Where is Camp David? As Biden returns, a peek at the storied presidential location

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump was partial to the Camp David movie theater. George W. Bush was a fan of the cooks' fried chicken. Bill Clinton made it a family tradition to spend Thanksgiving at the presidential retreat.

Offering seclusion in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland that is not afforded at the White House, President Joe Biden has also turned to the government-owned facility, which has a movie theater, arcade, chapel, fitness center, skeet shooting range, tennis courts and a swimming pool, for respite and relaxation like many of his predecessors.

"The whole family, including the grandkids, really enjoy it," said Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden. "They feel like they have privacy there."

Unlike the first family's Delaware homes, Camp David is a short helicopter ride away from Washington. The Bidens usually bring their dog, Commander, and cat, Willow, with them to the getaway spot. Willow once had to be fetched by Secret Service after she went from lounging by the pool, not too far from the president, who was engrossed at the time in a briefing book, to wandering Camp David's surrounding woods.

This Friday, the president will welcome Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to the property, bringing back a dormant tradition of hosting foreign dignitaries at the isolated country residence of U.S. presidents that is roughly 70 miles from the White House.

"There's a difference between going to the White House and the formalities, or a private estate, versus bringing someone into your family at Camp David," said Michael Giorgione, who was the commander of Camp David under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. "And to me, it says a lot to world leaders. I would feel more special being brought to Camp David."

What is Camp David used for?

The last time the property was opened up to heads of state was in 2015, when Barack Obama convened Gulf Cooperation Council nations. A gathering of Group of Seven leaders at Camp David during Trump's final year in office was canceled amid the pandemic.

The cabins at Camp David famously housed secret negotiations in 1978 between Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin during Jimmy Carter's presidency, producing a landmark peace agreement framework known as the Camp David Accords. Clinton also held talks there in 2000 with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat that failed to yield the same result.

"Camp David, as you know, has been a historic setting for summit meetings and for significant foreign policy conversations throughout the history of its existence," White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters last week. "And the president's looking forward to hosting both of these leaders, Prime Minister Kishida and President Yoon, at Camp David for what we believe is a discussion of historic proportions."

White House officials said ahead of the summit that the leaders would announce a crisis hotline that the three countries will pledge to create and use to consult one another during moments of uncertainty that affect the security of any one of the nations.

The gathering will be symbolic, if little else is achieved.

"Our heightened engagement is part of our broader efforts to revitalize, to strengthen, to knit together our alliances and partnerships – and in this case, to help realize a shared vision of an Indo-Pacific that is free and open, prosperous, secure, resilient, and connected," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference this week.

Biden's summit may not have the historical importance of Carter's or Clinton's, although it is expected to be the start of a more formalized relationship between the United States and the two countries with strained relations that have sought to forge closer cooperation in the face of North Korea's provocations and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The relationship with Japan and South Korea is at the core of U.S. foreign policy and the nation's economic competition with China.

How did Camp David get its name?

Camp David was constructed as a retreat for government employees. It was christened "Shangri-La" by Franklin D. Roosevelt and renamed Camp David by Dwight D. Eisenhower after his grandson.

Presidents have used the cozy retreat for a variety of purposes over the years: Richard Nixon entertained Bob Hope and George H.W. Bush played tennis with champion Chris Evert there.

There's an "auroa" to the mountaintop, said Giorgione, who authored "Inside Camp David: The Private World of the Presidential Retreat" and commanded the naval support facility in Thurmont. "It's casual, open collars, there's no press, unless press is invited," Giorgione said. "It's eerily quiet. It's peaceful."

"That's not every president's style," he added, "but it has worked for many of them."

Can anyone go to Camp David?

Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was the first foreign leader to visit Camp David in 1943. Obama held the G-8 summit there, when the economic group included Russia. In a controversial move, Trump revealed and canceled a plan to hold secret peace talks at the site with the Taliban.

Trump hosted other leaders, including former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping, at his Florida golf resort Mar-a-Lago.

Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary who later served as Melania Trump's chief of staff, said the then-president preferred to have world leaders at his privately-owned clubs, where he turned a profit, "because he felt that they were the most beautiful properties in the world."

He would bring Cabinet members and senior staff to Camp David, she recalled. "He knew that Camp David was kind of a treat, kind of an honor, that not a lot of people get to stay at Camp David or even see Camp David."

Although he called it "very rustic" in an interview before he took office and did not spend as much time there as some of his predecessors, Grisham said Trump came to enjoy the property's solitude. "I never saw him super cranky up there," she said. "He just always seemed so relaxed to me, and he loved the movie theater."

George W. Bush regularly invited heads of state to join him at his Crawford, Texas, ranch. But he was also a frequent guest at Camp David, bringing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair there in February of 2001 for the pair's first meeting and again in 2003 at the beginning of the Iraq War. The leaders visited Camp David together four times during their tenure. Abe was also a guest during Bush's tenure.

The Bushes and Ronald Reagan, who took Queen Elizabeth II to his isolated ranch outside of Santa Barbara, California, spent more time at Camp David, which has a dozen guest cabins, than any other U.S. leaders. George H.W. Bush's family was so fond of Camp David that his daughter, Dorothy Bush Koch, had her wedding there.

"We can walk outside, and we can also be with family and friends. And the president has used Camp David to host a lot of heads of state," former first lady Laura Bush said in an interview on the occasion of her husband George W. Bush's 100th visit to the property in 2005.

The informality of the location allows for a different type of conversation, Bush said, and meals shared with family members, aides and friends cooked by Navy Mess staff. "They're great at fried chicken and a lot of other foods that we all like. And so we can have sort of an American weekend in a beautiful setting with great American foods for heads of state."

Biden family at Camp David

For the current president, whose personal homes in Delaware do not offer the same type of seclusion or prestige, Camp David offers an intimate alternative to the executive mansion.

The Bidens spent their first Valentine's Day in office there, helping them to escape the city during Trump's second impeachment trial. President Biden has regularly visited the property ever since, spending time at Camp David over the summer with his son Hunter and grandson Beau. The first family also spent the weekend leading into Independence Day at the retreat this year.

Biden is often accompanied by staff when he visits. He went to Camp David with top aides in February as he was putting the final touches on his State of the Union speech. He was at the facility, which has a secure conference room, when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. The White House shared a rare image of him at Camp David, two years ago this week, conferring with his national security team during the crisis.

He arrived at the retreat this Thursday, a day ahead of the Japanese and South Korean delegations, to prepare for the summit. Yoon and Kishida were due to arrive in the U.S. on Thursday evening. They were set to be transported, with their aides, on helicopters from the president's fleet on Friday morning.

The leaders will lunch with Blinken and the White House's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, after a day of joint and individual meetings. They are also scheduled to hold a news conference.

Presidents have a dedicated cabin, the Aspen Lodge, and guests are assigned to the property's 12 other cabins, all named after trees. Every guest cabin has a binder with laminated sheets that lists the dates and names of prior occupants going back to roughly 1969, the first lady's former spokesman said.

LaRosa recalled staying in the same spaces as Melvin Laird, defense secretary to Nixon, and former GOP Congressman Mark Meadows, the last Trump chief of staff, as well as Dorothy Rodham, former first lady Hillary Clinton's mother.

"I loved that aspect to it," LaRosa added, "that you could see all the people who stayed in your cabin every time you stayed there."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What does Camp David look like? As Biden returns, get an inside peek