Real Estate

Berkshires camp that inspired ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ can be yours for $3.5 million

“Wet Hot American Summer” star and co-writer Michael Showalter used his own summer camp experiences as the basis for the cult-classic 2001 comedy.

By Abby Patkin

April 25, 2024

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Ah, summer camp: a quintessential blur of friendship bracelets, campfires, mosquito bites, and a healthy dose of Paul Rudd.

OK, that last part may only be true if you attended Camp Firewood, the fictional summer getaway from Rudd’s 2001 cult-classic comedy “Wet Hot American Summer.” And while getting your hands on the “Ant-Man” actor may prove difficult, the rest of Camp Firewood — at least, the real-life camp that inspired it — can be yours for $3.5 million. 

That’s the asking price for Camp Mohawk in the Berkshires, where “Wet Hot American Summer” star and co-writer Michael Showalter spent some formative summers of his own. He and co-writer David Wain, an alumnus of Maine’s Camp Modin, drew on their own experiences when crafting Camp Firewood. 

As Showalter told The New York Times in 2001, “Both of our camps were very ‘Meatballs’-esque camps, where you did nothing but play softball and…” 

“…try to make out,” Wain added.

After winding down operations in 2017, Camp Mohawk is now on the market, as The Berkshire Eagle first reported. Located at 350 Old Cheshire Road in Lanesborough, the 102-acre property recently saw a $2 million price drop.

And Lisa Bouchard Hoe, vice president and principal broker of TKG Real Estate, said prospective buyers are starting to surface.

“We’ve been getting a lot of calls, finally, with the new price drop,” she told Boston.com. “I think it’s getting to a price where people can really see the value.”

The property has plenty of historic charm, with a handful of American Revolution-era buildings that date back to its time as the Pettibone Farm. (The summer camp came much later, in 1946.) 

Other selling points include a lack of development surrounding the property, as well as roughly a mile of waterfront on a “pristine” lake in the heart of the Berkshires, according to Bouchard Hoe. 

“It’s an amazing sort of unspoiled opportunity, I think,” she said. “I would say it’s just an opportunity waiting for the right developer.”

The potential for outdoor activities like swimming, biking, and boating is another plus. 

“It’s pretty rare to find any lakefront property this large in the Berkshires,” Bouchard Hoe said. “It’s just unheard of, really.”

Communities further south in the Berkshires offer a wealth of high-end spas, wellness centers, and cultural venues, but the area around Camp Mohawk is ripe for development, according to Bouchard Hoe. 

If developed, the property “could be a lot of different things,” she said. “It could be a resort, it could be luxury homes, it could be condos, it could be affordable housing. It could be pretty much anything, but it sort of lends itself to a hospitality venue.” 

While the natural surroundings and large acreage give the property a feeling of peaceful seclusion, Camp Mohawk’s proximity to Route 7 makes it fairly easy to get around.

After all, “It’s always fun to get away from camp, even for an hour.”