Summer Camp in America: Individual Camps


Figure 1.--Here we see a scene at Camp Haza Witka, probably in the 1950s. There was no set camp uniform. The scene here was taken in the wood working shop..

We are collecting information about individual American summer camps. There are litterally thousands of camps that have operated all over America. The first camps were founded in the late-19th century. The YMCA played an important role in the early summer camp movement as did the Bous Souunts after they were founded (1909). Many camps were private camps attended boys and lsater girls from affluent families. There were more mosestly priced camps for middle-class children as well as camps to inter0city children out into the coubntryside anbd fresh air. These camps have changed substantially over the years, but some camps still follow the traditional approach which developed in the late 19th century. Many but not all of the camps had uniforms. The private camps for well-to-do children were the most likely to have uniforms.

Akiba

We notice a Jewish summer camp in Pennsylvania during the 1940s. We are not sure where in Pennsylvania. It was Camp Akiba. We are not sure what Akiba means in Hebrew. We note many Jewish camps and schools named Akiba, so it must have some special meaning. We have archived a 1947 image from the camp, probably a cabin group. The boys wear a uniform of tank top with the camp logo, and matching short pants. Interestingly, they do not wear sneakers, but leather shoes. One boy wears saddle shoes. Most of the boys have white socks. The councelors wear white "T"-shirts and long pants. They seem to be standing in front of a camp building.

Belknap

We note some images of YMCA Camp Belknap from the late 1910s and early 20s. The photograph was probably taken in 1919. we have The YMCA along with the Boy Scouts ran the two largest summer camp programs in the United States. The boys wear sleevless "T"-shirts with a large B. Most of the boys wear short pants. I'm not sure that was part of a uniform as we see a few boys wearing knickers. Camp Belknap was located on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Fuller

We have a photograph of boys at Camp Fuller in 1933. Unfortunately we have no information on the camp. It may be a Scout camp, but we are not sure. There does not appear to have been a uniform and the boys we see here are dressed variously. One boy is bare chested while another weasrs a white shirt and tie. The boys wear short and long pants as well as knickers.

Haza Witka (Michigan)

Camp Haza Witka was a boys' camp located on Lake Arbutus near Mayfield, Michigan. Lake side locations were an continue to be common atribute for American summer camp. The image here shows the boys at the camp word working shop. The boys look gto be teenagers. The photograph looks to have been taken in the 1950s. There was no uniform. The boys wear casual shirts with both short and long pants. A HBC reader provides some information about the camp, "When Joe Gembis retired as head football coach at Wayne State in 1946, he bought Camp Haza Witka-—a place where city boys could swim, ride horses, and just bask in the simplicity of lake living. Gembis' sons, Chuck and Doug, continued the Camp Haza Witka legacy until they closed the camp in 1986. Now Chuck Gembis, a middle school teacher in Owosso, brings his family to Arbutus Lake each summer to live in the old camp buildings. They boat and fish during the day, cook dinner on the old six-burner lodge stove and bunk at night in the cabins still called by their Indian names. The family sleeps to the sound of loons and frogs. His friends downstate laugh at their backwoods lifestyle. 'They think we're crazy, but we love it,' Chuck says. As the Gembis family knows, savoring the rustic cabins and clear water of Arbutus Lake has everything to do with a less-is-more approach. Just grab a row boat, a fishing rod, and a dozen wigglers from the country store--and soak in the simplicity of your own quiet cove in Arbutus. Chuck is now a wood-shop teacher."

Hyde Bay (New York)

The Hyde Bay Camp was a private camp in New York. The camp has an excellent internet website describeing camping during its long history.

Idlewild (New Hampshire)

Camp Idlewild operated a summer camp at Cow Islandi in Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. It was one of the older private camps in America. The Camp opened in 1892 and ran through 1975. It was founded and run by the Dick brothers, John and Robert. Later it was taken over by LD Roys. The Camp was organized into three age groups (Junior, Middler, and Senior). The camp at first handled about 50 boys. There were at the peak about 300 campers. Many of the activities were organized around the lake. The boys at first lived in tents. Later cabins were built. A 1912 brochure explains, "Boys representing the best and most influential homes in the country are attendants from year to year." A 1920 advertisement in Harper's Magazine emphasized: "Development of character, Cultivation of good manners, Idealizing of purity of mind and body, Vigalance of safety". The boys arrived at the camp dressed in knee pants or knickers suits as a 1911 portrait shows. The boys in 1905 wore a English-style school cap, "T" shirt, and knee pants. In 1912 the uniform included "jacket sweater, jersey, knocabout suit, khaki trousers, and cap". By trousers I think the Camp meant knee pants or knickers as long black stockings were included in what the boys wee advised to bring with them.

Lookout (Michigan)

Camp Lookout was a boys' camp located 6 miles south of Frankfort, Michigan. It would have attracted boys from the Chicago and Detroit area, two major metropolitan areas. We do not know much about the camp. It was situated on Lake Michigan and Lower Herring Lake and thus offered all kinds of water and boating actvities. We have a photograph of one cabin group taken inside the cabin during 1943. There are nine boys and their adult councelor. They seem a happy group. This was during World War II. Notably there is a picture of a Navy carrier plane on the wall. There does not seem to be a camp uniform.

Marienfeld (New Hampshire)

Camp Marienfeld was one of the first boy's camps in America. The camp was founded in 1899. It was located on the heights above Silver Lake near in Harrisville, New Hampshire. The Camp was organized into three age-based divisions: Senior, Junior, and Midget. The youngest boys were the Midgets. The boys were age 8/9 through 12 years old. The Midgets were divided into six groups consisting of six-eigh\ts boys each. Each group was supervised by two masters. (Masters was aerm commonly used for teaches in private schools--addopted from Britain.) The next group was the Juniors who were 13-15 yeats old. The were divided into groups of seven boys supervised by master. The oldest boys were the Seniors, boys 15-16 years old a a few 17-year olds. They were also divided into groups of seven boys supervised by a master. The three division had about equal numbers of boys--about 40 boys and 10-12 masters. The masters of the different groups in each division developed their own unique program and daily routine based on the age group the age group involved. They also has separate dining rooms. Sports were an important part of the program as was swimming and boating in the lake..

Moosehead (Maine?)

We have noted several camps named Camp Moosehead.One might think that this could be a Maine Camp. And we note a Camp Moosehead on Moosehead Lake in Maine as early as 1911. We have found a Mosehead Camp cabin group photograph, we think from the 1950s. But it could have been one of severa different camps. This was a private camp and the cabin looks rather lurious compared to camps I was familisr with during the 1950s and 60s. The boys wear CM monogram "T"-shirts and short pants with stripes. These stroped shorts were common as camp uniforms. We are not entirely sure why that was. Note that some of the boys wear leather shoes rather than sneakers.

Mowana (Maine)

One reader has forwarded information about Camp Mowana for Boys. Early camps often had Native American names. Most early camps were for boys and when girl's camp first appeared they were separate fromn the boys' camps. Camp Mowana was located for Boys on Echo Lake, Readfield Maine. The camp had a variety of activities. There were black cooks, but no black campers. The campers competed for all sorts of awards. The camp had a required uniform rather like a Boy Scout uniform illustrated on a previous page.

O-At-Ka (Maine)

A British reader evacuated to America during the Blitz tells us, "One of the characteristic of America I probably did not appreciate at the time but do now, is their generosity. We evacuees were hosted in a variety of ways, one of which was Summer Camp. It was decided that we should go to summer camp. An important part of an American boyhood is summer camp. So my brother and I and several other of our group were packed off to Camp O-At-Ka on the shores of Lake Sebago, near Portland, Maine. Britain did not have summer camps like America. It was something I had never heard of before. Being a city child, I didn't know much about camping, and learned a lot of Natrure Craft there. I was not a Boy Scout so all the outdoors, nature stuff. We had now been in America for a year and were well along in the Americanization process. Being surrounded by American boys all day long was a further step in my Americanization so to speak. Some of the younger boys had trouble being away from home for the first time. My brother and I, however, were becoming increasingly independent by this time.?

Pokagon (Indiana)

We do not know much about Camp Pokagon for boys. It was located on James Lake near Angola, Indiana. It appears to have been a Civilian Construction Corps (CCC) camp during the Depression. The camp building in the photograph we have looks like a CCC-built building. They also built a tobogan run. There was a Pokagon Girls' Camp on Lake James (1945-78). There is also a Pokagon State Park on the the James and Snow Lakes and the camp which is also attached to Little Otter, Big Otter, and Jimmerson Lake. These camps are name after thev Pokagon Band of Potawatomi tribe which inhabited the area. Indiana in the early 19th century was territory reserved for Native Americans when Ohio was being settled. We are not sure when the boy's cam was founded. We know it was operating in the 1950s and 60s. We note a single internet posting, "I worked as a counselor at the boys camp in 1961.Several of us borrowed some bikes from campers etc. And used them to ride down the tabogon run. Wheeeeeee! This was the greatest times of my life .Have been back from time to time and always go home sad !" Other wise we have been unable to find information avout the camp.

Sequioa (California)

A HBC reader tells us about the YMCa Camp Sequoia. He writes, " Camp Sequioa is on Lake Sequoia near Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park in California. This is a small lake (1 mile wide and about 2 miles in length) and the Boys/Girls Scouts, YMCA and several religious organizations have camps on this lake. There are no other commercial enterprises on this lake. Also, no motor boats are allowed, just row boats and canoes. The lake is around 5,000 feet in elevation and about a 2 mile hike to Kings Canyon National Park and the Genral Grant's giant sequoia tree. It takes 40 plus boys hand to hand to surround this tree at its base. During the entire summer months all these camps are being used by boys and girls throughout California. Camp Sequoia is a YMCA camp and has been at this location since about 1940. During World War II before I was drafted, I spent my last summer as Director of all water activities, which included swimming and boating activities. I guess in excess of 160 boys in camp each week was at Camp Sequoia. We didn't have any type of uniforms, but the boys mostly wore shorts and t-shirts. Evenings the nights did get a little cold, so all the boys had jackets. Remember during World War II, uniform clothing was not readily available; however the Boys and Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts wore their uniforms, basically shorts. This is a great place for boys and girls to be at a summer camp in the mountains.

Siegfried (New York)

This photograph was taken at the German-American camp, Camp Siegfried at Yaphank on Long Island. The photograph was dated September 15, 1937, but may have been taken a little earlier during the summer. Yaphank is a small town on Long Island. Camp Upton was opened nearby after America ebntered World War I as a boot camp (1917). More than 30,000 soldiers were trained there. Interestinglym the most famous person to train there was Irving Berlin, one of the most famous American song writers. He composed the musical comedy revue Yip Yip Yaphank, which had a brief run on Broadway. One of the best known songs was the 'Buggle Song' with the refrain, 'Oh how I hate to get up in the morning'. He is of course best known for 'America the beautiful'. Less savory was the activity of the German American Bund at Yaphank. The German American Settlement League (an organization sympathetic to the Bund) purchased a property at Yaphank (1935). Ernst Mueller, head of the German American Settlement League, disguised the nature of his organization and the plans for the site when he made the purchase (1935). Mueller after the purchase publicized the purchase and invited League, Bund, and other members to visit the beautiful lake side property as a weekebd ctrio from New York. upon completion of the property transfer prepared a letter that was sent to members of the League, the German American Bund and other organizations of German Americans, inviting all to visit this beautiful lakeside property. Most of those Mueller appealed to were post-Wiorld War I German immigrants, a very small part of the German-American community. A Long Island Railroad special train was arranged from Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn. A nearby propertu was subsequently purchased for youth activities, but it did not have a lake front. Here Hitler Youth-tyoe activities were staged. Both boys abnd girls participated. The German swastuca flag was often flown. Ironically, after World War II, the U.S. War Department transferred the Camp Upton site to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). It is now used for the Brookhaven National Laboratory.


Figure 2.--Here is a look inside the cabins at Camp Tosebo during the 1950s. Also note the camp uniform.

Tosebo (Micigan)

Camp Tosebo was located on Portage Lake near Manistee, Michigan. The camp was founded in 1912 (one source says 1915), one of the first summer camps in America. The boys' camp appears to have closed about 1970. The site is now use as a senic camp for vacationers seeking a bucolic get-away. The founder was Noble Hill who was then the Headmaster of the Todd School for Boys. The Camp from the beginning was thus associated with the Tood School in Woodstock, Illinois--a tony boys' boarding school. The Camp was a kind of summer home for the Todd Seminary for Boys, hence the name Camp To-Se-Bo. The School eventually dropped the term "seminary". The Todd boys traveled to the Camp by Pullman bus or Lake ferry. The Hill family operated Camp Tosebo from its founding in 1912 through 1963. Hill's daughter Carol Fawcett took over and then his grandson Ross Taylor. The Todd School itself closed in 1953, but Camp Tosebo continued to operate an 8 week summer program. The camp was then sold and operated by other individuals until finally closing in 1997. It was a well endowed camp have lake-side sight and extensives facilitiees for boating, camping, camp fire programs, horse-back riding, Indian lore, sports (Especially softball), swimming, and a wide range of other activities. A major force at the Camp 1929 to 1971 was program director, Anthony “Coach” Roskie. He helped plan the activities program and was involved in Life Savers instruction, teaching Indian dances, or coordinating weekly softball games. The camp uniform in the 1950s consisted of a colored "T" shirt with the name of the school and short pants. This was common at private summer camps. We have some images from the 1950s.

Whitcomb (Wisconsin)

Camp Whitcomb appears to have been associatefd with the Boys Club of Milwaukee and supported by the Rotary Club. A press photo from 1935 shows the boys at the train station with their bed rolls, in this case blankets done up with belts. Evidently the Rotary club treated the boys of the Milwaukee Boys Club to Camp Whitcomb which was located at Lake Keesus. The boys are wearing knickers, but with ankle socks. These boys would have been from families with modest incomes as was generally the case with the Boys Clubs. note that they are wearing knickers. Boys at private summer camps would have more likely worn short pants, often ass part of a camp uniform.

Wyanoke (New Hampshire)

Camp Wyanoke was a boys' summer camp located at Wolfeboro Neck, near Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. The Bentley Family founded the camp (1909). The camp was situated on Lake Winnipesauke. the camp was one of the largest and most successful private camp established in the Lakes Region during the late-19th and early-20th century. It was originally set up with tents. Each tent had a councelor and about seven boys. From the beginning, an important part of the program was the relationship between the individual councelor and his small cabin group. The early program consisted of shop/carpentry work, drill, and water sports. There was also tutoring offered for boys having trouble in school. Cabins were built in the 1910s. They were small cabins to maintain the low councilor/camper ratio. A broader activities program ws developed over time as the camp became more established with a variety of ammenities for the boys. The ca,p in the 1920s had a uniform of a colored tank top with a huge "W" and striped short pants.The camp closed in 1975.

Sources

Benecki, J. R-mail message, July 21, 2006.







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Created: 3:53 AM 11/13/2004
Last updated: 4:19 AM 3/8/2011