In Pictures: Camp Barton
Soon to be Frontenac Falls State Park? A walk (well, hike) down memory lane.
New York State purchased Camp Barton in December 2024, giving local municipalities the opportunity to manage it. The Village of Trumansburg and the Towns of Covert and Ulysses formed the Three Falls Local Development Corporation (LDC) to ensure public access to the lake, and give visitors opportunities for recreation just up the road from the far larger Taughannock Falls State Park.
If you’re interested in weighing in on the future of this 93-acre site, you can participate in a survey (through October 17, 2025, I believe) that will help inform the site’s master plan.
My friend Dave reached out to ask if I wanted to explore the property before too much more of this beautiful weather evaporated. Dave and I both have a history with the camp, having been campers and then counselors (ironically, both Handicraft counselors, years apart). We explored the gorge, the rim, and hiked back down through the center of the property, taking pictures and sharing memories as we went.
Into the Archives
First, a little context. All it takes is a Google search for “Camp Barton” and you’ll find so many remembrances through photos and accounts of visitors. We’re in a drought now, so the photo below of Frontenac Falls is merely a trickle of its normal cascade. Here are a few of my personal pictures of time on the property.
Our Barton Hike
We started across Frontenac Creek where we were accustomed to using the swinging suspension bridge. Along with features like the Louis Agassiz Fuertes Arch, the totem pole in front of the dining hall, and the imposing climbing wall, it’s been removed. We scrambled across the dry outlet onto the trail, heading for the climbing wall building (erected after my time there) and the rifle and archery ranges.
The sign at the shooting range says “Ask Permission to Enter at Gate.” I distinctly remember this from being a camper: Me: Permission to enter? Counselor: (slowly spinning in chair to look at me from behind mirrored sunglasses) Permission granted.
We don’t recall shotgun being part of the curriculum, but there’s a pigeon skeet trap thrower there, along with signage and tomato can targets from years of practice. Comically hanging from a clothespin is a compact disc from MacAddict’s Feb 1998 issue, where one could find demos of Photoshop 4, PageMaker 6.5, Carmageddon, Sid Meier’s Civilization II, and most importantly, Internet access through EarthLink. Now it just has a bullet hole in it, though the shooter was probably aiming for the middle.
We headed up the creek bed to Frontenac Falls, finding a beautiful cascade and a lazy creek with plenty of rocks to hop.
We headed back to the dining hall, peering in the windows to see what we could see through one unshuttered window next to the porch. The totems lining the rafters seem to have been removed, but the sturdy picnic tables are all in place. We headed now up the rim trail, hugging the walls of the gorge we’d just hiked up.
The trail is breathtaking, with carpets of moss, wide views of the gorge, and later on, a postcard-perfect picture of Cayuga Lake.
We found our way back to the center of the property, coming first across Chase Lodge (not pictured) and then finding the main trail artery back to the base of the camp. There’s a good shot of one of the campsites behind the dining hall, along with the old shower building and some tent platforms slowly yielding to nature.
Next up, I peered in the windows of the Handicraft building, seeing the familiar pegboard with tool outlines that my hands likely touched many times. You can see a few other fun artifacts lying around, including a few in-progress birdhouses and a vintage PC and monitor in the rafters. I remember teaching woodworking, metalworking, leatherworking, and basketry in this space. On the end of the same building, the rolldown counter was the camp store. My guilty pleasure was massive frozen bars of Charleston Chew. So good on hot summer days!
Last but not least, I needed to head to the waterfront area. Sure, the lake is beautiful, but I had another reason to check it out: what we called the “swamp,” a small collection of cabins just behind the waterfront. I stayed there as a counselor at least one of the summers, and as a homesick kid who put up with bullying from other counselors there, the place doesn’t hold terribly positive memories. That summer I remember someone putting a dead fish on my pillow, but I also remember reading Stephen King’s IT (so that one’s on me).
And there you have it, that’s what Camp Barton looked like in late September 2025.
What will the future hold? When I filled out the survey, I wrote about some things that would really make the property attractive to visitors: a marina and boat launch, greater access to the lake, using the massive lawn for summer concerts, a maintained trail network for hiking and running, and infrastructure for events and celebrations. During our hike down the hill, I even remarked that some of the terrain was conducive to downhill skiing. It still gets cold enough here to make snow, after all.
Scott, thanks for the memories. I’m hopeful more access results in this purchase and even more memories made. I’m in the same row as you in the staff photo.