Staff at Camp Schlueter, 1955
Courtesy of Trinity Church Parish

New York City’s Trinity Church Parish relocated its summer camp, St. Luke’s, from Long Island to West Cornwall in 1918. The vicar of St. Luke’s Chapel, Rev. Edward Henry Schlueter, had purchased a 350-acre farm in West Cornwall a few years earlier.

The camp accommodated 53 city boys during its first year in West Cornwall, growing to more than 100 in subsequent years. Each camper typically stayed for only a few weeks.

Archery at Camp Schlueter, 1960s
Courtesy of Trinity Church Parish

Campers canoeing on the Housatonic River, 1960s
Courtesy of Trinity Church Parish

Manhattan’s Boy Scout Troop 127 spent two weeks at the camp every summer. During holidays such as Labor Day weekend and Christmas, the camp was co-ed, with girls staying in the farm house and boys at the cottage. In 1921, the summer program was divided—boys were at the camp during the first half of the summer, girls during the second half.

Rev. Schlueter retired from the parish in 1945 and sold his farm to Trinity Church. The camp continued operation, renamed Camp Schlueter.

In 1954, the parish expanded the camp to include a year-round conference center and retreat.

Camp Schlueter staff and swimming pool, 1960s
Courtesy of Trinity Church Parish

Campers, 1980s
Courtesy of Trinity Church Parish

In 1961, the Parish opened Trinity Mountain Camp for girls in Sharon.

The girls’ camp in Sharon was merged with the boys’ camp in West Cornwall in 1975. The co-ed West Cornwall summer camp offered physical, cultural, and religious education.

The camp was gradually phased out, and the property continued to operate as a conference center until November, 2012.

The closure of the Trinity Conference Center was announced in May, 2012.

19th century farm house, the original building for the camp
Courtesy of Trinity Church Parish