The camp that inspired ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ is on sale

Ah, summer camp: a quintessential mix of friendship bracelets, campfires, mosquito bites and a healthy dose of Paul Rudd.

OK, that last part might only be true if you’ve attended Camp Firewood, the fictional summer getaway from Rudd’s 2001 cult comedy, “Wet Hot American Summer.” And while it may prove difficult to get your hands on the Ant-Man actor, the rest of Camp Firewood — at least, the real-life camp that inspired it — can be yours for $3.5 million of dollars.

That’s the asking price for Camp Mohawk in the Berkshires, where “Wet Hot American Summer” star and co-writer Michael Showalter spent his own formative summers. He and co-writer David Wain, an alumnus of Maine’s Camp Modin, drew inspiration from their own experiences making Camp Firewood.

Like Showalter said The New York Times in 2001, “Both of our camps were very “Meatball” camps, where you did nothing but play softball and…”

“…try to understand,” Wain added.

After ceasing operations in 2017, Camp Mohawk is now on the market, as The Berkshire Eagle reported for the first time. Located at 350 Old Cheshire Road in Lanesborough, the 102-acre property recently saw its price drop by $2 million.

And Lisa Bouchard Hoe, vice president and principal broker at TKG Real Estate, said potential buyers are starting to surface.

“Finally, we got a lot of calls with the new price drop,” she told Boston.com. “I think it’s about hitting a price point that people can really see the value in.”

The property has plenty of historic charm, with a handful of American Revolution-era buildings that date back to the time as Pettibone Farm. (Summer camp came much later, in 1946.)

Other selling points include the lack of development around the property, as well as about a mile of waterfront on a “pristine” lake in the heart of the Berkshires, according to Bouchard Hoe.

“It’s an incredible untouched opportunity, I think,” she said. “I would say it’s just an opportunity waiting for the right developer.”

The potential for outdoor activities like swimming, cycling and boating is another plus.

“It’s pretty rare to find a lakefront property this large in the Berkshires,” Bouchard Hoe said. “It’s really unheard of, really.”

Communities further south in the Berkshires offer a wealth of high-end spas, wellness centers and cultural venues, but the area around Camp Mohawk is ripe for development, according to Bouchard Hoe.

If developed, the property “could be a lot of different things,” she said. “It could be a resort, luxury homes, condos, affordable housing. It could be just about anything, but it kind of lends itself to a place of hospitality.

Although the natural surroundings and vast acreage give the property a feeling of peaceful isolation, Camp Mohawk’s proximity to Highway 7 makes getting around easy.

After all, “it’s always fun to get away from camp, even for an hour.”