"It's about finding a place to belong and friendships," said Lisa Honeyman, who has attended camp as a camper, then as staff and volunteer, since 1972.

"When things aren't going right, I crave this," she said, looking out over the lake. A breeze ruffled the water; sailboats skimmed the surface. "At those times I just want to sit on a rock and look at the lake. When I'm not here, I do that in my mind."

There is a time-warp feel to Nokomis. It's always the summer of 1958, 1968, or whichever year you happened to be there first. You can return and find your way to the dining hall, lodge, or the Chippewa cabin where the youngest juniors reside—even if 25 years elapsed between visits. You still hear the slam of screen doors, the creak of the flag hoisted up the birch tree pole, the warble of the bugle blaring reveille. You still smell sweaty socks, campfire smoke, and the astringency of pine.

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Camps first sprang up in the United States in the early 20^th century as a means for hardworking immigrant families to expose their children to the bucolic countryside surrounding the growing, and often dangerous, cities of the period. There are now nearly 10,000 camps in the U.S. with six million children attending each summer.

—Tom Cannell