Camp Bethel

Camp Bethel is a historic Christian camp meeting site in the Tylerville section of Haddam that is located on a high bluff overlooking the Connecticut River. It was established in 1878 by the Life and Advent Union. In the early years as many as 10,000 people would gather on the property for several weeks each summer. At first they stayed in tents but later began building small cottages on their camp sites. Over the years Camp Bethel grew to include a chapel, a memorial hall, two boarding houses and over forty cabins. Most of these structures were built between 1889 and 1920. The current Dining Hall was built in 1992, replacing an earlier building destroyed by fire. Camp Bethel continues to operate as a camp meeting site today, one of the few that survive in New England. It is owned by the Camp Bethel Association, a non-denominational, evangelical organization that holds camp meetings each August and also rents the facility to different religious and educational groups for retreats, conferences and workshops. [If you are interested in learning about another camp meeting site with Victorian cottages in Connecticut, see my post about the Plainville Campground]. Read on to learn more about some of the buildings and to see more images of Camp Bethel!

This is the cottage on the right in the image above. It was built in 1896:

A Camp Bethel Cottage

The images above and the two below show some of the cottages that surround the Preacher’s Stand. They were built in the 1890s and the first decade of the 1900s:

cottages

cottages

The present preacher’s stand and book stand was built in 1898 and was rebuilt in 1927. The seating area now has a concrete base and a permanent roof. The decorative brace and pointed-arch window in the gable date to a 1974 restoration:

Preacher's Stand

Boyd Memorial Chapel was built in 1892 and was enlarged in 1927:

Boyd Memorial Chapel

Bethel Hall is a boardinghouse built in 1907 (the Camp’s other boardinghouse, Helping Hand, was erected in 1892):

Bethel Hall

At one time water for the camp had to be brought from a pump next to the railroad tracks on the river bank. In 1915 a new Pump House was built on the bluff:

Pump House

One of the cottages, built c. 1895:

A Camp Bethel cottage

A row of cottages, also built in the 1890s and the first decade of the 1900s:

cottages

View of the Connecticut River from the bluff:

Connecticut River

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Camp Bethel (1889-1920)

3 thoughts on “Camp Bethel (1889-1920)

  • May 26, 2018 at 1:22 am
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    I spent many Summers at camp Bethel growing up, have wonderful fond memories, my grandmother was a Terry, hers was the DeCosta cottage

  • October 3, 2021 at 3:52 pm
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    I would have hoped that the writer had talked with the staff of the Historical Center at Camp Bethel to fact check some of the “facts” listed. Bethel Hall was built in 1908. There was a different building occupying that site until March at that site.

    The well under the Pumphouse was sunk in 1915. The Pumphouse was erected over the well in 1920.

    Were was the information gathered from that states that the Preachers” Stand was rebuilt in 1927? That is not information that the Historical Center is aware of.

  • October 3, 2021 at 9:14 pm
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    David,
    The information in this post derives from the nomination for Camp Bethel to the National Register of Historic Places (https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/07001246_text), compiled in 2007, which indicates that Bethel Hall was built in 1908, the pumphouse in 1915, and indicates the Preachers’ Stand was rebuilt in 1927. I understand that these forms can sometimes have errors/omissions. Thank you for your corrections.

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