Camp Natoma has been a summer tradition on the Central Coast for generations. Since 1941, campers have spent summers sleeping under the stars, rock-hopping through Franklin creek and singing silly camp songs.
This year, they are celebrating their 85th Anniversary and they invite the community to join them. They are hosting a very special Family Camp on June 13 and 14, filled with all of the favorite summer camp activities, as well as treasured time to reflect and share stories. Friends of Camp Natoma Board President Miranda Thompson says, “We are so excited to welcome alumni, campers and friends and family of Natoma back to the camp of our dreams!” Whether five or eighty-five, whether the Camp was visited once or one hundred times, they invite you to come sing around the campfire and sleep under the stars, surrounded by friends at Camp Natoma.
Camp Natoma was founded in 1941 when the Natoma Council of Camp Fire Girls purchased 200 acres in the Adelaide district west of Paso Robles. The first summer, under Director Gladys Cooper, campers ate all of their meals outside, fished in the creek, and swam in a swimming hole created by a sandbag dam.
Over the years, volunteers and staff have spent countless hours transforming Camp Natoma into a lasting fixture of summer fun on the Central Coast. They built a burlap-covered dining hall and a dam in the creek for a swimming hole, cleared brush for campsites, improved the road, and even built a gravity-fed water system. Eventually, an adjacent 160 acres with a spring were purchased. Over the years, some permanent improvements have been made to the site, however the camp remains rustic and embedded in nature. Campers and staff now enjoy a permanent dining hall with a full kitchen with electricity, and a few flushing toilets. A 25-yard swimming pool was completed in 1971 and, in 2004, a twisting enclosed water slide was added.