Nestled in the countryside of Maryland, in the Catoctin Mountain Park, is the presidential country retreat known as Camp David.

The first parts of the complex were built by the Works Progress Administration in 1935, and Franklin D. Roosevelt made it the presidential retreat. FDR originally named the property “Shangri-La,” a name it kept until the Eisenhower administration, who named it Camp David after his grandson.

The compound has expanded over the years, with new cabins being built and even a pool. It has also been the site of diplomatic events like the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the G8 summit in 2012.

Take a tour of Camp David, where presidents go to escape Washington:


The original name of Camp David was Shangri-La, the name of a fictional Himalayan paradise in the 1933 novel “Lost Horizon.”

Foto: The original sign to Camp David during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s term source National Park Service

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office, he renamed the property “Camp David,” after his father and grandson who had the same name.

Foto: David Eisenhower (age 12), grandson of President Eisenhower, poses with sign named in his honor, 1960. source White House

By the end of the Eisenhower administration, Camp David looked like this. The president’s cabin — Aspen Lodge — was originally called the Bear’s Den by FDR.

Foto: Camp David’s Aspen Lodge in April 1961. source Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.

From the beginning, Camp David gave presidents a chance to enjoy the countryside. Here, FDR and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill fish in the woods around “Shangri La.” The two men reportedly planned the D-Day invasion from a porch on one of the cabins.


Since Camp David is in the Catoctin Mountain Park, it has a number of trails around it that presidents and their families can enjoy.

Foto: President Jimmy Carter, holding the hard of his grandson Jason, leads members of the Carter family and others on a holiday outing to Cunningham Falls State Park near Camp David, Maryland, Nov. 25, 1978. source Associated Press

Horseback riding is also a common activity for the trails, as seen here with President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush.

Foto: President Ronald Reagan, left, and Vice President George Bush go horseback riding at Camp David, Md., July 1981. source Associated Press

Originally, the pool at Camp David was far from Aspen Lodge. Here President Johnson can be seen enjoying the pool with family, friends, and staff.

Foto: source TheLBJLibrary/YouTube

Foto: source TheLBJLibrary/YouTube

President Richard Nixon added a pool behind the Aspen Lodge in the 1970s. President Barack Obama apparently still enjoyed it decades later.

Foto: President Barack Obama and his daughter Sasha play at the Camp David pool, 2011. source White House

Obama White House photographer Pete Souza snapped a number of great behind-the-scenes shots of life at Camp David, which also has tennis and basketball courts.

Foto: President Barack Obama plays basketball with senior staff and their family members during a retreat at Camp David on July 18, 2009. source Obama White House/Flickr

As well as a pool table.

Foto: Following the conclusion of the G8 Summit, President Barack Obama plays a game of pool in the Holly Cabin at Camp David on May 19, 2012. source Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Camp David can provide a relaxing setting for presidents to do their work, away from the chaos of Washington.

Foto: President Barack Obama reads briefing material while meeting with advisors inside his cabin at Camp David, October 21, 2012. source Obama White House/Flickr

Many presidents have spent Christmas at Camp David.

Foto: Lauren Bush shows her grandfather President Bush, her Rudolph costume for the grandchildren’s Christmas play as he works in his office at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, Dec. 24, 1992. source Associated Press

It’s pretty nice in winter too.

Foto: Three unidentified children sled down the hill outside Aspen Lodge, the Presidential residence at Camp David, Frederick County, Maryland on February 10 1962. source Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.

President Carter turned Camp David into a place where diplomacy was conducted, like the landmark Camp David Accords in 1978.

Foto: Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat, President Jimmy Carter, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, meet for the first time at Camp David on September 6, 1978. source Associated Press

Like Carter, President Bill Clinton used Camp David as a location for talks between Israel and Palestine.

Foto: President Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, left, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, right, walk on the grounds of Camp David on July 11, 2000. source Associated Press

Obama also used Camp David as a place for diplomatic events.

Foto: President Barack Obama waves to cameras before greeting world leaders for the G8 Summit Friday, May 18, 2012 at Camp David, Md. source Associated Press

In 2012, he hosted the leaders of the G8 nations at Camp David.

Foto: source Associated Press

It’s not all work, though. European leaders took a break during the 2012 G8 to watch the overtime shootout of the Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich Champions League final.

Foto: source Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Donald Trump visited Camp David five times in his first year in office, calling it “a very special place” in one tweet.

Foto: President Donald Trump walks towards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, to travel to Camp David in Maryland. source Associated Press

Most recently, Trump brought senior Republicans to Camp David for a leadership retreat.

Foto: source AP Photo/Andrew Harnik