Camps Airy & Louise

Camps Airy & Louise offer activities that include photo and video studios, a fully-equipped multimedia studio with a video production facility, and a ceramics kiln. Campers have access to a 600-seat outdoor theater with full lighting, a sound tech booth, stage craft area, dressing rooms and an orchestra pavilion, as well as extreme ropes and initiative challenge courses that feature a climbing wall, a 300′ zip line, rope and cable bridges, “Pamper Pole,” “Giant Swing,” “Dangle Duo,” and the 50′ “Scissors Tower.” Additional options include animal care, therapeutic garden time, water slides at the pools, an indoor/outdoor gym, basketball and beach volleyball courts, a wrestling room, tennis courts with lighting, a swimming pool with an aquatic climbing wall, a street hockey rink, an archery range, a parkour gym, a Skate Park, multiple athletic fields for baseball, softball, football, soccer and lacrosse, tent campsites, campfire circles, and the “Culin-Airy” Arts Kitchen.

• Ages: 7–17 years old

Camps Airy & Louise provide Jewish children in grades 2 through 12 from all economic backgrounds with experiences in a single-gender environment that are intended to enhance their Jewish identity and create friendships. The camps observe a pluralistic Shabbat with a Friday night celebration that includes music, prayer and reflection, a Saturday morning observance, Oneg Shabbat, and a Havdallah service, and they offer dedicated one-on-one Bar and Bat Mitzvah practice time once a week. Through Shabbat celebration, Israel programming and community service, the camps describe their community as warm, welcoming, inclusive and without judgement, and they state that ideals of Jewish peoplehood (klal yisrael), repairing the world (tikkun olam), improving personal ethics (tikkun middot), and awareness of spirituality (ruach v’kavanah) permeate camp life.

Camps Airy & Louise were founded in 1924 and 1922 respectively by Lillie and Aaron Straus, and the organization notes that Camps Airy & Louise have been believers in the power of summer camp for 100 years and that Camp Louise has been helping children for 100 summers. The camps describe themselves as the only brother-sister Jewish overnight camps in the country, operating in a single-gender environment with co-ed activities between Camp Airy and Camp Louise as brother-sister camps, and they offer a campership program that provides financial aid for campers in need. Bunkhouses typically include 12–14 children and three counselors, with comfortable wooden bunk beds, extra thick mattresses and storage space for each camper; at Camp Louise, every bunk has its own bathroom with shower, toilet and sink, while most Camp Airy bunks for younger campers have connected bathrooms with sinks, stalls and two urinals and share separate shower houses, and older Camp Airy campers use nearby bathroom and shower houses.

Each campsite has multipurpose dining halls with air-conditioning, projectors, sound systems, and space for more than 600 campers, and the camps serve three meals plus snacks daily. Camps Airy & Louise state that they maintain 24-hour security coverage and operate Health Centers with two physicians and up to five registered nurses on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Staff members can do their laundry at several locations across both camp sites, and campers’ laundry is done for them. Camps Airy & Louise are fully accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA) and report that they meet or exceed the standards set by ACA and the Maryland Youth Camp Safety Act.

Former campers and current parents describe Camps Airy & Louise as communities that provide children and teens with outlets for individuality and lifelong friends, and they say that camp gives kids of all ages the opportunity to take risks in what they view as a safe environment, learn new skills, develop independence, and build lifelong relationships. One former camper notes being happy for all the summers spent at Camp Louise and for the chance to see at reunions how camp continues to affect young lives, and another emphasizes the importance they place on camp for gaining independence and building confidence.

Last updated July 20, 2026.