In the late 1930s, Reverend Leslie C Bockes headed an effort to create a rural escape for the children of Lowell, MA. Doing so required the purchase of about four hundred acres of land in a rural setting, an environment far removed from that of the city. To do so Bockes convinced a friend, Dudley L Page, to head a committee that was tasked with purchasing large blocks of abutting land in order to create the several hundred acre camp; the organization in charge of buying the land for the camp was the Church of All Nations. For two weeks a year children from the city were brought to the camp to, "be caught up in [the] wonder and delight of God's creation - stars, flowers, and birds - at minimal cost to their families". A modern description of the camp notes that, "roaming the property, campers learned the virtues that their ancestors would have absorbed by working the soil. Under Bockes' direction, they learned to work with tools 'to build straight and true and strong' in imitation of the 'greatest Carpenter of all'".
When the hurricane of 1938 struck, Bockes enlisted the help of teenage boys to work clearing the debris from the storm, as well as chopping up the fallen trees. The fallen timber was so plentiful that Bockes decided to construct a sawmill in order to produce usable lumber. Even though these boys were paid for their labor, all boys who attended the camp were required to complete vigorous physical labor, which according to Bockes instilled a sense of virtue in the campers. It is noted that twice a week the campers boarded a truck that brought them across town to Cobbett's Pond; usually "singing their lungs out all the way". Almost everything that is known, and published, about the Builders Camp comes from the biography of Middle East activist, Frank Maria, who attended the camp as a child.
When the hurricane of 1938 struck, Bockes enlisted the help of teenage boys to work clearing the debris from the storm, as well as chopping up the fallen trees. The fallen timber was so plentiful that Bockes decided to construct a sawmill in order to produce usable lumber. Even though these boys were paid for their labor, all boys who attended the camp were required to complete vigorous physical labor, which according to Bockes instilled a sense of virtue in the campers. It is noted that twice a week the campers boarded a truck that brought them across town to Cobbett's Pond; usually "singing their lungs out all the way". Almost everything that is known, and published, about the Builders Camp comes from the biography of Middle East activist, Frank Maria, who attended the camp as a child.
Map of land needed to complete the Builders Camp
As seen on the map above published by Goodwill Industries, the committee had succeeded in accumulating 271 acres (the shaded region on the map) for the sum of about $4,500, by January 1, 1938. Needed to complete the camp were the properties of Farley, which would give the Church Of All Nations controlling use of Beaver Brook, and Clarke, which would allow for experiments, live stock housing, and a home for the care taker. It is not known if the group was successful in their endeavor to purchase the two properties. In 1975, Patricia Bockes Ingersoll, the daughter of Reverend Bockes, donated 71 acres of land to create the Bockes Memorial Forest. In 2003 the grandchildren of Reverend Bockes gave almost the entire parcel of land left to the towns of Londonderry and Hudson. 32 acres of conservation land were also donated to the town of Windham.