Camp Hadar is a co-ed day camp located on 17 acres of scenic woods and sandy beach on Captain’s Pond in Salem, New Hampshire. Our goal is to provide all campers with a fun, safe and rewarding camping experience with an emphasis placed on personal growth, friendship, and fun. We welcome children of all faiths living in Merrimack Valley, North Shore, and Southern New Hampshire starting at age 4 through our 15-year-old counselors in training.
A Jewish day camp has been located on the Captain’s Pond site since 1960. Owned by the Jewish Community Center of Lawrence, the camp (then called the Lawrence Jewish Community Center Camp) had as many as 150 campers each session from the Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire.
When the Lawrence JCC closed, the campsite was rented to the Merrimack Valley Jewish Federation (MVJF). The Federation operated the camp under the name Merrimack Valley Jewish Community Day Camp and later the Jewish Community Day Camp (“JCDC”) until it closed in 1993.
In the winter of 1994, the Federation decided to recommit itself to establishing a Jewish community day camp. They invested significant funds to repair and refurbish the camp site as well as purchase new equipment and develop a new program.
In 1995 the camp opened, renamed Camp Hadar (“splendor” or “beauty” in Hebrew), with over 120 children attending during the summer, proving there was a definite interest in the community to support a Jewish community day camp. Camp Hadar continues to grow and improve.
In 2022, Camp Hadar became its own non-profit day camp. We are so grateful for the support from the MVJF over the past 30+ years. Although we will no longer be a program of the MVJF, we look forward to new collaborations together to serve the families of the Merrimack Valley.
Becoming our own non-profit allows Camp Hadar to pursue opportunities to grow our camp program through fundraising, grants, and collaborations with other organizations. This is an opportunity to build on our strengths that have made Camp Hadar a quality day camp for the past 60+ summers and create a strategic plan that will help guide us towards future summers on Captains Pond.
