Camp Arrowhead: Off the Beaten Path, a Place for Children to Unplug and Unwind

As a child, your quintessential summer day may have included time at the beach or pool, hanging out with friends, adventures exploring the local park or making s’mores at night by a campfire. While modern technology has certainly changed how a child may spend a typical summer day, there are still places children can visit to unplug, unwind and learn about nature. 
Camp Arrowhead, situated on the banks of the serene Rehoboth Bay, offers campers an escape from the constant barrage of information from cellphones, tablets, computers and TV screens. You’ll find none of those items inside the rustic, albeit comfortable, cabins at the Camp near Lewes, Delaware.
“There is so much that kids have to deal with, kids are just so inundated with technology, what you have to do and who you have to be. Here, you can’t have phones or electronics,” said Walter Lafontaine, the Camp’s director. 
The site opened to children in 1954 and is operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware. The experience at Camp Arrowhead is unique, which is why kids from across the country and around the world flock to Arrowhead each year. The camp, which is nestled in a Sussex County pine tree grove, is decentralized, which means that campers live in family units. In these units, the children live, eat and travel to all of their activities together. Campers are offered numerous activities, including kayaking, sailing, a climbing wall, zip line, disc golf and crafts. 
With so much for kids to take part in, 80 summer employees are needed, including a nurse, who feed, house and care for the 1,100 campers who stay at the facility each summer. Lafontaine said his dedicated staffers — of which 80 percent are former campers — are what make the camp so special. “Our big thing is living in community. You can have the best pool, or the best skydiving at your camp, but if you don’t have staff working to sort out the relationships with the campers, you really don’t have anything. And that’s one of our huge assets, the quality of our staff.”
Campers can stay along the shores of Rehoboth Bay anywhere from a few days up to two weeks. Older children live in more secluded parts of the camp, while younger campers sleep 10 to a cabin. Bella and Misty, two friendly golden retrievers, are also always on standby to cheer up any campers who may become homesick. 
Walter said the memories children make at Camp Arrowhead will last a lifetime. This holds true for him. He spent several weeks at the camp back in 1965 and, 16 years later, his passion for teaching children became his career, as he was appointed the Camp’s director. Since then, he’s dedicated his life to Camp Arrowhead and hopes the thousands of campers he’s met over the years enjoy their adventures at Arrowhead as much as he has. 
“The best part about working here is the knowledge you can pass on. You’re planting seeds for the future.”