THE WILDS of New England

     From the 1780’s to 1920, The Deering Center property was the Kincaid Farm. It was run for many generations by the Kincaid family. The meeting hall (barn) was built in 1785 and the Kincaid family lived in it until the house was built in 1790. In 1920, this property along with five other farms in Deering (over 2,000 acres), were purchased by Dr. Eleanor Campbell. Dr. Campbell was a physician and humanitarian. She allowed the townspeople of Deering to farm her land, without charge, and live off of the proceeds while she practiced medicine in New York. During the depression, Dr. Campbell hired many area craftsman to build The Deering Community Center. Dr. Campbell’s goal was to open the center to provide a free medical clinic and camp for the poor rural town of Deering and surrounding towns. In 1933, over 300 young campers from a 15 mile radius of Deering began a summer camp at The Deering Community Center. These children were taught by world renowned scholars from all over the northeast.

     In 1945, Dr. Campbell knew that the community of Deering could not support The Community Center. Dr. Campbell, acting on behalf of the The Deering Community Center, Inc., approached several different church denominations to determine their interest in running the property. She offered to donate the property if they could successfully maintain it for two years.

     In 1946, Dr. Campbell donated 5 farms and 2,000 acres to the Congregational Denomination which is now the United Church of Christ. The United Church of Christ ran The Deering Conference Center from 1949 to 1989, when it closed due to severe debt and lack of support.

 From 1989 to 1998, the Conference Center sat vacant and deteriorated.

     In 1995, after leading a camp in northern New Hampshire, Mike Silver brought his wife to The Deering Conference Center to show her the place that, in 1983, “had a profound impact on [his] life.” He felt a call to move from his home and job in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to Deering, New Hampshire and reopen the center.

     In September 2008, through a series of providential circumstances, God brought Kurt Holman, the director of The Deering Center and Rand Hummel, the director of THE WILDS of New England, together to pursue the continuation of The Deering Center as a Christian Camp through THE WILDS Christian Association, Inc. Both ministries are passionate about God being glorified through souls saved and lives changed.

     On March 19, 2009, after a ten year endeavor by THE WILDS of New England to establish a conservative Christian camp in New England, God worked His perfectly timed miracles and TWNE became the owners of what is now, THE WILDS of New England. TWNE’s pioneer year hosted three teen weeks and two junior weeks of summer camp.