Weekend Camping and Facility Rental

Camp Carpenter

In 1945, Camp Carpenter became the official Scout camp for the Daniel Webster Council.  Located on the outskirts of Manchester, New Hampshire, Camp Carpenter is a 250-acre wooded property that is the Daniel Webster Council’s Cub Scout Summer Camp.  The rest of the year it is available for use by Scouting Units and non-profit organizations.

The camp consists of nine campsites, 6 Adirondack shelters (lean tos), 8 unheated cabins and program theme areas.  The Dan Beard Trail follows the camp boundary and Long Pond is suitable for water and boating activities.

The camp can be used for day or overnight activities.  Camping, hiking, fishing, orienteering, cooking as well as snowshoeing, sledding  or ice fishing in the winter are some of the many activities that units can take advantage of.  Scouting families can also use the camp facilities.  Consider having a Cub Scout birthday party at Fort Friendship or Pirates Cove.

Camp Carpenter is also home to the Lawrence L. Lee Museum which houses one of the largest collections of Scouting Memorabilia in the world.  The Manchester Scout Shop is also at Camp Carpenter.  BSA uniforms, literature and equipment can be purchased here.

Camp Bell

In 1925, the Manchester Council, Boy Scouts of America purchased 38 acres on the shores of Guinea Pond and opened Camp Manning, hosting 144 campers its first season.  When this council was replaced by Daniel Webster Council in 1929, it was decided to continue to use Camp Manning as the Council’s Scout camp.

By the 1932 season, the camp had expanded to 100 acres and 305 campers.  Scouting in New Hampshire continued to grow and in 1945 it was decided to expand facilities and programs at Camp Carpenter in Manchester and to sell Camp Manning, which was not readily expandable.

In 1949, the property became Camp Leo, which flourished as a church camp in the 1950s and 60s.  In 1988 Camp Leo closed and Daniel Webster Council purchased the property again in 1990.  Renamed Camp Bell, the property became a part of Griswold Scout Reservation, adjacent just to the north of Hidden Valley Scout Camp.

Camp Bell features one of the largest open fields in the Lakes Region surrounded by eight rentable cabins of eight, an indoor rock climbing barn, an all-terrain vehicle hub with a one-acre, terrain-neutral training site, a 200-seat campfire circle, animal stables, garden, round-pen and paddock, Native American village and swimming and boating beaches alongside the banks of spacious Lake Manning.  Camp Bell also features seven established campsites each with latrines and washstands, a safety pavilion with convertible picnic tables or benches with seating for one hundred and various thematic program areas including Challenge Valley (with extreme obstacle course), Mountain Man, Brownsea outdoor skills area, Logging Camp, Foxfire revolutionary crafts  and numerous acres of trail hiking, mountain vistas and outpost campsites.

Hidden Valley Scout Camp

From 1961 to 1970, Hidden Valley served as a Scout Camp for the Norumbega Council (centered in Waban, Massachusetts, now a part of Knox Trail Council).  In the fall of 1970, the camp was sold to the Daniel Webster Council and an additional 1000 acres were soon purchased and added to the reservation.  The purchase was made possible through the generosity of Earle A. Griswold, one of New Hampshire’s most distinguished citizens and a long time supporter of the Daniel Webster Council.  Hidden Valley opened for its first season in 1971 and has been providing quality Scouting ever since.  

Hidden Valley features twelve established campsites each with latrine and washstand, a majestic Gilbert Dining Hall built in 1997 and capable of seating 620 people, a brand new campfire & ceremony amphitheater capable of seating 850 (completed in 2016), the Carter Lodge Conference center for training or meeting purposes, 125 indoor cabin-bunks available across nine year-round cabins ranging in size from 3 to 46 and year-round camp trading post (retail store).  Program opportunities include low and high ropes courses as part of the COPE program (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience), 12-station archery range, 16-station rifle/pistol range, automated trap shooting range (12 or 20 gauge shotgun), three waterfronts with swimming and boating of all kinds on two different lakes, over twenty miles of backpacking trails and mountain vistas over 3,700 acres with connections into the abutting conservation land in the beautiful Belknap Range of the Lakes Region in New Hampshire.  There are several swamps on the property, caves, exclusive ponds, a 150-foot boulder scree, the site of a 1970’s plane wreckage and countless areas for outdoor skills, search & rescue, ecological or curious exploration you desire. 

In 2016, the Griswold Scout Reservation was chosen by the NH Farm & Forest Expo as the New Hampshire Outstanding Tree Farm Community recipients recognizing decades of quality forest management and conservation stewardship.

Other Camping Facilities

The Daniel Webster Council has other weekend camping facilities available.  For more information contact the Program Department at 603-625-6431, Ext. 116 or camping@nhscouting.org