New England Numbers: Summer Facts

2,710

summer camps in New England

2,481,000

children who attend New England summer camps

$7 million

cost to build Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s summer cottage (a.k.a. The Breakers) in Newport, RI, in 1893-95

31.7

height in feet of Ed Jarrett’s world-record sand castle, constructed in South Casco, Maine, in 2007

$160 million

The Breakers’ price tag in 2009 dollars

100

swimmers caught in a riptide on Cape Cod’s Nauset Beach in 1973, all rescued by lifeguards (the near-tragedy spawned the Cape Cod Lifesaving Competition)

35

years that lifeguards have displayed their skills in the annual contest (Aug. 7 this year in Wellfleet)

750,000

pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream made each day in Vermont

1,104

miles hiked by staff members stationed at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Galehead Hut in NH’s White Mountains from June through August