The Ashokan Foundation

Ashokan has long been known as a place where people reconnect with nature and with one another through shared experiences in outdoor education, living history and the arts. It is a timeless sanctuary where people can rediscover the beauty and values that much of our modern world has left behind.

Ashokan, a pioneer in the world of outdoor education, has run outdoor/environmental ed and living history programs for school groups since 1967. About 5,000 children attend these programs each year, and many organizations and retreat groups such as Fiddle & Dance Camps, Summersongs, Wayfinders and the Northeast Herbal Association, also call Ashokan their home.

Ashokan was a Field Campus of SUNY New Paltz from the 1960s till May of 2008. When the Field Campus came up for sale, the Ashokan Foundation, Inc., a tax exempt, non-profit organization, was formed to preserve the property, continue the programs, develop a new vision for the future combining nature, history and the arts and to rebuild the camp as a model of sustainable/energy efficient operation and design. The Ashokan Foundation has joined together with the Open Space Institute and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection to make these goals a reality.