Postcards from Falmouth: Greetings from Camp Cowasset
Before there was Wild Harbor Estates in North Falmouth, there was Camp Cowasset, a girls’ summer camp.
According to The Book of Falmouth, the camp offered horseback riding, sailing, swimming and crafts to about 100 girls each summer, including Robert Frost’s daughter. The campers slept in tents, and were required to bring “two pairs of black serge bloomers and six pairs of black stockings.” Activities also included dinner at the “French table,” where only French was spoken and where Madame Mensendieck stressed correct posture, which was thought to bring “health and poise to the growing girls.”
Featured in the Falmouth Historical Society’s Legendary Locals of Falmouth, the camp was owned and managed by Beatrice Hunt, or “Miss Bea,” from 1915 to 1962. In fact, the Historical Society acquired a collection of Camp Cowasset memorabilia in 2016. The collection includes the personal diary of camper, Miriam Thomas, who describes “her struggles with horseback riding and hijinks with her cabin-mates.”
Nous ne pouvons pas attendre l’été!
Do you know anyone who was a Camp Cowasset camper? Contact us!
To see more historical postcards of Falmouth, visit our digital collection.
I was a camper at Cowasset and my mother before me. My mother was acting director when I was a month old so I grew up at Cowasset, even before old enough to be a camper. I was a camper until the camp closed. My mother Ruth Stevenson was a counselor with Miriam Thomas in 1937 and I just scanned that staff photo. I would be glad to send photos to you … when I am done scanning the ones of my mothers that mean something to me!
Kim will get in touch with you soon, thank for your offer!
My mom (Phyllis Carter) was a camper here, and spoke of it often! I have a photo of her standing in front of a cabin wearing bloomers (which I always thought was hysterical). She was about 8 or 9 at the time, so it would have been around 1932 or so. And, I didn’t realize it until just coming across a program for a camp pageant from 1940 – but she must have also been a junior counselor, as she had JUST turned 16 that summer. I’d be glad to send you photos of the program, which has four pages of names of campers. I believe I also have large group photo with all of the campers in it. Very happy to find this page about the camp!
Thank you for sharing the information about Camp Cowasset. We look forward to contacting you!
My sisters (Meg and Connie Griffith) and i were campers at Camp Cowassett or 3 summers 1963-1965. Our mother was a camp director at the time. i thought Miss Bea was still there, at least in 63. Meg and i often reminisce about those days where we enjoyed so many activities – sailing, swimming, archery, tennis, horseback riding, crafts, campfires – it’s a long list. Meg won the ‘camp spirit ‘ award in 1965, which turned out to be the camp’ last year, and she still has it. i remember so many of my friends. This is a great site! I hope to visit the museum one day.
Great picture! Would love to see more, we live adjacent to that structure now!
Yes, they are great pictures! Click here for a direct link to the other Camp Cowasset postcards in the collection, and there are also photographs in the book, Legendary Locals in Falmouth, Massachusetts. In fact, be sure to visit Museums on the Green. They may have more pictures in their collection, too.
I attended Camp Cowasset the summer of 1962. I remember it well. I learned to sail in Buzzard’s Bay, starting with a Beetle and moving up to a Comet. And I also learned how to properly ride horses, from a trot to a smooth canter. We didn’t have to wear uniforms, to my recollection – definitely not bloomers and black socks. My Mom – Dottie Ball, also went to Cowassett as a girl, not sure what year(s), but she was born in 1924. I believe her Mom – Mary Ball, was a counselor while she went there. I vaguely remember Miss Bea. I’m pretty sure we slept in cabins. It was such a wonderful summer!
That is really nice to hear-we have actually gotten quite a few comments on that post, which is neat to see!
I also spent many happy summers at Camp Cowasset in the latish 50’s. I am so excited to see this entry in Google.
Hey, I spent a summer there around 1957ish…. Yes, we sailed Comets! And rode horseback. My horse was Cherokee, if memory serves…!!! And occasionally Dusty. And, yes, we lived in cabins. And ate in a large, screened dining hall over by the water…. We occasionally had dances with a nearby boys’ camp. Now, I’m a retired university professor, enjoying life in a charming country! Love to hear from others!
Wow, that is really neat to hear!
Dances were with Camp Wampanoag!!
Your experience sounds just like mine.
Sang day is done before going to cabins for the night. Remember the hand squeeze around the circle?
So many memories! I went to camp there only one summer (1962 or 1963ish — overnight camp was expensive for us). I learned so much and have a picture book somewhere. Where should I send it? I was in love with Andy Card (the motorboat driver who later became George Bush’s Chief of Staff). I learned to whistle with my fingers there. Would love to connect with co-inhabitants of the cabins and old friends! We had a small cabin. I remember taps before bed in addition to the above.
The Camp Cowasset postcards are by far among the most popular, especially among the former campers who have responded to our post. We recommend you contact Museums on the Green in regard to your picture book. They have a collection of Camp Cowasset memorabilia. It is fascinating to learn that Andrew Card, the former White House Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush, was in North Falmouth at the time you were at the Camp learning to whistle!
My cabin included Rickie Sloane, Tina Buckley, Miss Gail (or counselor) and others. And Andy Card ran for Mass Governor in about 1982! Look in Wikipedia to learn more about him.
This is great! Do you have any info about the boys camp in North Falmouth? It is now small cottages near Blue Shutter Lane
It could be Camp Wampanoag, the camp mentioned in an earlier comment. We’ll look into it and post any information.
Wampanoag? No I don’t have any info. We loved having them nearby!
We may have been bunkies as I was in a cabin with Rickie, Tina, Gail Arch and others! I’ve been going through my mother’s photos which span 1923 and into the 1940s. Now to start on mine. I learned to sail Beetle Cats and Comets as well as horseback riding at Cowasset, which stood me in good sted after Cowasset closed and my sister and I went to Brown Ledge Camp in Vermont. At Cowasset we had dances with Wampanoag and Play Days with Namequoit, where I got to shoot a rifle for the first time and that has become my life-long avocation! Uniforms in the 1960s were just on Sundays and trips: red shorts, white shirt and the red “tie”, which I still have.
Hi, my counselor was Miss Sue (Willem, I believe)…. And I’m currently retired and living in Costa Rica! I’ve been Trisha Graf for a long time. But back then, I was Pat Gaillard…. (Yup, I had a co-worker who was Pat, so I took the second half of the name!!! So it’s been, ever since.)
Wampanoag was our brother camp, but it was on Old Dam Road near Gray Gables.
Yes, as Katharine indicated, Camp Wampanoag was indeed on Old Dam Road in Bourne. There are some sites (like able2know.org) with former campers recollecting summers there. One can also contact the Bourne Historical Society, too.
Hello, I LOVED finding this post and reading the comments! Miss Bea is my Great Great Aunt, and I would love any information about her if its possible to share? Or is there a place I can do more research? Thank you!
Beatrice A. Hunt (1889-1983) is listed in the Falmouth Historical Society’s book, Legendary Locals of Falmouth, as “the director of Camp Cowasset for Girls in North Falmouth from 1915 to 1962. Known as ‘Miss Bea,” she ran the exclusive 93-acre camp overlooking Buzzards Bay near Silver Beach, offering horseback riding, sailing, and swimming.” Aside from this book and The Book of Falmouth, which has information on Miss Bea, we invite you to visit the Falmouth Public Library’s digital edition of The Falmouth Enterprise found on our website’s main page. We found several articles on Miss Bea. You might also want to visit Museums on the Green. They have a lovely collection Camp memorabilia.
Thank you for sharing!! Hope to make it to the museum
My mother, who was Jane Boyd Pitcher at the time, was a counselor here in 1948. She was from Louisiana, but saw an ad in Vogue magazine advertising for the position and applied with a friend and got accepted ! I think she loved it, but teaching swimming in the cold ocean water first thing every morning was a bit much for that little southern girl. Loved finding this page online. Wish we had pictures. We have only our father’s letters to her there. It was during their courtship. All best to everyone.
All counsellors there were called Miss and their first name. Camp was two months. Camp Cowasset has always been one of the highlights of my life. I did not realize there were items from the camp at the museum. I can still sing a lot of the Camp Cowasset songs, and I am 78 now. Of course, I remember Miss Bea, chapel outside, circle at night singing Day is Done and hand squeezes all around, etc!!
I love it! Katharine Herzog says it just as I remember! I still sing the songs too. Edie Plimpton Fleeman–we must have been in the same cabin. I have a picture of our cabin but don’t see how to attach here….It would be great to attach names to the people in our cabin!
I was a counselor there in the summer of 1962. Made application via mail after seeing an ad for the camp in Seventeen magazine. Was hired sight-unseen (but did have my Water Safety Instructor certificate) and took a bus from St. Louis to Boston and then a train to Falmouth where was picked up by camp staff. Had a cabin of 5 or 6 and taught swimming as well as archery. I, too, remember the screened-in mess hall and evening singing. Miss Anne
Are you our “Miss Ann,” by any chance (but we were 1964 not 1962)? I have a picture of the girls in our cabin but don’t see how to send it to you!
Yes, I am Miss Anne and upon reflection I realize that it was 1964. Perhaps Library could send it as they have my email address. Would love to see it. Sorry to learn that the Camp is no longer there.
If the two commenters above contact the library directly at info@falmouthpubliclibrary.org we would be happy to connect you!