Spruce Pond Scout Camp is located across the road and up the Goat Trail from the recently closed Red Apple Rest in Tuxedo, NY. This was one of the standard jacket patches used for the Camp in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s.
Spruce Pond Jacket Patch
Looking for anybody with pic’s of spruce pond’s campmaster cabin, water pump or lean-to.
can e-mail me at tomsue@erols.com
I may have some photos of this camp and of the lean to at the top of the road. I’ll try to
scan them and post them soon. It appears the camp was decimated by vandals and very little
is left to reflect the fantastic camp that I enjoyed from 1972 to 1978 and holds such fond
memories for me. It was such a devastating blow to see the camp burned down and vadalism
everywhere I looked. A real crying shame. I was able to salvage the base of our old pot
belly stove that kept me warm through so many winter camping trips and served to cook up so
many fantastic meals for us. I was a member of Troop 269 – Bayridge, Brooklyn, NY.
My dealings with Spruce Pond go back before my Cub Scout days. My Dad was duty Camp Master so many times I cannot count. My troop camped there many weeks during Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations during the 1950′s. I was stationed close enough to get to help many Camp Masters until my transfer to Calif & Alaska in 1963. I don’t know how my mom could do a turkey dinner spread on the available stoves during the 1950′s. Many cold day’s I sold many 50 lb bags of coal to scouts and put much lye into the out house holes and carried many rolls of paper up the hills. I inspected many sites to ok the troop leaving. I don’t remember having to really correct errors. I made sure there was a good stack of split wood at the back wall of any lean to. The ones up on the mountain side above the pond #1 to 8 were the best built and were all the same as were the ones on the Goat Trail. My Dads 1935 Chevy & 1955 Plymouth made it up the road to the Camp Master Cabin most times. I remember the lockers for pots, pans, lanterns, axe’s, saws and of course the winter canvas tarps, etc that many of the troops had in the lodge great room. The lean to at the top of the road was one owned by a troop I think # 4 and was real nice. I remember the beautiful view. I don’t remember my troop # but my Dads was #63 @ Baptist Temple on Skmerhorn St just off Flatbush Ave. It broke my heart to find out that the camp had been given up. Todays troops so much need a wilderness camp. With video games young men are not learning how to grow up strong. We need wilderness scouting so much again. Closing Spruce Pond was a bad decision that was made. Well look at the possible decision about W.A. Pouch. Paul Gray CPO-USN SEABEES Retired
To larry Kronoff
love to view your pic and scans of the camp at spruce pond. Have changed my email since my first post.
Tom
I belonged to Trp 105 St Brendans,Bronx NY We where also one of the campmaster trps for Spruce pond,We use to have to stop by Alpine down in NJ to pick up the key for cabin for spruce pd.remember going up to meet the coal delivery also doing FIRE GUARD when during a drought with the indian pumps.Have some great pictures of the place if I could only scan them to send anyway was up there back 5 years or so the place was posted as restricted area the DEC officer happened by told her about BSA trp 105 she told me ok NO GUNS allowed up however it was sad the cabin was gutted and in bad shape it’s sad I have lots of 1960-70′s memories of there:(