Camp Sayre is owned by the Boy Scouts office
Up until 2000, YAG reserved Camp Sayre through the Dedham Boy Scouts Office for a very low price. This office closed between 2000 and 2002. Now we reserve it through the Boston office, which in 2002 was not aware of our relationship with the Dedham office or our history of using Camp Sayre in 2000, 1999, 1998, and their Camp Massasoit in 1997 & 1996. Therefore they originally quoted us their non boy scout price of 1000+, which is ~2 times higher than the price we paid in the past, which according to church and YAG records, which are imperfect, seems to have been between 400-600. They don't have lower prices for non profit church groups, but appealing to our long history with the Boy Scouts won us a price of $750. When reserving the Camp each time, we must directly to the director of camps, reminding him of the relationship so that we maintain a price at this level. The receptionist is not able to make this decision. In addition, it is the director who must provide us with special non scounting group paperwork. They rent to non scout groups infrequently enought that the receptionist can't handle the reservation.
In order to preserve this relationship we must take great care to leave the camp facilities in as good or better condition that we found them. This typically includes having a “service project” or "camp project" during the weekend, which could involve clearing brush, moving logs or anything. This should be setup by contacting the camp manager who lives on site.
In the 90s the YAG retreat organizers occasionally looked for other sites, but never found anything that worked in terms of price, facilities and location so close to Boston. Options may increase if YAG retreat organizers can be sure of a large number of attendees to build an economy of scale or if we are able to go outside MA. There are Boy Scout camps in NH. We have a number of site finding resources located on the YAG website retreat planning guide page.
Contacts (as of 2002)
Camp Manager Jack 617-361-7263 lives on site, very friendly
Reservations
Richard Greene, director of camps must be contacted if by non scouting groups wanting to rent, 617-723-0007 ext 307 rgreene@bsaboston.org;
second choice is Kathy Finn, ext 312
the receptionist who may assist in this process is Karling
John handles returning of damage deposit checks (see below)
Reservations
To reserve the camp, recommend doing so at least 2-3 months in advance to ensure desired facilities are available; paperwork must be submitted at least 1 month in advance
The following has been required in the past:
Hayden Lodge
sit and feed 100
There is also an arts and crafts lodge which we don’t rent
No sleeping facilities in lodge
TV/VCR, chalk, handicap accessible
Store
There is a store where one can purchase candy, maps, camping supplies, etc
Store hours after September
W-F 3-6PM
F-S 7-9PM
Sunday 9-1
M-T closed
All cabins
Furnaces, gas ranges, electricity Except 5: wood burning stove
#1-4, & 6 sleep 22 people, 5 12 people
Miscellaneous
No pets, alcohol
Fence is boundary to camp
100 acres
Houghton Pond and park is nearby and allows for swimming
There will typically be boy scouts staying at the camp, YAGers should take care not to disturb them
The dumpster for trash is located in the parking lot
Fire circle can sit 120 people
Just before arriving to the entrance, there will be a sing on the right hand side of the road at the top of a hill just before the entrance reading “Scout Camp Ahead”
There is also a crafts lodge and various outdoor camping options, which we are unlikely to want to use.