Located just one hour northwest of Columbus, YMCA Camp Willson, otherwise dubbed as the ‘500 Acre Memory Maker’ is centered around a natural spring fed lake (Lake Mac-O-Chee) formed during the glacial period in Ohio 14,000 years ago. In 1918, the YMCA of Central Ohio, then the Metropolitan YMCA of Columbus, decided to use the property as a boys camp named Camp Bailey. It wasn’t until 1921 that the camp was renamed YMCA Camp Willson after Columbus carriage maker Alfred L. Willson, whose gift of $20,000 made the purchase of the first 135 acres of the property possible.

Since then, Camp Willson expanded multiple times, aquired a farm, horses and built multiple cabins that still stand today. Although many things have change over the last 100 years, one notion has remained the same: Camp Willson’s dedication to providing an unparalleled overnight camp experience that will stay with campers for a lifetime.