Hale Reservation

Hale Reservation is private non-profit educational organization with 1,137 acres of land, 20 miles of trails, and four ponds in Westwood and Dover, Massachusetts. Hale Reservation is best known for its summer camps for children and young adults, as well as its year-round educational programs.

Work on acquiring Hale land was begun by Robert Sever Hale (brother of Richard Walden Hale, Boston law firm founder) in the early 1900s. In 1918, he established a formal tie with the Boy Scouts of America and began the organization. In 1926, the organization became known as the Dover-Westwood Scout Reservation of the Boston Council. Twenty acres were opened as a scout camp during that year as Camp Storrow as well. The Dover-Westwood Scout Reservation continued to acquire land through the 1930s. In 1930, the organization was named Scoutland. In 1941, Robert Sever Hale died and Scoutland was renamed the Robert Sever Hale Camping Reservation in his honor. In 1993, the organization's name was shortened to the current Hale Reservation.

Hale Reservation's land includes numerous ponds and streams, miles of trails, a 3600 BCE Native American feldsite quarry, and multiple stone walls and foundations from colonial-era farm houses. Many of Hale's "wide" trails were originally dirt roadways used by oxen teams to drag granite blocks from multiple abandoned granite quarries, en route to construction sites in Dedham, Boston and beyond.

Hale Day Camp is accredited by the American Camp Association and offers a wide variety of summer camp experiences. Hale offers traditional camp as well as specialty camps, including Outdoor Adventures, Mountain Biking, and a Leaders In Training (LIT) program for teens. Children from pre-school to high school may attend. In addition, Hale offers the Hale Outdoor Learning Adventures (HOLA) program which brings Boston Public Schools students to experience camp with an educational focus. HOLA campers enjoy traditional camp activities such as archery, swimming, boating and ropes course challenges while also taking math, reading and English language arts lessons in Hale's outdoor classrooms. The HOLA program is part of a national study to assess and address the effects of summer learning loss.

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