps were regularly filled to capacity. This trend continued through the late 1990s.
Since then, the summer camping ministry continues and offers programs for children from 1st grade to 12th grade, including leadership opportunities for Senior Highs, retreats run by the camp staff, and rental availability for churches and groups to run their own programming.
