Ten Mile River Trader

State unlikely to cough up money to buy Pouch Camp

billmul — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:55:37 +0000

That was the title of the most recent article on Camp Pouch in the Staten Island Advance.

Don’t expect the state to be Pouch Camp’s white knight.Tucked inside Gov. David Paterson’s preliminary budget released last week was a proposal to place an indefinite moratorium on state land buys.

But the potential loss of the state as a savior for the 120-acre Sea View campgrounds, considered the heart of the borough’s Scouting community, didn’t come as a surprise.

“We always knew we would face this obstacle,” said Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island), who is among a number of elected officials attempting to keep Pouch Camp off the market.

Click the link to read the rest of the article.

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Camp Pouch Update January 24 NY Times Article

billmul — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:45:24 +0000

There was an article in the New York Times this weekend on the status of Camp Pouch.

A Celebrated Scout Camp on Staten Island Is in Jeopardy

By JOSEPH BERGER

Published: January 24, 2010

Financial woes may force the sale of Camp Pouch, 140 acres where generations have learned to rough it.

….

The city has also been involved in discussions about rescuing the camp, said Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner. He pointed out, however, that with agencies required to cut their capital budgets by 30 percent this year, it was highly unlikely that the city would buy the property. Instead, he said, the city might encourage a white knight, like the Trust for Public Land, to do so.

Give it a read, it was a fairly favorable article to the Scouts and lays out how things stand today.

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Camp Matinecock – Kanohwahkee Lakes

billmul — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 01:11:27 +0000

Before Ten Mile River was established in 1928, NYC Scouts camped at one of the various camps at Kanohwahkee Lakes in what today is part of Bear Mountain State Parks. One of the Queens Camps was Camp Matinecock. An auction recently ended on eBay with two Camp Matinecock patches from circa 1920. What would probably have been the most interesting artifact, a booklet entitled “My Summer at Camp Matinecock” Unfortunately, it went for more than I was able to spend right now.

Clicking on the image will bring you to the eBay auction for the next few months.

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Camp Pouch Update

billmul — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:00:31 +0000

Planning continue on ways to save Camp Pouch. A recent article in the Staten Island Advance outlines some of the discussions which are underweigh.

Discussions to save Pouch Camp in the Greenbelt are under way and involve surprising potential saviors: A luxury home builder and the Richmond County Country Club; and possibly the New York Container Terminal.

In an attempt to prevent the Greater New York Councils of Boy Scouts from selling off the 120-acre camp to a private developer, the two separate fund-raising possibilities that are emerging would allow other commercial or residential development to take place.

…

“There has been no decision made on this proposal or any other proposal. We were asked to look at it and we are looking it,” Cusick noted. “The goal here is, ultimately, to save Pouch Camp and to keep it as pristine open space…. We have to listen and entertain any proposal that comes across our desk.”

See the article for more details.

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Camp Pouch on the block?

billmul — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:35:20 +0000

I’m a bit late to this story, but I wanted to post it for those who may not have heard about it.

Citing financial turmoil, the Boy Scouts of America is exploring the full or partial sale of Pouch Camp.

The GNYC press release goes on to state…

with ongoing efforts to secure a conservation easement the preferred arrangement for Scouts and the community. The camp is one of only two key assets that can be strategically
leveraged to ensure the Council’s financial stability, as necessitated by steep declines in corporate and community funding amid rising operational and outreach costs.

So while a conservation easement would be the ideal (Where NYC or NYS pays the Scouts to keep the land undeveloped) there is no guarantee that this would be the outcome.

There was also a rally to save Camp Pouch on December 12:

In an attempt to prevent a beloved piece of Island history from falling into the clutches of private developers, approximately 1,500 Scouts and supporters of William H. Pouch Scout Camp braved the cold yesterday evening to rally against the potential sale of the Sea View site.

A FaceBook page has also been created to Save Camp Pouch.

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Camp Aquehonga 2000 Round

billmul — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:17:15 +0000

Jeff Rocklein sent me a scan of an undated Camp Aquehonga patch shown below. He wanted to know when it was issued.

Camp Aquehonga 2000 Round

My records indicate that is from 2000, which on my checklist would be:
AQU2000 R1 ORG R DGY WHT ORG FDL WHT Ten Mile River TL Undated

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Ten Mile River Smoke Signals Issue 11

billmul — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:29:02 +0000

The latest issue of the TMR Museum’s newsletter, which includes my Collecting TMR column is now on the web. The journal has been expanded to 16 pages and contains a lot of new information on the history of the NYC camps and some upcoming plans for the museum.

You can find it here. Or if you want a PDF version you can find it here.

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Hiawatha Seaway Council Camps

billmul — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:57:58 +0000

for those of you whose interest in NYS Boy Scout Camps extends beyond Ten Mile River, I recently came across a new resource on the Hiawatha Seaway Council Website.

On the history page, there are links to the history of many of the camps owned by the current council and its predecessors including:

Camp Loyalty
Camp 12 Pines
Camp Askenonta (History in progress)
Ram’s Gulch Camp
Sabattis Scout Reservation (Still in use)
Camp Portaferry
Camp Woodland (Still in use)
Camp Onondaga
Camp Lee
Indian Village Camp
Camp Syracuse
Camp Vigor of the Lake (History in progress)
Camp Vigor of the Woods (History in progress)
Kamp Kamargo

Take a look, some interesting reading there.

Anyone have some other history sites from NYS BSA camps to share?

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Camp Rondack 1956 Staff Neckerchief

billmul — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:55:51 +0000

Thanks to the keen eyes of Ray Gould, I was able to pick up a TMR Staff neckerchief need recently at the Empire State TOR.

Below is the 1956 Camp Rondack staff neckerchief.

Camp Rondack 1956 Staff Neckerchief

While it is on a neckerchief, I’m not sure if this is the original tartan for this camp. Can anyone confirm this?

Always good to knock off a need. You can see my other TMR (and OA) needs here.

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Ten Mile River Neckerchief

billmul — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:58:08 +0000

Bob Landers, and prior to that Nick Dales is a canoe livery on the Delaware River near Ten Mile River Scout Camps. This is a private company providing canoe rentals to groups and individuals in addition to many Scout groups. Nick Dale as some of you may know was active in GNYC and Brooklyn council and worked at the Brooklyn Camps on Rock Lake prior to starting what is now Landers.

As their main lodge was located on one of the branches of the Ten Mile River, their proximity to the camp and their Scouting roots, over the years, they have issued a number of patches and neckerchiefs.

Their memorabilia never referred to the Scout Camp or used the Indian cliffs logo, but always contained the words Ten Mile River in the design.

I recently acquired the neckerchief below, which shows their typical design but in a color combination I had not seen before.

Ten Mile River Landers Neckerchief

Can anyone share the approximate issue date for this neckerchief?

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