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About Us | Our History

In the early 1900’s, the Likes Family owned property on the Mayo Peninsula directly on the Chesapeake Bay. The Likes family eventually sold portions of the property to St. Rose’s Technical School of The District of Columbia and to the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s. This property would eventually become the location for Camp Wabanna.

In 1941, a man named Reverend William A. Emmans, pastor of Maryland Avenue Baptist Church, had a vision to start a Christian summer camp for children.

He and his wife sold their summer cottage in order to purchase a property with 10 log cabins and a lodge called “Callawasse” on the Rhode River. Naming the camp after the three main geographical areas that Rev. Emmans sought to serve; Washington, Baltimore, and Annapolis; Camp Wabanna was founded. After a number of successful summers, Rev. Emmans purchased what is the current Wabanna property in 1953 from the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s for a total cost of $135,000 and an initial down payment of $10.

Camp Wabanna is situated on 23 acres on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Rhode and West rivers. When first purchased, the property included the main Lodge (still standing, known as The Emmans Lodge) and 5 other buildings. Campers came summer after summer to Camp Wabanna where the gospel was proclaimed and lives were changed.

After more than 50 years of summer campers, Camp Wabanna expanded to a year-round ministry, serving retreat guests outside of the summer months. Today, we are blessed to have a full retreat center that runs 9 months out of the year and a camp program that serves 1,700+ campers over the course of 8 weeks every summer. To God be the glory!