Old-Fashioned Camp Faces a Modern-Day Dilemma

The Historical Society of Rockland County is having a modern-day problem with its old-fashioned summer day camp.

So far, not enough kids have signed up for the camp, and the society is concerned it may not have enough kids to cover its costs, said Dan Dwyer, the society's public relations coordinator. The society would like to have between 12-15 kids for each week, but so far it is a handful short for each of the two weeks, he said.

The county-wide camp runs during the first two weeks in August. It is located at the historical society in New City, but accepts young history buffs from the Nyacks and Piermont.

Campers get to travel back in time during the camp—activities include candle dipping, creating historic toys, playing Native American games and other simple diversions that entertained youngsters in the first half of the nineteenth century.

At the end of each week there is an old-fashioned picnic—made and eaten by the
children—of fresh hand-cranked ice cream and churned butter, homemade corn bread and a salad made from the vegetables grown in the Blauvelt House garden.

"You're really doing different things that you're not doing at other camps, like ice cream making," Dwyer said. "It's unique and it's fun because the kids are going back in time. You try and give them a feel for what happened during that period."

Dwyer has been trying to get the word out by sending information to homes and posting the camp on local Web sites. Part of the problem is there are a lot of camp options in the area, he said, and it's tough to get people to notice.

"It's a different type of camp than a sports camp or a regular summer camp and people would be interested in it if they knew about it," Dwyer said. "The kids that have gone in the past have liked it."

The camp, which is for children ages 7-11, is from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Fridays.

The cost is $150 per week for historical society members and $175 for non-members. For more information or to sign up, please call the society at (845) 634-9629.