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Hello friends of Lone Tree! As I'm sure you've noticed there have been a lot of changes with our beloved camp over the past few years, and with the Spirit Foundation as well. As most of you know Lone Tree Scout Reservation was sold by the Spirit of Adventure Council in 2022. This made our mission a little harder because it was no longer a youth-centered camp. This site and our online presence as a whole fell by the wayside as our path forward was unclear. We also experienced some devastating, although expected, losses with the passing of Dick Sanders and Dick Preble among other familiar names. Well... we're back! In July of 2026 Lone Tree Summer Camp / Lone Tree Camp & Cabins was purchased by our new friend David and is now Camp Lone Tree! Camp Lone Tree is already involving many members of Lone Tree Spirit Foundation in its creation and will be focused on youth organizations, starting with getting scouting units back in camp. The plan is to build a non-profit that supports youth development and community engagement. The board for this endeavor is not yet formed, and the website and booking system are still in the works, but troops are beginning to book sites for this fall through contacting camp directly or Annie Taylor, a long time fixture at Lone Tree and the new acting Camp Director. You can reach out by emailing info@camplonetree.org . In addition to Annie's involvement Don Doughty, a long time Friend of Lone Tree, is the acting Ranger under the direction of our very own Harry Taylor. The former LTSR Ranger, our very own HT is now Camp Lone Tree's Lead Volunteer!  

The building known today as “Laing Cottage” was one of only five buildings on the reservation when Lone Tree was purchased in 1946. Three of those buildings remain, all on the area known as “The Point.” The scout executive of Lone Tree Council at the time LTSR was purchased was George T. Laing, one of the founders of the reservation, instrumental in its purchase and transformation to a scout camp. In the 1947 Council Annual Report Mr. Laing wrote “If we are accused of spending too much time on our new camp, which we may well be, we ask that you go up and look at the camp before you become too vindictive. We have the start of a wonderful camp… It took blood, sweat and tears. But it is started.” George Laing had his start in Scouting long before he was scout executive, in fact before Lone Tree Council came into existence. He had been a scoutmaster, recruiter, and Scouting organizer in Haverhill before it was organized under a council. Laing was credited with contributing to the substantial growth of Scouting in the City of Haverhill, having grown the program to 19 troops in the “Haverhill District” going back to the early and mid-1920’s. George Laing was hired by the Lone Tree Council as its scout executive in 1932 and served until his death. In November of 1948 Laing had been working on the reservation framing a building and suffered a fall. He never fully recovered and passed away months later on April 9, 1949. The local papers in both Amesbury and Newburyport reported that several hundred people attended his funeral including city officials and scout leaders from the area and region. Scouts and Scouters bore his coffin with an honor guard from People’s Methodist Church on Chadwick Street in Bradford, where Laing had served as scoutmaster in the early 1920’s, to Elmwood Cemetery. A tribute to George Laing in the council newsletter from April 1949 stated “Lone Tree Council has lost its presence, the vision, and the abilities of one who had achieved greatness in service to his fellowmen.” A reflection appearing in the Amesbury Daily News on April 11, 1949 read in part “It is completely fitting, now that he is gone, that there remains on the shores of Country Pond, a vast new camp reservation, the foundations of which he has built so well.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQLDUSXnky4