Calleva is the largest

outdoor education Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey wilderness-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges and ou ...

organization in

Central Maryland The Baltimore–Columbia–Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Central Maryland, is a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in Maryland as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As of the 2010 Census, t ...

, United States, established to provide outdoor

team building Team building is a collective term for various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within teams, often involving collaborative tasks. It is distinct from team training, which is designed by a combine of business ...

opportunities for groups such as schools and companies, and to take groups of individuals on excursions throughout

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

, and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

History

Calleva was owned by Nick, Alex and Matt Markoff, whose family was involved in the

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer summer vacation, months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part ...

business for generations. In the fall of 1993, in order to raise capital, they held the first ever Markoff's Haunted Forest. Camp Calleva began in the summer of 1994. In 1998 the first ever Calleva Challenge was held, a

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

of sorts on the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Datas ...

. This was later renamed the Potomac Challenge in 1999. They also offer the Calleva Ski Club during the winter, and the LIT (Leadership in Training) program during the summer.

Locations

Calleva offers programming across four locations including: *

Riley's Lock Riley's Lock (Lock 24) and lock house are part of the 184.5-mile (296.9 km) Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (a.k.a. C&O Canal) that operated in the United States along the Potomac River from the 1830s through 1923. They are located at towpat ...

, in

Poolesville, Maryland Poolesville is a U.S. town in the western portion of Montgomery County, Maryland. The population was 5,742 at the 2020 United States Census. It is surrounded by (but is technically not part of) the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, and is ...

is the hub-location for Camp Calleva. It is adjacent to the

and the

C&O Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Potomac Canal, w ...

. *Markoff's Farm, a farm, in

Dickerson, Maryland Dickerson is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland. It is on Maryland Route 28, between Sugarloaf Mountain and the Potomac River. It is a community near the town of Poolesville, Maryland. Dickerson is . History Dickerson was ...

is home to Markoff's Haunted Forest, and CEEP (Calleva Equestrian Educational Programming) horseback riding, and Calleva's

agricultural tourism Agritourism or agrotourism involves any agriculturally based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch. Types A 2018 article published in the ''Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development'' classified a ...

program. *Seneca Barn in

Darnestown, Maryland Darnestown is a United States census-designated place (CDP) and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland. The CDP is with the Potomac River as its southern border and the Muddy Branch as much of its eastern border. Seneca Creek b ...

*Adventure Island, Calleva's private island in the Potomac River.

References

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External links

Calleva
Camping in the United States Summer camps in Maryland Summer camps in Virginia Outdoor education organizations Educational organizations based in the United States