This summer, the Ad Building will be re-named The Avie Avedesian Welcome Center.  Built in the early 1950’s, this building has been home to a variety of Camp Fuller work places.  A camp store, administrative offices, staff lounge, mail and package center, and a place to go when you were not sure where else to go.  It also housed boxes and boxes of archival material from long-ago summers.  Tucked away for a rainy day and eluding us for years, the discovery of those boxes and what they contained lead to the formation of The Camp Fuller Archive Project.  Once sorted, organized, and archived, a small group of volunteers soon came to understand the importance of what was contained inside this building… the history of Camp Fuller hidden in old photos, documents, song books, Camp memorabilia, and yearbooks, to name a few.

For years, this iconic building just past the Camp Fuller gate had been referred to simply as The Ad Building.  In 2002, the building was dedicated and named in honor of Avedis “Avie” Avedesian and became known as the Avie Avedesian Office Building.   And now, once again, the building gets a new look and purpose as the official welcome center of Camp Fuller and has been re-named “The Avie Avedesian Welcome Center”.

This re-make grew from an idea that people who came to Fuller for the first time needed a place to stop before continuing on their journey around Camp.  We also wanted a place where people could get a sense of the history of Camp Fuller through pictures, memorabilia displays and a welcome video.  Fresh paint, large posters on the walls depicting a chronology of Fuller’s history, period furniture, a branded floor rug, display cases, and a refurbished and now-working fireplace have all transformed the building into a comfortable place for visitors, guests and first-time campers and their families.  Our hope is that this new space will offer a big handshake, just like Avie’s, and truly welcome people to this special place.

Take a Virtual Tour of the Welcome Center

If you cannot make it to Camp Fuller in person, please join us on a virtual tour of the Avie Avedesian Welcome Center via these links:

Plan a Visit

If you have not been to Camp Fuller recently, please stop by to chat, tour the grounds and re-live some of your old memories while you visit.  Please call the camp office first if you plan to visit:  401-783-5359.

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