Ruins of Camp Wunnegan

Do a little exploring in the woods of Shrewsbury Massachusetts and you might come across the ruins of a former girl scout camp named Camp Wunnegan. History is sparse as for what I've been able to find online - when you're chasing leads from page 9 of Google's search results you know you're desperate - but the info I've scratched together confirms a couple things. First is that the camp was in operation at least until the year 1966, which is the date of an article in the Fitchburg Sentinel newspaper describing an outing at the camp for disadvantaged scouts. Second is that by 1978 the camp was abandoned, at which point the town purchased 30 acres it resided on and added it to an abutting 15 acres it already owned. What happened in-between those years to lead it to such a state of neglect, I've yet to learn.

We made the trip to Camp Wunnegan in the summer of 2017, and right from the start the head-scratching began. Between two residential houses we found the trailhead and a kiosk, an entry path that made it feel like you were walking into the neighbor's backyard, and no parking. It's tough to feel welcomed when you're forced to park around the corner in front of some stranger's house but that's exactly what the map told us to do, and never ones to shy away from doing something uncomfortable, there we parked and in we went.

To come clean, this was a stop-off visit to see the ruins and we didn't have any intention of walking the entire trail system that day, so when we finally spotted our goal that's directly where we headed.

Whatever activities are taking place nowadays in this former girl scout's cabin, you can bet it isn't a cookie sale. Aspiring artists and fire enthusiasts seems to be the main inhabitants lately. Fortunately we were there around noontime of a Wednesday and had free roam of the place, so we were able to work in a few posed pictures. Here is Tina pretending to rub circulation back into her hands after coming inside on that frigid August day.

And here I am resting with a sip of water, something which earned me a roll of the eyes from my wife and a pair of rust-stained shorts.

Speaking of eyes, if you're wondering why I was looking up in that picture I was probably admiring the fact that the roof hasn't collapsed yet.

Being a former scout camp on such a large patch of land I expected there to be more structures, but our search revealed only one other thing. It was a beauty though, this lonely chimney standing a few hundred feet through the woods from the cabin.

Which if you spend a minute searching you may even find a small gift I left behind.

There are things in life that, when added together create a sum that is greater than their individual parts. For me it's a cold beer on a warm summer's day; for my wife it's a chocolate bar dipped in peanut butter; and for both of us it's what we found at this particular patch of woods in Shrewsbury Massachusetts - trails to hike and ruins to explore.


Related Links:
Location of Trailhead
The Path Less Traveled - Worcester Telegram
Exploring an Abandoned Scout Camp (in New Hampshire)