Chocorua Island Chapel

Chocorua Island Chapel
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Chocorua Island Chapel Show map of New Hampshire Chocorua Island Chapel Show map of the US
Nearest city	Holderness, New Hampshire
Coordinates	43°45′20″N 71°32′34″W / 43.75555°N 71.542681°W / 43.75555; -71.542681Coordinates: 43°45′20″N 71°32′34″W / 43.75555°N 71.542681°W / 43.75555; -71.542681
Built	1881
Website	Chocorua Island Chapel Association
NRHP reference #	16000644
Added to NRHP	September 20, 2016

The Chocorua Island Chapel is a non-denominational chapel located on the island of the same name on Squam Lake in Grafton County, New Hampshire, in the town of Holderness. It is an open-air place of worship, created as an extension of Camp Chocorua, the first summer youth camp in the United States. The open-air chapel was created by the camp's first season of young boys, made entirely of boulders, trees, various island vegetation, and beach sand.

Ernest Berkeley Balch was born in 1860, one of fourteen children of Episcopal minister Lewis Penn Witherspoon Balch and his wife. The family lived on an estate in New Hampshire. Rev. Balch had aspirations of establishing a private Episcopal school, and after his 1875 death his widow donated much of the estate to establish the Holderness School.

Sources differ on the exact timeline, but either before or after his 1879 enrollment at Dartmouth College, Ernest joined his friends Henry Burke Closson and Charles Merrill Hough on their summer camp-out on Squam Lake. The experience inspired Ernest to start a wilderness camp for young boys, one which would contribute to their spiritual development as well as physical stamina. With help from Hough and other college friends, the camp was constructed on the privately owned Chocorua Island, and began operations the summer of 1881. Apparently, they discovered after the fact that it was not public land. An arrangement was later worked out with the owner for operations to continue. Although it ultimately lost money for its investors, the venture is recognized as the first summer youth camp in America, and considered to be the vanguard for the proliferation of the youth camp culture.

The open-air chapel was built by the boys during the camp's first summer season, clearing the land and using natural elements. From Squam Lake, they retrieved a hunk of granite with the correct shape for a lectern, and placed it beside the "erratic granite boulder" they had re-purposed for an altar. Both altar and lectern were adorned with ferns and wildflowers on Sunday. The benches and the cross were fashioned from native trees on the island; beach sand was used as flooring. Two services were held each Sunday, providing an afternoon one for visitors and an evening service prior to bedtime for the boys.