Camp led by Pete Seeger's family underway

HANCOCK –

About 100 young people are attending Camp Killooleet in the heart of the Green Mountains this summer. The camp is so busy, though, that it feels like hundreds and hundreds of children fill its 300 acres.

Within four hours on a recent Friday, campers rehearsed for the musical "Fame," tried to replicate the keyboard riff from the Coldplay song "Clocks," created modern-art paintings and improvised a theatrical scene about bullying. Some played softball, a few practiced archery, others weeded the camp's vegetable garden and a half-dozen held epees and donned masks as they learned the art of fencing. A girl sewed an outfit for her sock monkey, a boy molded clay into icicle-shaped wind chimes and another started building a go-kart-like boat on wheels.

Camp Killooleet has given children around the world the chance to do those sorts of activities since 1927, when it was founded by Margaret Bartlett and Toni Taylor. John and Ellie Seeger took over leadership of the camp in the 1940s and passed it on to their daughter, Kate Seeger, and her husband, Dean Spencer, half a century later in 1998.

The late John Seeger's brother, Pete Seeger, came to the camp regularly to interact with the children and play the songs that made him famous — "If I Had a Hammer" among them — and a few more obscure ones as well. This summer is the first time camp has convened since Pete Seeger died Jan. 27 at age 94, but the legendary folk singer's spirit, as always, runs through Camp Killooleet.

Even though it offers dozens of activities, the signature event at Camp Killooleet, according to Spencer and Kate Seeger, is probably the evening "sing" that gathers campers once a week by the site's six-acre lake for a night of impromptu music. Kate Seeger said the sing typically lasts an hour or so at the start, and toward the end of the camp's nearly two-month run grows into a two-hour session with campers from each of Killooleet's 10 cabins sharing their songs and new-found confidence in presenting them.

"The key piece of that," Spencer said, "is that they have ownership of it."

Kate Seeger said the camp, which encourages children to direct their activities, reflects not only Pete Seeger's love for music but also his feeling that life should be lived from the ground up and not the top down.

"He loved coming to Killooleet because he really believed in summer camp," Kate Seeger said as she stood in brilliant sunshine in the middle of the camp's large field. "I think (it was) the community aspect, finding something you believe in and going for it, and learning how to live responsibly in the world, environmentally, socially, ethically."

Kate Seeger, who's also a musician, said she saw her uncle build impromptu communities through his performances that engaged and united his audiences. "Music can be a key component of your community," she said. "You can build community with a shared vision."

Freedom of choice

Well-known musicians ranging from singer-guitarist Rory Block to Sean Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, have come to Killooleet for a summer of fun and musical exploration for ages 9 through 14. This year's camp began in late June and ends Aug. 17.

"Not many families are willing to let their kids try their wings for seven weeks," according to Kate Seeger, who said the longer-than-normal schedule at Killooleet means she and Spencer don't have to turn down a host of applicants each summer.

Seeger and Spencer, who when they're not in Hancock for the summer live outside Boston, don't just accept the $8,600 payment per camper and welcome them to Killooleet. They travel the country meeting with families to make sure the camp is a good fit for the child. They learn which children might be arriving at Killooleet having just lost a grandmother or acquiring a dog that they might miss while they're in rural Vermont.

"We know them," Spencer said. "They know us."

He said the sense of building a community at Killooleet stems from doctorate work John Seeger did on the social and emotional growth of children. "A week or so is an adventure" at camp, Spencer said. "The real growth he found has to do with the interactions within a group."

Four weeks of camp, Spencer said, is enough for young people to let their guard down and have genuine confrontations, but means the resolutions can be artificial. In the longer schedule of Killooleet, however, resolutions are more genuine, more mutual and deeper, according to Spencer. When one camper complains to a cabin mate about leaving a wet towel on a bed, that camper has the chance to ask the other not to roll his or her eyes about the towel. That interaction helps all the campers grow, Spencer said.

"I'm convinced that that is the primary motive of having designed the camp that way and keeping it that way," Spencer said.

That's part of what Pete Seeger valued at Killooleet, according to his niece. "We are small 'd' democratic," Kate Seeger said. "Rules don't solve problems, but talking can solve problems."

Killooleet encourages campers to choose from among the camp's multitude of activities and build their own schedules. In this era of children's schedules being filled with school and extracurricular activities, Killooleet provides a rare opportunity, according to Spencer.

"Fewer and fewer kids come to camp having much opportunity to choose what they're doing," he said.

Head counselor Paul Eagle, who came to Killooleet from England in 2007, said days begin with campers choosing to do chores, riding bikes or working on musical or theatrical projects before the more structured part of the day begins. "A lot of camp is about decision-making and freedom of choice," he said.

The kids attending Killooleet may not know all this talk of personal growth is at the root of what the camp is all about. They're too busy having fun.

A full day

Camp counselor Jack Greenyer led campers on a recent Friday morning through a rehearsal for the musical "Fame." "She knows she's got it; she knows she's in charge here," Greenyer told one actress about her character as she rehearsed with two other young performers. "You've sort of decided to introduce these two. You know there could be some friction."

Nearby in the camp's cramped band shed, counselor Gregor Gordon played electric bass as he led a trio of young musicians through Coldplay's "Clocks." They struggled to find the familiar tune's catchy riff but began honing in on the sound toward the end of the session. "Great, you guys. We did a lot today," Gordon told the three in his Scottish accent. (Killooleet hires many counselors from overseas in part, according to Seeger, because their accents help show campers it's a big world.)

At the wood shop, counselor Erin Fulmore worked with 11-year-old Harrison Brooks as he began formulating plans for his land boat. "You came with a lot of ideas to wood shop, didn't you?" asked Fulmore, who arrived in Vermont from New Hampshire to attend Green Mountain College.

Harrison lives in New York City and is at Killooleet for his second summer. "I like constructing things and building things and just thinking about stuff," he said. "All through the winter and spring, I'm thinking about camp."

Another 11-year-old, Katie Strauss of Denver, sat on the floor of the fabric shop working on a jacket for her sock monkey, Bob Jr. She has a larger sock monkey named Bob and a smaller one named Socks, and they'll be getting their own new wardrobes as well — including, ironically, socks.

Camp counselor Tessa Johnson sat outside at a table with a handful of young artists molding clay, including first-time Killooleet attendee Cosmo Shapiro. "We're making wind chimes," announced Cosmo, whose family lives in New York City and has a country home in Vermont.

Cosmo, who's 10, said he tried making a wind chime shaped like a house with people living inside but it didn't work. "Is this a good wind chime?" he asked Johnson, holding up a thin, half-foot-long piece of clay. "Maybe a little shorter," Johnson said. "Ooh," Cosmo said. "How about the wind chimes could be icicles?" He reworked the clay and tried to get Johnson's attention as she spoke with another camper.

"Is this good? Is this good? Is this good? Tessa, is this good?" Cosmo asked her. She said yes, but it might look even better if he twisted the clay a bit. "Yeah, that's cool," he said after taking her advice.

Eagle, who oversees the camp's 30 counselors, said one of the good things about Killooleet is that the long stay benefits the counselors as well as the campers. "It's enough time to see your hard work make a difference," he said.

'An intentional community'

Ava Parnes was a camper at Killooleet for two summers in the early 2000s. She returned for two seasons on the housekeeping staff, and has worked as a counselor ever since.

"The community is so wonderful here," said Parnes, 24, who when she's not at Killooleet teaches math at a private middle school in New York City. "It really is an intentional community that's built every summer. People really care about each other and that's because of how it's structured."

She said "community" is not a word the staff at Killooleet uses. "It just is," Parnes said.

Eagle, 32, said Killooleet inherently makes a counselor well-rounded. "You're a teacher, you're a big brother, you're a parent, you're a friend," he said.

Lucy Beggs is a first-time counselor at Killooleet. "It's been amazing," said Beggs, who's from Yorkshire, England. "I have learned so much from the kids about myself and vice-versa." She said she's trying new things such as caving and is just as excited about her adventures as the children are.

Beggs, 22, is also learning how to be a role model. "I can have this influence," she said. "I feel for the first time really mature." She said she's had a few twinges of absence from home, but they're fleeting.

"They just flutter away," Beggs said. "I had my first dream the other night of camp being over, and I was crying."

Beggs spoke as she sat in the sunshine an Adirondack chair next to another first-year counselor, Aisling Young of Ennis, Ireland. Seeger stood nearby, listening as the two counselors spoke excitedly about their first year at the camp.

Seeger mentioned some of the obstacles Killooleet faces. Though Killooleet offers scholarships, the stagnant economy has kept some families from sending their children to the camp. Hurricane Irene in 2011 caused significant damage, Seeger said, as the storm wiped out a driveway and flooded camp buildings along the White River. She said Killooleet is still in debt from paying for those repairs.

Soon after Seeger spoke about Hurricane Irene, a group of students and counselors sitting a few yards away with musical instruments broke into a brief chorus of "Goodnight, Irene," the folk standard popularized in 1950 by The Weavers, a group that included Pete Seeger. Once again, the late folk legend's influence floated across the big field at Killooleet.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.