Our History

The West End House brand of youth services dates back to 1906, first established in the West End of Boston by philanthropist James J. Storrow. The West End House was a charter member of what is today the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, also first organized in 1906. Storrow also founded the West End House Camp for Boys, among the tall pines overlooking Long Pond in Parsonsfield, Maine, in 1908.

In 1975, the West End House clubhouse, which had been relocated to Allston, MA, became coeducational for two days per week. Separate lockers and showers for girls were funded by the Charles Hayden Foundation and the Permanent Charity Fund of Boston, and in 1978, the West End House in Allston became fully coeducational.

As the Director of the West End House clubhouse and West End House Camp, William Margolin oversaw the 1970's integration of girls in Allston, and in 1990 he arranged the first program that brought girls to the shores of Long Pond in Maine, to participate in traditional summer camp activities over long weekends, hosted by WEHC.

And then, finally in 2006, Laurie Kaplan, daughter of past West End House leader, Joseph Kaplan, and Bobby Gordon, WEH Camp for Boys past director, spearheaded a girls' camp & "Founders Committee" that provided summer camp programming exclusively for girls and young women of the West End House. The West End House Girls Camp, Inc. was then founded in 2008.  That same year, WEH Camp for Boys resolved to lease 20 acres of its own land to the girls camp for $1 per year and in late 2009 WEHGC purchased additional neighboring property, to all together develop a girls-only campus on Long Pond.

WEHGC opened its doors in Maine to pioneering girls in 2011 and has since continued to grow its summer camp for girls to call their own, the likes of which boys have enjoyed since 1908.

The girls of the WEHGC community are grateful to the camp's founders, its Board of Directors, and its many supporters for all they have done to provide them with a revered tradition of learning and living in harmony, and making friends for life. At WEHGC, when you’re one the girls, you’re always one of the girls.