Easter Seals Camp Fairlee , located about seven miles from
Chestertown, is celebrating its 60th year of operation in 2014. The camp site was a gift in 1953 to the Easter
Seals Society by duPont heiress and philanthropist Mrs. Louisa d’A.
Carpenter. The Camp offers children and adults with
disabilities a fun and accessible camp experience.
“Fare Lee Manor”, which is
today spelled “Fairlee” Manor, and which is where Easter Seals Camp Fairlee
Manor is located, is part of a 1900 acre
tract of land laid out in 1674 for “James Brown, merchant, formerly of New
England.” “Fare Lee” or “Handy” are the
historic names of the farm. The Fairlee
Manor House, now part of the Camp, is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places. Michael Owen Bourne
writes in HISTORIC HOUSES OF KENT COUNTY (1998) : “Little is yet known of this part of the
property for its first 125 years, but it was acquired by Philip and Jane Taylor
in the late 18th century. The
Taylors had only one daughter, Mary Ann, who married William Blackiston Wilmer
in 1816. Shortly thereafter, Philip
bequeathed the farm to his daughter and on that 212 acre inheritance Mary Ann
and William Blackiston Wilmer built the main house….William and Mary Anne’s
daughter, Sarah Ann, married George D. S. Handy , Jr. in 1847. Handy was brought up two miles north of
Fairlee Creek on a farm called Green Hill or Handy Point, on part of Great Oak
Manor. The Handys lived in Baltimore,
where he was a prominent physician. Dr.
Handy purchased the farm from his widowed mother-in-law in 1859…” In 1867 Handy
transferred the farm to his wife. Then
in 1880, Sarah Handy sold it out of the family.
It passed through seven owners until 1936 when it was purchased by
Frances B. Jackson, a woman from Elkhorn, Wisconsin…After Mrs. Jackson’s
occupancy, the farm was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Heckscher for five years
before being purchased by Mrs.. Carpenter in 1953.
Mrs. Carpenter owned the farm for seven years and then moved to
Springfield Farm three miles south. At
that time she gave Fairlee Manor to the Easter Seals Society who created Easter
Seals Camp Fairlee Manor.
A cookbook called the Fairlee Manor Cookbook was published in 1976. The proceeds were used to make improvements
to the Camp. It was dedicated to the
memory of Mrs. Louisa d’A. Carpenter, who met her untimely death in an airplane
crash in Easton, Maryland that same year. The Dedication from the book reads: “THE FAIRLEE MANOR COOKBOOK is dedicated to the
memory of Mrs. Louisa d’A. Carpenter who
made a reality of Easter Seals Camp Fairlee Manor by her gift of the 263 acre
campsite. This dedication is in grateful
acknowledgment of her generosity and her continued support of the improvement
and expansion of camp facilities.” The Cookbook includes recipes from Mrs.
Gerald R. Ford, wife of the President of
the United States; Mrs. Marvin
Mandel, wife of the Governor of Maryland; The Duchess of Windsor; Actresses Carol
Burnett and Vivian Vance; and actors Bob Hope and Red Skelton.
“Camp Fairlee is the only
camp in the region that provides a residential camp experience for children and
adults with disabilities year-round. Camp Fairlee offers week-long camp
sessions in the summer, Travel Trips throughout the year and weekend
respite/retreat programs from August through May.” (From the Fairlee Manor Camp
website).
