Why Families Keep Coming Back To This 130-Year-Old Wisconsin Camp

Campers paddle a canoe at Phantom Lake YMCA Camp in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. The camp has been running for 130 years, making it one of the oldest in the country. Photo courtesy of Phantom Lake YMCA Camp

One of the oldest summer camps in North America is celebrating its 130th anniversary as a place where kids can enjoy Wisconsin summers.

Generations of families have a history at Phantom Lake YMCA Summer Camp in Mukwonago. When it first opened in 1896, Grover Cleveland was president and the first gas-powered automobiles were being built in Detroit.

The camp prides itself on passing down traditions. Some of the children there today are swimming in the same lake and playing some of the same games their parents or grandparents did when they were kids at Phantom Lake camp.

“I’m honored to be in this position to carry on all of the wonderful traditions and to make sure that today’s youth still have the opportunity to have the same experiences of previous generations,” said camp CEO Jeff Spang on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

Spang has been running the camp for the last 20 years. He said it’s humbling to be a part of such a legacy.

When the camp first opened, it was an all-boys retreat. Even then, Spang said, it operated as a place where parents could send their kids to escape city life and get back into experiencing nature and the great outdoors.

And that summer camp experience inspires many of the young campers to go on and become camp counselors themselves.

“I’ve made some lifelong friends, dating back all the way to when I was 7, that I still keep in contact with even now,” said Charlie Lovett, a second-generation staff member at the camp who oversees its youth leadership development program. “It’s really been a blast and it keeps me coming back every summer.”

No screens allowed at ‘unplugged’ camp

The Phantom Lake YMCA Summer Camp continues to uphold an “unplugged” policy, with no screens or cellphones for campers.

Lovett told “Wisconsin Today” the lack of screens isn’t much of a challenge for kids, as they get wrapped up in camp activities pretty quickly after arriving.

“The kids have always really been into it,” he said. “We … provide an experience that makes them say, ‘Wow, that was so fun. I didn’t even need my phone for the whole week.’”

Spang called it critical for kids’ development to have some time detached from electronics. Screens can be addicting for kids, he said, and it’s important for them to experience a fun environment where they can learn to enjoy themselves without phones or tablets.

“I’m so blessed to be able to see it here every single day, hear the laughter, see the fun, see the smiles,” Spang said. “They’re getting reconnected with each other and they’re getting reconnected with nature.”

Spang said it’s incredibly valuable for the Phantom Lake YMCA that many of its counselors grew up with that camp experience background.

“They can carry on that tradition and instill those same wonderful leadership skills that they were taught into that next generation,” Spang said. “I’m making sure that (counselors) understand that they’re superheroes to the next generation coming in. If a 7-year-old comes in, looks up to a 20-year-old and sees that this is the coolest person they’ve ever met, then that 20-year-old is really representing camp with some great values. That’s what continues the tradition.”

Wisconsin summer camp, one of the oldest in North America, turns 130 was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.