| Camp David Naval Support Facility Thurmont | |
|---|---|
| Catoctin Mountain Park Frederick County,Maryland in theUnited States | |
 The main lodge in 2012 | |
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| Site information | |
| Type | Presidential country retreat |
| Owner | Department of Defense |
| Operator | US Navy |
| Controlled by | Naval District Washington |
| Open to the public | No |
| Website | Official website |
| Location | |
  Camp David Location in Maryland Show map of Maryland Camp David Location in the United States Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates | 39°38′54″N77°27′54″W / 39.64833°N 77.46500°W /39.64833; -77.46500 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1935 (1935)–1938 |
| Built by | Works Progress Administration |
| In use | 1938–present |
| Events | Camp David Accords (1978) Camp David Summit (2000) 38th G8 summit (2012) |
| Garrison information | |
| Current commander | Commander Kimberly I. Mazur |
| Occupants | President of the United States and theFirst Family |
Camp David is a 125-acre (51-hectare) country retreat for thepresident of the United States. It lies in the wooded hills ofCatoctin Mountain Park, inFrederick County, Maryland, near the towns ofThurmont andEmmitsburg, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) north-northwest of the national capital city,Washington, D.C.[1][2][3] It is code-namedNaval Support Facility Thurmont. Technically a military installation, it is staffed primarily by theSeabees, theCivil Engineer Corps (CEC), theUnited States Navy, and theUnited States Marine Corps. Naval construction battalions are tasked with Camp David construction and send detachments as needed.
Originally known asHi-Catoctin, Camp David was built as a retreat for federal government agents and their families by theWorks Progress Administration.[4] Construction started in 1935 and was completed in 1938.[5] In 1942, PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt converted it to a presidential retreat and renamed it "Shangri-La", after thefictional Himalayan paradise.[4] Camp David received its present name in 1953 from PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower, in honor of his father and hisgrandson, both named David.[6]
The Catoctin Mountain Park does not indicate the location of Camp David on park maps due to privacy and security concerns,[3] although it can be seen through the use of publicly accessible satellite images, and is also viewable on certain public web mapping services likeGoogle Maps.
Camp David has been used to host privatediplomatic meetings with foreign leaders andheads of state since at leastWorld War II.Franklin D. Roosevelt hostedWinston Churchill at Shangri-La in May 1943, duringWorld War II.[7]Dwight Eisenhower held his first post heart-attack cabinet meeting there on November 22, 1955, following hospitalization and convalescence he required after a heart attack suffered inDenver, Colorado, on September 24.[8] Eisenhower metNikita Khrushchev there for two days of discussions in September 1959.[9]
John F. Kennedy and his family often enjoyed riding and other recreational activities there, and Kennedy often allowedWhite House staff and Cabinet members to use the retreat when he or his family were not there.[10]Lyndon B. Johnson met with advisors in this setting and hosted bothAustralian prime ministerHarold Holt andCanadian prime ministerLester B. Pearson there.[11]Richard Nixon was a frequent visitor. He personally directed the construction of a swimming pool and other improvements to Aspen Lodge.[12]Gerald Ford hostedIndonesian presidentSuharto at Camp David.[13]
Jimmy Carter initially favored closing Camp David in order to save money, but once he visited the retreat, he decided to keep it.[14] Carter brokered theCamp David Accords there in September 1978 betweenEgyptian presidentAnwar al-Sadat andIsraeli prime ministerMenachem Begin.[7]Ronald Reagan visited the retreat more than any other president.[15] In 1984, Reagan hostedBritish prime ministerMargaret Thatcher.[16] Reagan restored the nature trails that Nixon paved over so he could horseback ride at Camp David.[17]George H. W. Bush's daughter,Dorothy Bush Koch, was married there in 1992, in the first wedding held at Camp David.[18] During his tenure as president,Bill Clinton spent every Thanksgiving at Camp David with his family.[19] In July 2000, he hosted the2000 Camp David Summit negotiations between Israeli prime ministerEhud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairmanYasser Arafat there.[20][21]
In February 2001,George W. Bush held his first meeting with a European leader, British prime ministerTony Blair, at Camp David, to discuss missile defense, Iraq, and NATO.[22] After theSeptember 11 attacks, Bush held a Cabinet meeting at Camp David to prepare theUnited States invasion of Afghanistan.[23] During his two terms in office, Bush visited Camp David 149 times, for a total of 487 days, for hosting foreign visitors as well as a personal retreat.[24] He met Blair there four times.[24] Among the numerous other foreign leaders he hosted at Camp David[24] wereRussian presidentVladimir Putin[25][26] and PresidentMusharraf ofPakistan in 2003,[27]Danish prime ministerAnders Fogh Rasmussen in June 2006,[20] and British prime ministerGordon Brown in 2007.[28]
Barack Obama chose Camp David to host the38th G8 summit in 2012.[29] President Obama also hostedRussian prime ministerDmitry Medvedev at Camp David,[30] as well as theGCC Summit there in 2015.[31]
Donald Trump hosted Senate majority leaderMitch McConnell and Speaker of the HousePaul Ryan at Camp David while theRepublican Party prepared to defend both houses of Congress in the2018 midterm elections.[32] Trump also planned to meet with theTaliban at Camp David to negotiatea peace agreement in 2019, but refrained aftera suicide bombing in Kabul killed US troops.[33][34] The46th G7 summit was to be held at Camp David on June 10–12, 2020, but was cancelled due to health concerns during what was at the time considered the height of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[35]
Joe Biden hosted the U.S.–Japan–Korea Summit with Japanese prime ministerFumio Kishida and South Korean presidentYoon Suk Yeol at Camp David in August 2023, resulting in the declaration of theCamp David Principles on trilateral relations between the U.S., Japan, and South Korea.[36]
| President | No. of visits | Years in office |
|---|---|---|
| Roosevelt | Unknown | 1933–1945 |
| Truman | 10 | 1945–1953 |
| Eisenhower | 45 | 1953–1961 |
| Kennedy | 19 | 1961–1963 |
| Johnson | 30 | 1963–1969 |
| Nixon | 160 | 1969–1974 |
| Ford | 29 | 1974–1977 |
| Carter | 99 | 1977–1981 |
| Reagan | 189 | 1981–1989 |
| G. H. W. Bush | 124 | 1989–1993 |
| Clinton | 60 | 1993–2001 |
| G. W. Bush | 150 | 2001–2009 |
| Obama | 39 | 2009–2017 |
| Trump | 15 (first term) | 2017–2021 |
| 1 (second term)[37] | 2025–present | |
| Biden | 39 | 2021–2025 |
To be able to play his favorite sport, President Eisenhower had golf course architectRobert Trent Jones design a practice golf facility at Camp David. Around 1954, Jones built one golf hole—a par 3—with four different tees; Eisenhower added a 250-yard (230 m) driving range near the helicopter landing zone.[38]
On July 2, 2011, anF-15 intercepted a civilian aircraft approximately 6 miles (10 km) from Camp David, whenPresident Obama was in the residence. The two-seater, which was out of radio communication, was escorted to nearbyHagerstown, Maryland, without incident.[39]
On July 10, 2011, an F-15 intercepted another small plane near Camp David when Obama was again in the residence; a total of three were intercepted that weekend.[40]
Officially a U.S. Navy installation, the facility was originally built by the Works Progress Administration as a camp for government employees, opening in 1938. President Franklin D. Roosevelt took it over in a few years and named it "Shangri-La," for the mountain kingdom in Lost Horizon, the 1933 novel by James Hilton. It was renamed in 1953 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in honor of his then-five-year-old grandson, Dwight David Eisenhower II.
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