Maybe you’ve been driving down a Vineyard road on a summer day, mind wandering, when a big red bus with the word “Jabberwocky” painted on the front comes trundling along, raucous singing and laughter emanating from the open windows. Or maybe you’ve encountered Camp Jabberwocky campers and counselors in Edgartown’s annual Fourth of July parade dressed as a group of Olympians lifting foam dumbbells or a herd of gazelles in the Sahara. 

But when was the last time you read “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, the poem that serves as the namesake for the beloved Island camp that hosts children and adults with disabilities? Caitlin Lamb, summer camp co-director and granddaughter of the founder, Helen Lamb, knows the poem inside and out. 

During a recent interview, Lamb, who is something of a torch bearer for the camp and its values, pulled out a T-shirt that had the seemingly nonsensical poem printed on it. “’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe –” she began reading. “‘Brillig’ is teatime,” she explained, and slithy toves, or badger-lizard hybrids, dig in the grass. Then there are borogoves (birds) and mome raths (green pigs). It’s teatime and everyone is simply going about their business, she said. 

In other words, the first stanza sets the scene. It’s an average day. Picture that Vineyard road before the red bus comes into view. But then the poem continues: a boy arrives and he has to fight a monster.

“This dad says, ‘beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch,’” Lamb read. In the poem, the boy pulls out his sword and bravely fights this scary thing until it’s been slayed. Does he then present its severed head to a cheering crowd? Do folks applaud and praise him for fighting this demon? No. The poem ends as it starts, Lamb explained. The last stanza is the same as the first. ’Twas again simply brillig.

The connection: Camp Jabberwocky – like in the poem – is a place where what some might call miracles are common. Of course, campers overcome unimaginable challenges on an average day. Of course, people who use a wheelchair can soar through the air on stage during a play – and even soar above the Island in a red biplane. Of course, the camp continues on decade after decade. There’s no second thought. That’s the point. 

But pulling off these everyday miracles does take some serious effort. “I always wake up after the first day and feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,” Lamb said. “You have never worked this hard or this long.”

This year marks the camp’s seventy-third summer and comes with some recent staffing changes. One executive director left in 2022 and another left the following year. In the fall of 2023, Gabi Cortez, who has been with Jabberwocky since 2016, was named director of camp. And, in early 2024, Hilary Dreyer was brought on as the new executive director. 

While much remains to be seen, those on the inside who spoke with the magazine said that the years of transition now appear to be in the rear-view mirror. They have faith in the new leadership and high hopes for what’s to come as the organization honors its legacy and prepares for the next seven decades.

***

Camp Jabberwocky began with a simple premise. Founder Helen “Hellcat” Lamb was a speech therapist living and working at the Fall River Cerebral Palsy Training Center in the 1950s when she had an idea. At the time, people with disabilities were often hidden away. As Island historian Tom Dunlop wrote in Hellcat’s 2011 obituary in the Vineyard Gazette, the children she worked with were often shuttered inside dark, three-story walk-ups with little access to the outdoors. She wanted to bring them out into the fresh air. 

Hellcat had a deep connection with the Island since she was a child. In 1953, she and her first counselor, Ursula Dittami, a sixteen-year-old high school student, brought sixteen campers to Happy Days, a small cottage in the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs owned by Hellcat’s sister, May Southworth Davies. The next year, the 4-H Club let the camp use its clubhouse on New York Avenue in Oak Bluffs. Camp continued there for several summers until 1965, when Grace Episcopal Church gave the camp eight acres in Vineyard Haven for a larger, permanent home. That same year, the name “Jabberwocky” was first used by Hellcat’s son John due to the family’s appreciation of the works of Lewis Carroll. According to Clark Hanjian’s book Jabberwocky: A Brief History of Martha’s Vineyard Cerebral Palsy Camp (Polyspire, 1989), in 1967, the camp assumed control of Camp Freedom, a Vineyard program for adults run by the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation.

Today, Camp Jabberwocky attracts attendees from across the country, with many returning year after year. The model has inspired other camps, including Tulgey Wood on Nantucket, Zeno Mountain Farm in Vermont, and The Wabe of Whidbey Island in Washington state. It also inspired a 2020 feature film called Best Summer Ever.  

Each year, Camp Jabberwocky runs both a family camp and summer camp. The former includes parents and children together and runs in three weekend-long sessions. The latter runs from late June to late August and is broken up into four sessions. During camp, both counselors and campers live on-site in cabins named after parts of the Lewis Carroll universe.

The daily schedule is packed. Depending on the session, campers may play drums on the beach with Island musician Rick Bausman or visit the annual Agricultural Fair in West Tisbury. They may go horseback riding, kayaking, biking, fishing, or windsurfing. They attend art classes, karaoke nights, and barbecues. On rare quiet evenings, campers can sometimes be found lying on their backs, looking for shooting stars. 

In total, about 160 campers attended last year. Many have cerebral palsy (Camp Jabberwocky’s official title is Martha’s Vineyard Cerebral Palsy Camp). Some have Down syndrome, autism, spina bifida, or other conditions. When camp first started, the cost to attend was $15. Over the years, the $15 became pay-what-you-can and now, thanks to fundraising, camp is free. The executive staff, which also includes summer camp co-director Avis Nora Olsen, is paid, but counselors and other volunteers are not – the majority of those working at camp are simply there because they want to be. Dreyer said that this summer they were expecting thirty-four new and eighty-eight returning counselors. 

The same joy that brings volunteer counselors to camp was a beacon that attracted Dreyer. “From growing up here, seeing the big red bus drive down the road – I just immediately had the biggest smile on my face,” she said.

Prior to joining the camp, Dreyer spent several years working for community initiatives. She helped run The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival for eight years. “Part of what I loved about film festivals is gathering people,” she said. “And it was also about ‘Who’s not at the table?’ or ‘Whose voices aren’t telling stories that should be telling stories?’”

She then spent a few years with the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation, helping Island nonprofits access grant funding. This gave her experience behind the scenes on how nonprofits operate. But she was eventually ready for change, just as Camp Jabberwocky was undergoing its own. 

In 2022, former executive director Liza Gallagher stepped down after more than a decade at the helm. Her departure came after two session directors and some counselors were dismissed earlier that year. Adam Perry, who came to the Island in 2023 with nonprofit experience in Minnesota, was hired to replace her, but resigned that same year. Many of those who spoke with the magazine acknowledged that the camp was in a state of flux during this time but didn’t want to elaborate on the specifics.

Following this period of instability, Cortez brought her previous experience with counselor and volunteer orientation to her new position of director of camp. Like Dreyer, last year was her first season in the new position. The two of them are Jabberwocky’s only full-time, year-round staff members and manage the overall vision together. Dreyer said she keeps an eye on the big picture, asking “What do we need to prioritize? What do we need to be pushing for long term, while keeping the whole organization stable and healthy?” One of Dreyer’s main goals going forward is “having campers and volunteers feel the same amount of love towards this place that they do right now.” Meanwhile, Cortez manages scheduling, logistics, and other crucial details. 

While there will undoubtedly be time in the future for more big dreaming, last year Dreyer and Cortez concentrated on planning for their first summer and getting up to speed.

At one point before the 2024 season started, Lamb told Dreyer that they were having a video call with a camper’s parents to hear their thoughts and receive feedback before the next summer. Dreyer wanted in. They met with the parents and then the staff stayed on after the call was over to discuss what they had heard. Seeing the other staff members interact so thoughtfully with the parents helped Dreyer understand what Camp Jabberwocky is all about. 

“She just said, ‘Okay, I totally get it,’” Lamb recounted. This moment was a relief to Lamb, who said that it can be nerve-wracking to bring in a new person. In that moment, she trusted Dreyer would value the place the same way she did.

Dreyer’s eagerness to listen was also apparent a few weeks later when it was time for counselor orientation, a process that both new and returning counselors participate in. She went through the process as if she were a volunteer too. “I’ve just been trying to learn as much as I possibly can,” she said. 

That humble approach spoke volumes for counselor Emily Begley, a student at Bridgewater State University majoring in severe special education, who has been volunteering at Camp Jabberwocky for three years. “I’ve had a different director each year,” Begley said. Dreyer, she said, “was just like a fresh set of eyes and ears to listen.”

***

Everyone familiar with the camp has a favorite moment or memory. For some, it’s watching the arriving campers waving from the ferry as it pulls into Vineyard Haven Harbor. For others, it was the annual musical production, a madcap mixtape of a show where characters from different stories intermingled to hilarious and moving effect. 

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the small miracle of the Camp Jabberwocky musical has been on hiatus with no immediate plans to bring it back. In its place has been something called “studio night,” an open-mic-style talent show. Even in this more casual setting, Dreyer had a best-of-the-summer, this-is-why-I’m-here moment. A camper named Myles Cabbagestalk had written a poem called “Who I am…” That night, he took to the stage and read, in part, “Who I am is not something to walk away from / Who I am is not something to be scared of / Who I am is accomplished / Who I am is faithful / Who I am is enough just the way I am.”   

“I was like, this is exactly it,” Dreyer said. They were able to give him and other campers “a stage and a microphone and a room full of really eager and excited community members to share in this moment.”

This past summer was, as always, an all-hands-on-deck, nonstop whirlwind. For varying lengths of time, everyone lives together on campus. (Dreyer’s large dog, Potato, included.) They eat breakfast in the dining hall and then there are classes on campus, which could be counselor-led, camper-led, or visiting-artist-led. Next comes lunch, usually followed by an off-campus activity, then back to campus for dinner. After that, there’s often a nighttime activity too, such as a live music performance or a movie at the drive-in in Oak Bluffs. But despite the schedule, no two days are ever the same, and some present unforeseen challenges. Lamb recounted that, after one difficult day, Dreyer texted the staff and told them to look out their back doors. There, on their stoops, were fresh flowers that she’d left.

Amanda Kram, a longtime camper, was happy to see Dreyer in her new position. She and Dreyer attended the West Tisbury Elementary School and the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School together. When asked to describe Dreyer, their relationship was top of mind. “She’s friends with me,” Kram said.

Both Dreyer and Cortez said that these relationships with the campers are a central focus. Every decision is made with the campers in mind, including any changes. Like Cortez, Dreyer’s goals for the future mostly revolve around maintaining what’s worked so well at Jabberwocky for decades. During her first summer, she wanted to absorb as much as she could, she said.

 Looking ahead, Dreyer has some ideas about Island partnerships, including potentially welcoming other nonprofits into their space during the off-season, she said. But mainly, the idea is to keep calm and carry on. “This is a rare place filled with an incredible community. And I take it really seriously, the big responsibility to not only sustain it, but to help it continue to thrive.” 

She stressed again and again that she could never do it alone. “Jabberwocky is only possible because of everyone else that helps,” Dreyer said. “My role is to make sure that everyone can be here and do that.”

Although the summer is when the magic happens, the rest of the year is for thinking and planning. On a cold, rainy day this past winter, Dreyer and Potato walked around campus checking in on the facilities. Preparations for the 2025 season had already begun and she pointed out the places where campers and counselors would gather come summertime. She took a moment to reminisce about the previous season, and the goodbyes that came at the end. “I had a camper…who, when she was leaving, was like, ‘This is where I feel free.’” Dreyer put a hand over her heart and seemed to grow emotional while remembering the moment. 

She hopes that everyone who comes to camp can carry on that sense of limitlessness, she said. Her wish for both campers and counselors: “Take everything you learned here, everything you felt here, and take it with you.”

For her part, Lamb is proud of the progress of the past few seasons. “I think camp is in a really beautiful spot right now,” she said, while acknowledging the “ocean of people” that have supported Jabberwocky. 

When asked what Hellcat would say if she was around to see how Camp Jabberwocky had continued to flourish, Lamb laughed. Her grandmother wouldn’t be surprised. “She’d say: ‘Of course you’re doing it, Caitlin,’” Lamb said. “She wasn’t going to be like, ‘Oh, my God, this is amazing.’ She’d be like, ‘Yeah, I did a cool thing. You keep doing it.’” 

In other words, camp might seem miraculous to those who see the red bus drive by, but to those on the inside, it’s just how life should be: simply brillig.