About
Barrie Camp offers horsemanship, swimming, playing games, doing crafts, canoeing, nature study, archery, and hiking as part of the daily camp experience. Campers rotate through these activities during the camp day and end the afternoon with a popsicle.
• Ages: 3–14 years old
• Schedule: Camp days run from a 9:00 am all-camp Flagpole assembly through rotating 30-minute activity periods until 3:15 pm, followed by dismissal time and car pick-up ending at 4:30 pm.
Barrie Camp has been a Washington, D.C. area institution since the 1950s. The camp is led by Dan Hayden, Director of Camp. Barrie Camp employs over 150 people each summer, and all staff complete an interview with the year-round team, multiple reference checks from non-family members, a criminal background investigation, a comprehensive pre-camp training program, trainings throughout the summer, and daily staff meetings. Lifeguards are fully credentialed and have demonstrated rescue competence. Staff to camper ratios follow American Camp Association requirements, with ratios of 1:6 in Lower Camp, 1:8 in Middle Camp, and 1:10 in Upper Camp.
The camp’s mission states that Barrie Camp emphasizes social competence and friendship, positive values and inner growth, and cognitive and physical development, and that the unique character, strengths, interests, fears, and needs of each camper are respected. According to the mission, campers are encouraged, but not forced, to try activities, with a goal of “finding a way of doing” with support, acceptance, and encouragement from friends and counselors.
Campers bring bagged lunches that are kept refrigerated until lunchtime. Snacks are offered in the morning to Lower campers and to all campers in PM Supervision, and popsicles are available at the end of the day for everyone. Campers are strongly encouraged to bring a water bottle and are recommended to bring snacks.
Barrie Camp is described as a time-honored summer camp experience for children ages 3.5–14, set on 45 acres just outside Washington, D.C., with a range of traditional and new activities each summer. The camp offers a Leader-in-Training (LIT) program for rising 9th graders, who can acquire leadership skills while earning community service hours. Bus transportation is available at select stops throughout Montgomery County and Northwest Washington, D.C. The program notes a safe, self-contained environment, an outdoor amphitheater and stage for morning assembly, special events, and entertainment, tent platforms and a fire pit for overnights, and access to the Matthew Henson Trail from hiking trails.
Facilities used for the summer camp program include a 25-meter Olympic outdoor swimming pool that is 2 to 5 feet deep, fourteen air-conditioned school buildings and cottages, a pond for canoeing and nature study, a Makerspace classroom, two gymnasiums (one full-size and one half-size), a Black Box theater, an art building, ceramics studio, and arts and crafts classroom, and state-of-the-art computer facilities. Additional facilities include an outdoor amphitheater and stage, athletic fields including a turf field, an archery range, hiking trails including access to the Matthew Henson Trail, three playgrounds, tent platforms and a fire pit for overnights, two pavilions, and numerous shaded picnic areas.
Parent and camper testimonials from recent summers describe campers enjoying activities such as Horsemanship and Swimming, playing games and doing crafts, and having “adventure-filled” days with “good old fashioned outdoor fun.” Families and campers mention friendly counselors, clear communication from the director and staff, a balance between indoor and outdoor activities, and returning to Barrie Camp for multiple summers. One camper is described as “essentially a Barrie Camp lifer” who loves the camp.
Last updated July 19, 2026.
• Ages: 3–14 years old
• Schedule: Camp days run from a 9:00 am all-camp Flagpole assembly through rotating 30-minute activity periods until 3:15 pm, followed by dismissal time and car pick-up ending at 4:30 pm.
Barrie Camp has been a Washington, D.C. area institution since the 1950s. The camp is led by Dan Hayden, Director of Camp. Barrie Camp employs over 150 people each summer, and all staff complete an interview with the year-round team, multiple reference checks from non-family members, a criminal background investigation, a comprehensive pre-camp training program, trainings throughout the summer, and daily staff meetings. Lifeguards are fully credentialed and have demonstrated rescue competence. Staff to camper ratios follow American Camp Association requirements, with ratios of 1:6 in Lower Camp, 1:8 in Middle Camp, and 1:10 in Upper Camp.
The camp’s mission states that Barrie Camp emphasizes social competence and friendship, positive values and inner growth, and cognitive and physical development, and that the unique character, strengths, interests, fears, and needs of each camper are respected. According to the mission, campers are encouraged, but not forced, to try activities, with a goal of “finding a way of doing” with support, acceptance, and encouragement from friends and counselors.
Campers bring bagged lunches that are kept refrigerated until lunchtime. Snacks are offered in the morning to Lower campers and to all campers in PM Supervision, and popsicles are available at the end of the day for everyone. Campers are strongly encouraged to bring a water bottle and are recommended to bring snacks.
Barrie Camp is described as a time-honored summer camp experience for children ages 3.5–14, set on 45 acres just outside Washington, D.C., with a range of traditional and new activities each summer. The camp offers a Leader-in-Training (LIT) program for rising 9th graders, who can acquire leadership skills while earning community service hours. Bus transportation is available at select stops throughout Montgomery County and Northwest Washington, D.C. The program notes a safe, self-contained environment, an outdoor amphitheater and stage for morning assembly, special events, and entertainment, tent platforms and a fire pit for overnights, and access to the Matthew Henson Trail from hiking trails.
Facilities used for the summer camp program include a 25-meter Olympic outdoor swimming pool that is 2 to 5 feet deep, fourteen air-conditioned school buildings and cottages, a pond for canoeing and nature study, a Makerspace classroom, two gymnasiums (one full-size and one half-size), a Black Box theater, an art building, ceramics studio, and arts and crafts classroom, and state-of-the-art computer facilities. Additional facilities include an outdoor amphitheater and stage, athletic fields including a turf field, an archery range, hiking trails including access to the Matthew Henson Trail, three playgrounds, tent platforms and a fire pit for overnights, two pavilions, and numerous shaded picnic areas.
Parent and camper testimonials from recent summers describe campers enjoying activities such as Horsemanship and Swimming, playing games and doing crafts, and having “adventure-filled” days with “good old fashioned outdoor fun.” Families and campers mention friendly counselors, clear communication from the director and staff, a balance between indoor and outdoor activities, and returning to Barrie Camp for multiple summers. One camper is described as “essentially a Barrie Camp lifer” who loves the camp.
Last updated July 19, 2026.
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