Nicholas Wood saw firsthand how camp experiences can change a child’s views on the world.
At Lantern Light Camps in Northwood, where he’s been the executive director since last May, Wood described the ways that campgoers unplugged from the noisy world around them and explored how to swim, build campfires and use a bow and arrow — driven by pure curiosity.
In his two seasons, Wood remembered hearing protests from kids when they arrived at the campgrounds. Those same kids resisted leaving as the summer days waned.
He recalled one letter from a guardian whose child thought the world was unjust before going to camp and went home feeling more self-assured and happy.
“I get goosebumps thinking about it,” he said. “Nothing beats watching these kids become resilient or confident or laugh or just be kids in a place that’s not trying to compare them to other people.”
Impacts like that are why staff and associates with Lantern Light Camps found it so important to continue its operations — even when the landowners declined to renew the camp’s lease.
Earlier this month, an alumni group purchased the Wah-Tut-Ca Reservation along Northwood Lake, encapsulating the nearly 300 acres the camp uses. It will protect the land and waterfront and keep its use as a summer camp.
Lantern Light has run for only five years, and serves many grandchildren who are being raised by their grandparents. But the grounds have an over 80-year history with the Lowell, Mass., chapter of Boy Scouts of America, now called Scouting America.
The Spirit of Adventure Council of Scouting America still owned the land after it closed down in 2019 and made way for Lantern Light Camps as its tenant in 2021. After the 2025 summer season, Scouting America chose not to extend its lease with the camp because it was involved in numerous lawsuits and its membership was dwindling drastically.
The camp was given only one real option: buy the property outright or it would be sold for development.
Brian Lobao, founder and board member of Lantern Light, said a group of seven came together to form the nonprofit Wah-Tut-Ca Preservation Association to purchase the camp. Its goal is to raise about $2.5 million to pay the debt used to buy the property and to upgrade its operations.
The association “is looking to, No. 1, assure that the place remains a camp for children, young adults and their families,” Lobao said. “Number two, it’s the largest property on Northwood Lake,” with almost a mile and a half of shoreline. “It connects to some very interesting and significant ecological features in there. … So there’s a big ecological component of what the Wah-Tut-Ca Preservation Association is supporting.”
Lobao said there is a lot of deferred maintenance on the property, since the previous owners fixed buildings “only when they had to.” Lantern Light itself did not have much agency to make improvements. Now, with a dedicated nonprofit, fundraising can be made a priority — not only to make improvements, but also to create an endowment to continually maintain the camp’s buildings down the line.
Some work has already been done by volunteers and local organizations, Wood said. Groups have helped take down a chimney, replace stairs and clean out an old shed in recent weeks. He imagines further developing the camp in the future and connecting with the Northwood community to give residents more access to the land.
“We’ve got ideas for expanding some areas, some more indoor space for those to push into those shoulder seasons and really start having more community involvement, having more groups come through outside the main summer months,” Wood said.
Right now, Lobao said the Wah-Tut-Ca Preservation Association is fielding charitable contributions from the large network of camp alumni and prospecting for grants from various organizations. He said the main driver that will help the camp reach its goal is to share its steadfast mission.
“We have wonderful stories about children that this time at that camp has had a huge impact on their lives, and we know what we have is pretty powerful,” Lobao said. “With a generation that is largely being raised by screens and phones, the opportunity to come outdoors, be with friends in a supportive environment, it is amazing what happens to them.”
