Mason is one of the oldest continuously operating youth camp in the world. We started in 1900, as Camp Washington, owned by the Trenton/Mercer County YMCA. A few years later, we moved to an island in the Delaware River and changed our name to Camp Wilson. After a flood destroyed the site in 1955 we moved to our current location and rebuild as "Central New Jersey Y camps".

Here we became an "independent Y association" serving children from all geographic areas. In the 1980's the camp's name was changed to Camp Ralph S. Mason to honor the man who was instrumental in rebuilding camp after the flood, and served as the volunteer Chairman of the Board of Directors for 34 years!

Each year we host nearly 1000 campers in our summer camping programs as well as over 13,000 in our outdoor center . These "non-summer" campers come from over 120 different schools, groups and other organizations who use our facility for environmental education, outdoor education, outdoor recreation, retreats and groups getaways.

One of the best ways to discover what our organization is all about is learning about our Mission. Our Mission is our “map” for how we operate all our programs. Like any great journey, it helps to have good directions! For more information on our mission please click here.