Chewonki

Chewonki Campus Expansion Update

Share on facebook
Share on linkedin
Share on email

Years in the planning, months in preparation, our team is hard at work bringing the new eastside campus project to life! 

With the opening day of Camp Chewonki less than five months away, we have made amazing progress thanks to the hard work of our staff and partners. We thought it was high time for an update:

New buildings currently under construction are marked in yellow. By spring, five new cabins, a washhouse, a staff cabin, trails, roads, and green spaces will be ready to use on the east side of Chewonki Neck.
Architectural rendering developed by Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture • Design during the initial design and approval process last spring.
Exterior view of the washhouse designed by OPAL Architecture / Research / Design. 
Bathrooms to the left and showers to the right with an open breezeway down the center. 
As the eastside campus design was being finalized, staff leaders, trustees, advisors, architects, and builders met at the Shelter Institute to learn about the timber frames being cut there for our project. Chewonki trustee and architect Susie Rodriguez (center, in black), of Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture and Design, designed the cabins that will welcome girls to Camp Chewonki next summer.
  • Stacks of hand-cut beams and braces, lovingly dressed in a mixture of linseed oil, tung oil, pine pitch and beeswax, await delivery to their final assembly site.
As the site was cleared, the best timbers are set aside to be milled for future projects.
On August 20, logger John Chadwick carefully lifts stones from the wall just east of the aviaries, opening access for a new roadway to the project location.
Brush and stumps are piled up to be chipped for later use as trail surfaces and other projects. Waste not, want not.
Brush from the site is processed into mulch and reserved for pathways, fill and erosion control, creating a mysterious archipelago of pinescented mounds.
  • President Willard Morgan and Farm Manager Megan Phillips chat as a group of staff & visitors walk through the new “eastside campus” in early October.
On November 8, trustees, advisors, and staff leaders toured the site with architect Tim Lock of OPAL Architecture/Research/Design, which designed the staff cabin and the wash house (as well as new Maine Coast Semester faculty housing on the west side of campus). OPAL is the architect of record for the project.
President Emeritus Don Hudson, Facilities Manger Carob Arnold, Vice President Greg Shute and Finance Director Carl Young enjoy a brisk winter tour of the new site.
Cabin frame assembly began on December 16 with a full crew from the Shelter Institute.
The first timber frames are set and anchored into place. 
Chewonki trustee and architect Susie Rodriguez double-checks the design details of a cabin during a visit to the site on January 8th. 
Matching shower and bathroom facilities, designed by OPAL, freshly clad in weatherproof sheathing, begin to take shape. Soon these will be fitted with a state-of-the-art Clivus solid waste and wastewater recycling system. 
Rodriguez carefully inspects the workmanship, including a mortise and tenon joint. Thumbs up. “It’s crisp,” she says with approval as she looks around the first cabin to receive the exterior spruce siding. 
With nothing more than geometry and incredibly sharp tools, the artisans from the Shelter Institute achieve paper-thin joins in the thick wooden beams. 
The spruce siding and hackmatack beams create a fresh, natural look that will welcome the first group of girls to attend Camp Chewonki next summer. Over time, the natural finish of the wood will blend the exterior of the cabins into the surrounding forest. 
Project Manager Marc Swartz and two members of the construction crew show off newly received bunk bed ladders.

More to come soon! Join us for a live web chat on Wednesday, February 19 at 7pm for more project updates and information about Girls Camp 2020 on Chewonki Neck! All families and alumni are welcome.

Related News from Chewonki:

Camp
Rentals & Adventure Travel
School
Employment Opportunities
Community
Workshops & Trainings
Alumni & Friends
About
Facebook Youtube Instagram Flickr Linkedin
Contact Us:

Tel: (207) 882-7323
Email: info@chewonki.org
Web: chewonki.org

Chewonki Foundation
485 Chewonki Neck Road
Wiscasset, Maine 04578

Chewonki is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. ©2024 All Rights Reserved.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use this website.