Schiff Scout Reservation Camp WauwepexHistory, Traditions,and Heritage
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Schiff Scout Reservation is a 400 acre camp
located in the Long Island Pine Barrens at Wading River. |
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Camp Wauwepex - A Tribute (excerpted from THIRTY YEARS OF SCOUTING IN NASSAU, William Kniffin 1947)
Hard by the lake in a perfectly natural
amphitheater is the Council Ring with its seats build of “soul stones” - stones
brought by those in attendance at a camp fire for the first time and laid around
the Council Fire. There are thousands of these stones set in concrete. Here
every Friday night the Scouts build their fire by friction and conduct their
Council in true Indian fashion. They do not imitate the American Indian, they
follow his traditions. In winter’s cold as well as summer’s heat, there is
something to this place “that draws you to it and then won’t let you
go.” Thousands of boys and men have found this to be true. Here camping never
stops. For seven weeks in summer the Camp is in full blast; every week and the
year round the various buildings are in use by smaller groups. I have been at
Camp with the thermometer below zero and have been comfortable, and I have sat
on chief Covey’s porch with the thermometer at 96 and have not been
uncomfortable. I have seen it in all its needs. Come down to a Council Fire some
Friday night and see how they do it. But I warn you that in the closing ceremony
when the boys circle the fire with arms around each other’s shoulders and the
bugle blows “taps” which are echoed across the lake, you will feel a solemnity
and an awe that you will really experience and never forget.
The outstanding event of the thirty years
this history covers was, of course, the purchase of Camp Wauwepex at Wading
River. During the summer of 1921, it is impossible to secure the present camp
site so that Camp Wauwepex was operated for one season
at Miller Place, Long Island, some nine miles distant, after which the Council
was able to lease the present camp site until purchased in 1926.
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The Buckskin Sons of Wauwepex (excerpted from www.buckskin412.org) The Buckskins of Camp Wauwepex was born in 1923 as part of the camp Indian lore program. Founded by "Chief" Howard Covey and Irving "Southy" Southworth, it was not a society as we know the Order today, it was designed to provide opportunities for Scouts sincerely interested in the American Indian. To be a member, a Scout was to have been a three-year camper and first class. The organization took its name from Dan Beard's Buckskin Men and helped promote advancement by making the earning of merit badges a requirement in order to obtain additional feathers for a members bonnet. The Buckskins had not yet realized the potential of their group to promote the high ideals of cheerfulness and service. During the early 1920's many Scout Councils sought to develop organizations to recognize the outstanding Scout campers. Some affiliated with Wimachtendienk W.W., later known as the Order of the Arrow, while others started their own societies with local membership prerequisites. The Order was not yet recognized as an official B.S.A. Scouting institution, only experimental. Consistent with the national trend, the camp's Indian lore program at Camp Wauwepex was abandoned and one to honor Scout campers was put in its place. The Indian based foundations was retained, however, to give the new Buckskin Sons of Wauwepex its character and mystique. The Buckskin Sons' development of ceremonies, traditions and ideas consistent with those of the Order of the Arrow was not accidental. both Covey and Southworth had been inducted into the Order at one of its national meetings. During the 1930's the Sons became an integral part of the council camping program.
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The camp surrounds the 30 acre "Deep Pond", which is a kettle hole famous
for its Yellow Perch, Pickerel and Sunfish fishing. In the summer the Deep
Pond's pure sand bottom provides a great swimming waterfront. The property
was called Camp Wauwepex until renamed for John M. Schiff. John M. Schiff's
father, Mortimer L. Schiff was a member of the Council Executive Board and
involved in the purchase of the camp property. He then later served as
President of the Boy Scouts of America. The original Schiff Scout
Reservation in Mendham N.J. was named in Mortimer L. Schiff's honor and
served as the National Training Center of the Boy Scouts of America until
the National Council moved to Texas. Our "Schiff" recently adopted the
original Schiff Scout Reservation Logo for it's patch, mug and hat pin
design.
If
the Great Architect of the Universe had been asked, while he was building this
world of ours, to build a site that would answer for a Boy Scout Camp in future
years, he could not have done a better job than was done down Wading River way.
Here amidst some 600 acres of rolling country, heavily wooded, will be found
Nassau County’s Boy Scout Camp - Camp Wauwepex. Wauwepex is an Indian name given
to a spring situated on the west side of Cold Spring Harbor near Sagamore Hill.
In Indian language , Wauwepex means “a place of good water.” Here, like a gem,
the lake lies in the center, surrounded by tree-lined and sloping shores, a
sandy beach or two, ideal for bathing, and water that is crystal pure. The lake
is large enough for the enjoyment of 500 boys, and yet small enough to hold its
intimacy. It is deep enough to afford heavy feeding grounds for the bass and the
pickerel and the lowly bullhead. There is good fishing here. There is not a cent
of debt on this camp side, valued with its 20 buildings at more than a quarter
of a million dollars. No serious accident has ever taken place on or in the
water, and only one on land. The swimming and boating regulations are perfect.
As now set up, the Camp accommodates 300 boys. This is what we bought in 1926.
