There has been a summer camp on Greenfield’s Otter Lake since 1929, when the the Young Men’s Christian Union, a Christian student group started at Harvard, bought the 600 acres at the north end of the lake and founded Camp Union.  The camp, originally just for boys, operated until 1993. 

Since 1997,  the site of the old Camp Union has been the Barbara C. Harris Center Camp and Conference Center – frequently confused with the Harris Center for Conservation Education, in Hancock.  The BCH is under the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and is named for Barbara C. Harris, a civil rights activist and the first woman consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion. 

Like all summer camps, the BCH shut down during COVID, and has had a slow-but-steady transition back. BCH Director the Rev. Spencer Hatcher, who was getting ready for her own wedding at the center when I spoke to her on Thursday, said she and her team have spent the past two years rebuilding camp staff and revamping the camp’s offerings. 

“Our biggest push for the past 2½ years has been getting the sleepaway camp back up and running in a way that people would recognize, and we’ve been steadily growing, ” she said. “We are an entirely new staff since COVID, and in some ways we’re in an entirely new phase. We’re looking at new ways to build relationships with folks, and looking at new ways to be creative about our use of space and our resources.” 

Hatcher, who is from California, moved to Greenfield in February 2022. 

“That was kind of wild moving from Berkeley, California, to New Hampshire in the winter,” Hatcher said. “This was my first time ever being in  New England.” 

Hatcher grew up attending another Episcopal church camp, the Claggett Center, in Maryland. 

“Being involved there made me the human I am,” she said. 

Hatcher and her team have been hard at work building connections with the Town of Greenfield. One critical need the BCH has helped the town with is providing emergency housing for people who have lost their housing. 

“There has been an acute rise in the number of families experiencing homelessness in this region,” Hatcher said. “We’ve had families stay here anywhere from a couple of weeks to couple of months while they’re waiting for permanent housing to come through.”

Hatcher and her team also spearheaded the removal of invasive milfoil in Otter Lake, securing state grants to fund mitigation of the weed, which can kill healthy lakes  by depleting oxygen levels in the water and choking out native plants. 

“There was a pretty significant milfoil infestation in Otter Lake. We started in 2022 with the idea that it was pretty far gone, and we could only do remediation, but we think total eradication is now possible. There will be a perpetual challenge with the public boat ramp, as it can always come back in, but it is significantly better,” Hatcher said. 

Hatcher said state grants covered 50% of the cost of the mitigation of invasive milfoil, and BCH paid for the other 50%. 

The Greenfield Recreation Department and town sports programs take advantage of the BCH’s facilities, which include a full-size indoor gym. Both youth and adult sports programs have used the campus in the past two years. 

During the offseason, the BCH hosts retreats, conferences and events for nonprofits and faith organizations. Last year, the camp hosted two weeks of Joni and Friends, a program for families with  children with disabilities, as well a retreats for families with children who have complex medical diagnoses. 

“It is not like your typical old summer camp in the woods,” Hatcher said. “Our facilities are modern, and many are accessible.”

BCH’s plans for the future including expanding youth programming year-round for different groups. 

For information about the Barbara  C. Harris Center, go to bchcenter.org.