1930s–1957 Pinemere Camp began operations in the 1930s. A lake for swimming and boating was built. Subsequently, the Philadelphia
Jewish Welfare Board purchased the camp. American interior designer and former daytime television host
Nate Berkus's grandparents met at the camp, where his grandfather was the water sports director.
1958–99 From 1958 to 1999, Robert H. Miner was Pinemere Camp's director, leading more than 15,000 campers and young counselors. In 1980, it formed the Pinemere Alumni Association. In 1988, it dedicated its new Pinemere Indoor Facility. In 1991, Stephen H. Holden, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey, attorney, was elected president of the Pinemere Camp Association. In 1995, the camp had 205 campers. In 2008, 18 campers who attended Pinemere did so with a
grant from the Overnight Camp Incentive Program, a program designed to attract new campers to
Jewish identity-building camps. It is a joint project of the Philadelphia-based Neubauer Family Foundation, the
Foundation for Jewish Camp, and the
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. The program provided grants for campers in amounts ranging from $750 to $1,250. In 2008, Toby Ayash became executive director; a position she held for five years. Pinemere began offering three-day sports clinics in basketball, tennis, baseball, softball, football, soccer, golf, horseback riding, lacrosse, field hockey, and wilderness survival. It brought in the full-time Athletic Director of the
Pocono Mountain East High School so campers could work on sports drills. The clinics are taught by professional coaches; the golf clinic is taught by a
PGA-certified coach, and the one-day basketball clinic known as the Sixers Summer Hoops Tour is run by the
Philadelphia 76ers, with visits by 76ers legends. In the summer of 2012, two dozen Jewish teenagers from Germany attended Pinemere Camp in an arrangement with the
Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland (the Central Council of Jews in Germany), the umbrella organization of Germany’s Jewish communities. In December 2012, two dozen American Pinemere campers joined their German counterparts in the ski village of Fürstenhof in
Natz in the
Italian Alps. In 2013 Mitch Morgan was hired as Executive Director, and successfully led Pinemere for 8 years. In 2021 Eytan Graubart was hired as Executive Director. Pinemere Camp has 250-300 campers and 100-150 staff every session. About half of the campers are from the Philadelphia area, and the rest come from communities all around North America. In addition to many former campers, Pinemere’s staff includes a large delegation from Israel and representatives from around the world. ==Today==