New York

Set on a pine-rimmed lake in the Adirondacks, this historic great camp has modern East Coast hospitality down. The four main structures on the seventy-five-acre property are all original, built over a century ago by the Rockefeller family to create a private, rough-it-in-style getaway in the woods. These days, the resort is as private and rustic as ever, with plenty of luxe upgrades throughout. Every guest room has a handsome stone fireplace and a tranquil view of Saranac Lake, and everywhere you turn there’s a boat waiting to be launched (complete with picnic and blanket) or an outdoor fireplace looking for loungers. The whole experience makes you feel as if you own the place—the woodsy environment lends itself nicely to privacy, yes, but the Point makes it so easy to hop on the boat for a waterski or take out a pair of ice skates, that it also feels like a close friend’s (sprawling, incredibly gorgeous) lake house.

This Sagaponack gem, along with its sister organization The Green School, is offering safe, socially distanced versions of watersports and pony camps, plus boat charters, riding lessons, and other activities on the farm. Camp sizes are limited, watersports are taught with no contact, masks are required, and all equipment is fully sanitized between uses. The Art Farm is also a great place for a memorable summer birthday celebration—get the family and a few close friends together for a private day at the farm learning the ropes and spending time with the animals.

This one goes out to all the teens enduring a cooped-up summer with few options for socializing. The movies here start late, giving older kids an opportunity to do something special that keeps them socially distanced at the same time. Set some ground rules, decide whether or not it’s okay to hit the on-site food trucks, and send them off to catch a movie that, let’s be honest, will likely not be the one you approved. Bonus points for killer views of the Manhattan skyline.

Sportsmanship, fresh air, plenty of riding time, and fun off-horse activities are all part of Stony Hill’s five-day camp program. Stony Hill offers four camp levels—from pony camp to cantering—as well as extended camp and private lessons. Kids as young as four can start to learn the basics of riding, along with grooming and care—all on ten gorgeous acres in Amagansett. Stony Hill has been the East End equestrian outpost for over fifty years, training riders and boarding animals, in addition to building out a stacked roster of coaches and trainers available for private lessons. Image courtesy of Anastasiya Pavlova.

Bridgehampton’s family-focused library has gone all in on online programming. From classic story time to Toddlers’ Twist and Shout to movie nights, there’s a packed schedule with plenty of recurring events to work into kids’ weekly schedules. For older children and teens, there are Netflix watch parties and virtual college prep sessions, not to mention conversational Spanish classes. And if you’re looking to get some fresh air and a change of scenery, the library yard is open to the public for socially distanced strolling. In the library yard, masks are required, and social distancing precautions are in place. The library building is open by appointment only—call for an appointment and fill out this form. Image courtesy of Jerry Wang.

Indagare is known for curating the most adventurous trips in the travel biz, and this summer, the kids are getting a taste of Indagare-style globetrotting—from home. Camp Indagare ticks every summer camp box and then some, but online. Depending on the week’s programming, there are pizza-making classes, virtual expert-led tours through the Egyptian pyramids, painting lessons, wildlife photography classes, virtual safari drives led by real guides out in the bush, and even Greek mythology 101 live from an expert in Athens. The next camp takes place August 17 through the 21st, and there are two enrollment options: the Explorer program is $275 for complete access to all ten classes and the Adventurer option is the pay-per-class choice at $30 a pop. While the kids are occupied by, say, a savanna’s roaring lions, the grown-ups can do the adult iteration of armchair travel with Indagare founder Melissa Biggs Bradley’s new wanderlust-y podcast, Global Conversations.

This bookstore-slash-café’s name sums up the kind of Saturday morning we all want: one filled with coffee and books. Settle in to this Crown Heights spot for a slow morning of too many cortados and a few chapters of something recommended by the store’s exceptional staff. The women behind Café con Libros run a stellar feminist book club that meets regularly (currently on Zoom), with an emphasis on titles that reflect an intersectional feminist viewpoint. They also host a monthly podcast, Black Feminist & Bookish, on which store founder Kalima DeSuze chats through the club’s current read with a community member and waxes lyrical about the many delights of Brooklyn.

In this town, we feel like coffee culture is taken very seriously—layered notes this, caramel notes that—while the world of tea often takes a backseat. But tea has a deep complexity and global culture all its own. Alfonso Wright and Jamila McGill, the duo behind Brooklyn Tea, get it. Their tea room on Nostrand Avenue is the spot for a steaming pot of Japanese sencha or single-estate Assam. The owners are incredibly knowledgeable about tea farming and emphasize the importance of choosing loose-leaf over industrially produced bagged tea. (Tea bags are generally bleached, and the crushed, dusty tea leaves they contain are often of an inferior quality compared to whole, loose-leaf options). Trade your weekend coffee for tea and sip it among the tea connoisseurs that frequent this gem of a café.

We found Healhaus via one of our Brooklyn-based staffers who can’t get enough of its wellness-forward programming. Founders Darian Hall and Elisa Shankle left corporate careers to found this much-needed, accessible, integrated space for healing. While the physical location is currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, Healhaus’s streaming offering is seriously robust. Check out workshops on breathwork for trauma and yoni care, plus Zoom vinyasa classes, de-stressing meditations, Reiki, and chakra clearing. Private sessions in energy healing, holistic medicine, doula support, and teletherapy are also available.

Harvest & Revel is that dreamy catering company that, in addition to food, handles all the event details—beverages, bar packages, staff, flowers, and photographers—that make party planning sort of maddening. Now back to the food. Founder Sara Elise and her staff don’t abide by the set menus typical in the catering space. Instead, you collaborate with them to design a menu that embraces the season and suits the particulars of the event you’re hosting. Every bite prepared by the Harvest & Revel team is sustainable, locally grown (when possible), health-forward, and exquisitely presented.