Spend your days living,

learning, & growing.

About Us
Testimonials
A rural scene featuring two old wooden buildings with weathered roofs, surrounded by lush green trees and grass, with a gravel driveway leading towards the buildings.

Who We Are

Turtle Island is located in a remote hidden valley at the end of a long gravel road. Our programs are full of lifestyle practices of earlier people from our great grandparent's time and back into prehistory.

Visitors are uplifted by the clean environment, beautiful streams, huge trees, pristine forest, and horse-drawn farm. It is like walking back in time, actually more like leaping back in time! Ferns, flowers, butterflies, and utter beauty are in every direction. You experience hand split shingles, hand carved log buildings, log bridges; nature made sounds and smells. All of your senses are stimulated into a pleasant state seldom found outside the world of nature.

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our Mission:

Turtle Island guides people through experiences with the natural world to enhance their appreciation and respect for life. We achieve this through a more comprehensive understanding of nature combined with the lessons and traditions of our elders.

  • Young boy with curly blond hair swinging on a rope in a green outdoor park.

    Camps

    Our unique overnight summer camps offer natural living experiences and exceptional outdoor education. We are here to help your boys and girls become balanced people!

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  • A group of smiling young people and an older man standing outdoors in a forest clearing during daytime, holding a large pumpkin, with a black and white dog nearby.

    Programs

    Turtle Island offers volunteer programs, educational programs, corporate work retreats, and college programs.

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  • A group of people sitting around a wooden table outdoors in a forested area, observing a woman demonstrating traditional basket weaving with palm fronds. The scene is under a wooden shelter with trees in the background.

    Workshops

    Our skills workshops are empowering, hands-on, and meaningful adventures in the simple life. Turtle Island offers blacksmithing, hide tanning, knife making, basketry and more!

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  • “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of you or my time spent at Turtle Island. I tell everyone I know and all I encounter about what you are doing and how it is possible for one person to create beauty and change perceptions.”

    Cathy McRae - Toronto, Canada

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  • “Coming to Turtle Island for the volunteer weekend was a challenging and rewarding experience. My partner Jon and I came to camp, work, explore, and eat good food! We were expecting a peaceful place, and I must admit that I was not disappointed. To me, there is peace in hard work and challenges. Working with Eustace and friends to build a stone retaining wall was some of the hardest labor I have done in a while! At the end of the day - we could see results of a wall well built, and I felt so proud! The meal of lasagna was probably the best I have ever had!”

    Blair -Charlotte, NC

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  • “Our nine day trip to Turtle Island was the most powerful and good experience I have ever seen a group of children share. The staff at Turtle Island Preserve are phenomenal people, willing to take on the challenge each child presents. I am ecstatic about the results of this fabulous program.”

    Smith Coleman - Orange County, Virginia

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  • “Had a great time this past weekend! Very informative class. Learned some new chainsaw techniques I had never tried before and got some great maintenance tips to keep my saw running great. The sawmill was an incredible experience. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I highly recommend this class!”

    Andrew White - November 2024

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  • The attention and education we received from Eustace and the volunteers of Turtle Island Preserve was incredibly genuine and of great value, but perhaps more important for Owen and I was the complete sense of welcoming family that surrounds you while at Turtle Island Preserve."

    Bill - November 2024

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Please visit our store for memorabilia and commemorative merchandise. When you make a donation at our store, you can choose from patches, hats, shirts, and hooded sweatshirts, knives, bows and various outdoor items as our gift of thanks. All proceeds benefit Turtle Island Preserve and the important work that goes on here.

Brown T-shirt with turtle island preserve graphic design on the back.