Mental Map

For those who have never been to Camp Bethel, or even for those who haven't been there in while, I would like to provide a mental image for you all, kind of like a map in your head.

As you drive or walk off the swing bridge leading from Moodus to Haddam, CT, there will be a road on your right. Camp Bethel Road to be exact. At 124 Camp Bethel Road is Camp Bethel with the wooden front gate standing open in the summer months and being locked after the last family goes home for the winter. Pull in through the gate and there will be a dirt road with hemlocks lining the sides. Be careful though and watch our for kids of all ages! On the left there will be a clearing where several RV's can park, several buildings where campers can stay, a volleyball net, and two buildings used for kid's bible study. Then there is a "y" in the road. You can choose to go right, past a pool, mini golf set and basket ball court. Or you can go left, down to the point of "Carl's Park". A well manicured green with shrubs and a wooden fence to keep animals and little kids out. Carl could be seen mowing, raking, and pruning just about everyday on that small swatch of fluffy grass.

At the point of Carl's Park is another "y". Going left will take you down a little back road past a parking lot, behind the chapel and down between a row of cottages. This part of the road system is a dead end in the part of camp known as the "north grounds". If there were a brave driver, he or she could continue into the woods on an old logging path. Back to the point of Carl's Park, going right will take you down what may be considered the main road of camp, or the loop road. It goes down the side of Carl's Park, past the dining hall, Memorial hall, Bethel hall, the Helping Hand building, and then a string of cottages starts at the top of a small hill. This road doesn't end; it goes through the row of cottages called the "south grounds" and curves back around to the area with the pool and basketball court.

Across from the dining hall is a very short road that leads to a dead end past the "caretaker's cottage", where the current caretaker of the grounds and buildings lives, to a covered pavilion called the "preacher's stand". This is where the adults have bible studies in the summer, they can listen to the speaker and if they want, turn their head to the left to look out over Fairview park and the CT River beyond.

Some of the other buildings on camp are the Nurse's building for when camp groups rent the other buildings that hold twelve to fourteen beds (bunks). These buildings are clustered around the recreation areas and are named after trees: beech, maple, oak, birch, pine and so on.