Camp Onway

Camp Onway, in Raymond, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, on the shores of Onway Lake, was a property owned by local councils of the Boy Scouts of America. Since 2007 the site, now known as Zion's Camp, has been owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (LDS Church).

The name "Onway" came from the latter part of the name of the great Bashaba (ruling chief) who led the nation of many tribes of Native Americans that ruled this area: Passaconaway. Camp Onway consisted of nine campsites: Abnaki, Algonquin (Provo), Jacunda, New Magee, Old Magee, Pedhela, and Travers. The other two campsites, Gillwell Fields and Nawachapo, were being used by Scoutcraft and the Woodsman program. The "hill" consisted of six cabins that housed the junior staff and the "Hill Patrol". The senior staff were housed in four cabins: the Screenhouse, the Lawrence Cabin, the Andovers Cabin, and the Methuen Cabin. The director and program director were in Cabin 13, also known as the Director's cabin. This land has been used as a camping place since 1900. The first camp was a county YMCA camp for boys. The YMCA used the Pine Grove, located at approximately the center of the waterfront property. For five to ten years the YMCA shared this land for one month with the Girls Work Community Council of Exeter. They operated together until 1924, at which time the county YMCA purchased a camp site in Kingston. The Girls Work Community Council operated the land until 1929. In 1929, the North Essex Council consisting of Lawrence, Methuen, Andover, and North Andover purchased the land for $4,400. A mortgage of $2,700 was held by Burchard E. Horne who, through his contribution, liquidated the entire amount. The mortgage was burned at the tenth anniversary of Camp Onway, July 21, 1940. The dining hall was named for Horne, in recognition of his interest in Scouting. When the camp opened in 1930, there were two troop campsites. The first was Abnacki, which came from the Native American Abenaki tribe who were ruled by Passaconaway. The second was Pedhela, whose name was taken from the two presidents of North Essex Council, William Peddler and James Hennessey, and from the chairman of the Camping Committee, Stanley Lane: PEDdler + HEnnessey + LAne = PEDHELA. In 1930, the St. James cabin was built. It is the oldest standing building in camp today. As the camp grew, so did the facilities. Between 1940 and 1945, the cabin just uphill from the dining hall (cabin 7) and the George Wilson Lodge (before 1998 this was the Health Lodge) were built. A new road was added to make travel in and out of camp easier. In 1964, the Camp Ranger's house burned down and was rebuilt along with a new maintenance building. In the years to follow, more additions were made such as the shower facilities, rifle and archery ranges, the Catholic chapel, and the Charrette Activity Center and Takesian Memorials. The kitchen was rebuilt and the dining hall was modernized in 1971 after fire struck again. Other additions include the staff cabins, the expansion of the waterfront area, an increase in the conservation practices, including multi land use, and a Wood Badge/Leadership Development area. In 1989, Onway's 60th anniversary, Camp Onway and North Essex Council welcomed the North Bay Council in the first year of a shared camping venture between the two councils. In the following years improvements were made to the campsite latrines, the Trail Center was converted to become the new Commissary/Trading Post, and renovations were made to the central shower house and Magee Lodge. In 1992, thanks to a $20,000 gift from the George W. Magee Trust Fund, a floating swimming dock system was added to the waterfront. On January 1, 1993, North Essex Council, North Bay Council, and Lone Tree Council merged to form the new Yankee Clipper Council. A joint camp use committee decided to concentrate the council's summer Boy Scout program at Camp Onway and move all Cub and Webelos programs to Lone Tree Scout Reservation. The Friends of Onway contributed $70,000 to expand and renovate the dining hall to a first class facility in 1994. Additional improvements included construction of a parking lot, a redesigning of the rifle range, and renovations to the newly dedicated Rheaume Nature Lodge. A new latrine was added to the waterfront and another was built in 1996 at the rifle range. 1997 saw the construction of a new storage shed for the Archery Range as well as a weather shelter. In 1998 a new health lodge was constructed and later named the Robert Mundry Health Lodge at the June 2000 council annual meeting. Also in 1998 the waterfront lookout tower was rebuilt, and a new walk in freezer was added to the kitchen. The summer of 2007 marked the last at Camp Onway before it was sold to the LDS Church.

In 2005 the Properties Study Committee started reviewing all council camp properties to determine the best use of assets for the sustainability of the scouting program in the council's service area as part of the long term strategic planning process. A recommendation to sell the Camp Onway property was eventually forwarded to the Yankee Clipper Council executive board. The sale was met with a large amount of opposition from Scouts, Scouters and staff members. Numerous arguments were presented to reject the sale. A petition was signed by over 1,000 Scouts, Scouters, and friends of Scouting. Many of the articles are available at SaveCampOnway. com. At a meeting on March 22, the Yankee Clipper Council (YCC) executive board voted 26 10 in favor of selling Camp Onway. The sale, originally set to take place in late August, was delayed due to controversy surrounding the original deed from 1929. After a drawn out legal debate as to whether the YCC had the right to sell the camp, it was decided that they did. More than seven months after the initial vote, the YCC was contacted by the LDS Church, saying that because of the declining property market, they must lower the price of $2.8 million to $2.45 million. The YCC immediately had a vote to push the sale through. On November 30, 2007, Camp Onway was sold to the LDS Church for $2.45 million, which the YCC put into an endowment fund. The new owners have since changed the name to "Zion's Camp".