Genesee Valley was first born when Thomas A. LaMonica and his wife Doris purchased an old farm back in 1946. Fresh out of the Navy, there they raised their two children, Tom and Linda. Both attended 6th district elementary school and then finished their educations down on Charles St. at Friends School of Baltimore. Tom who was nicknamed "pro," was involved in many different athletics at Friends. From Football to Basketball to Lacrosse, he excelled and enjoyed all of them. Actually, Tom was recently a 2007 inductee into the Friends School Athletic Hall of Fame.

As high schoolers do, Linda and Tom always invited their friends up to the farm for social gatherings. In 1963, Linda had her Senior Class Party. In '65 and '66 Tom's Football Coach and Friends School Athletic Director Jim Curtis started bringing Friends School Football teams to Genesee Valley for a slightly different kind of training method involving "obstacles" in the woods. These trips were to promote team unity and trust in one and other. This became the Football team's pre-season camp for many years. In 1972, after four years at Wooster College, Tom returned to his Alma Mater as a science and phys-ed teacher. Rekindling and old football tradition and building a new one, Tom took over the Football program at Friends and brought his camp back out to the farm. In this same year he opened the doors to Friend School as a whole and they embarked on their first 6th grade camping trip.

The success of the "ropes course" spread throughout Friends School and eventually grew to the point that Tom and his friend David Pines incorporated Genesee Valley Outdoor Learning Center in the spring of 1981 as a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization. From 1981 to 1987, with the help of some part timers from Towson State University, Genesee Valley grew little by little each year. During that time we saw lots of dedicated, hardworking and self-directed people like Craig Dobkin, Rita Yerkes and Paul Stephenson, who all played intricate parts in the development of the program. This period at Genesee Valley was small and family oriented. At the end of the day, dinners were held at Tom's house. By 1987, the program fielded 7,000 participants a year and employed 5 staff members. Growth was eminent. By 1993 over 20,000 participants experienced Genesee Valley's program and we employed 28 staff members. As a testament to the quality of our programs the growing popularity of Genesee Valley has spread throughout the region mostly by word of mouth.