Keeping Wildwood Wild
Aurora, a 12-year-old camper who just enjoyed her first summer at Mass Audubon’s Wildwood Overnight Camp, said: “I love the smell of air here, I love the color of the trees, I love everything about Wildwood.”
Each summer, Wildwood, located in Rindge, NH, sets the scene for campers to make lifelong memories, from jumping off the dock into refreshing lake water to observing the site’s salamanders and birds to building confidence on the ropes course, and so much more.
Wildwood will continue to be the oasis campers love for years to come, now that the last developable parcel abutting the camp property is permanently protected.
Founded in 1950 and originally located at Mass Audubon’s Cooks Canyon Wildlife Sanctuary in Barre, MA, Wildwood moved to the Rindge property in 2000 when Mass Audubon purchased the camp property from the Cambridge Boy Scout Council.
With substantial frontage on picturesque Hubbard Pond, neighboring Annett State Forest to the north, and a conservation easement granted to the State of New Hampshire that limited the future development of the land to camp-related purposes, it was an appealing location for a residential summer camp.
Located on the eastern border, Robbins Farm, a property that has mostly produced hay over the last few years, with very little impact on Wildwood. Despite its quiet presence to the camp, it was always an attractive piece of land to potential developers, due to its extensive road frontage on Old New Ipswich Road, gentle topography, rolling open fields, and views of Mount Monadnock.
Over the years, Mass Audubon’s land conservation staff kept a diligent eye on the land, attempting to purchase it outright or acquire a conservation easement to ensure no future development could threaten the Wildwood experience—but for years their efforts were to no avail.
When a new owner took title in the fall of 2024, Mass Audubon's land protection team wasted no time in reaching out. We were able to reach an agreement with our new neighbor to purchase a conservation easement on 60 acres of land, protecting the entire shared boundary. The transaction was completed in March 2026, and now the Robbins Farm easement has joined Mass Audubon’s portfolio of more than 140 conservation easements.
“That is what we're trying to do with our land protection program,” says Mass Audubon Senior Director of Land Conservation David Santomenna. “Protect land with strong biodiversity values and build on existing blocks of protected land.”
With the land abutting Wildwood now protected, campers like Aurora can rest easy knowing that the bucolic setting that makes camp such a special place will never be disturbed.
Discover the wonders of Wildwood Overnight Camp and get ready for Summer 2027 today.
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