The central part of the camp looking across the
Delaware River from New Jersey toward Pennsylvania.

Camp Minitink

Someone contacted me about a camp he had attended during the early 1940s, and thought it was near Frenchtown, NJ. On April 30, 2005, Rosemary and I visited Frenchtown to do some research. We spoke with a nice person who remembered the young scouts that used to walk into town from the camp. She gave us names of some people who might be able to help.

We drove across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania. After speaking with several people, we ended up at New Life Island, a camp owned and operated by the Garden State Fellowship of Regular Baptist Churches. The camp director and his wife assured us that we had found the camp. They very generously gave us a written history of the camp and showed us some photos from the early 1940s.

The camp is quite attractive, rather longer in length than I had expected, with several permanent buildings. There is a sturdy walking bridge spanning the (roughly) 10 foot channel of water between the island and Pennsylvania. In earlier times, scouts crossed the channel using a rope-powered ferry.

The camp is about 1 mile south of the bridge from Frenchtown, NJ. On the Pennsylvania side, look for the road to Uhlerstown, which just a little south of the bridge (stay along the river, do not take the road to Uhlerstown).

Camp Minitink *  History of Camp Minitink
Camping out of Council
Historical CNJC Home Page
May 1, 2005