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Now that you've seen the Chiefs
Camp section, we'll stay on the hill and visit the other main camping area, Tribes Camp.
The small map on the left shows the road through Tribes Camp highlighted in red to give
you an idea of the area; click on the map for a larger version. You can also click here for a chart of all of the Tribes campsites and the
history behind them. We'll start the tour at the
Water Tower at the top end of the Power Line Trail. There are
two roads looping through Tribes Camp, and we'll begin by heading down the middle of the
loops towards the Long House dining hall.
On your right as you travel down the road was the James
E. West Program Shelter, named after the first Chief Scout Executive of the Boys
Scouts of America (while the shelters in Chiefs Camp were named after animals, those in
Tribes Camp were named after famous Scouters). This shelter had the largest open area of
any of the shelters, making it a perfect spot for stargazing. Having grown up in Brooklyn
and then Long Island, I can still remember being astonished at the number of stars visible
to the naked eye at Onteora. This field was great for astronomy classes, for it was
big enough that the trees didn't block your view.
 On your left you would find the Buckskin
Craft Lodge. This is a relatively new addition and wasn't there during my years
at Onteora. Centrally located, this airy structure is at the top of the Power Line Trail.
 Not much further and you come to the
Long House, the center of Tribes Camp. This dining hall was pretty much a
duplicate of the Council House in Chiefs Camp, with the same general layout and function.
The first of the two dining halls, the Long House was built during a major snowstorm and
opened for summer camp in 1958. In these views from 1983 campers have gathered for
breakfast. From the height of the trees in the background you'll see why a large open area
was necessary to watch the stars; in many parts of camp, there was so much tree cover that
it was tough to see the sky. Having been protected from commercial development for so many
years, the camp had quite a few large trees, such as cherry, birch, walnut and pine, that
were valuable for furniture manufacturers. The council earned some extra money each year
by selling some of these to lumber companies, but thankfully never to the point that this
off-season cutting hurt the camping experience.
 Just past the Long House was the Scout Shower,
which was built in 1968. This was a vast improvement over the basement showers in the
dining halls, for being above ground, it was brighter and could dry out. For some reason,
the shower in the Long House was designated as a staff shower, but most of us preferred
the mold-free Scout Shower instead. Today, the Long House shower is used for female
campers and the Scout Shower is split between adult and under-18 males.
Continuing down the road, you pass several campsites,
then will come to the intersection of the two
loops in the camp road system. The one on the right is almost impassable
these days but leads off to the Ute campsite. We'll continue now on the left fork to the Teddy Roosevelt Program
Shelter, named after the U.S. President who was the first Commissioner of Nassau
County Council.
 This was the shelter where I spent my years
at Onteora, both as a camper and on staff. It was a great place to work, for it was
far off the beaten path and thus we we pretty well left to our own up there. This
picture from 1988 shows you what the shelters consisted of. They were built on a
concrete slab, with a roof over an open area used for class-type training at a picnic
table. There was one wall, at the rear of this picture, and a locker used to store the
rifles and archery equipment. Small displays of knots, local plants and animals
tracks could usually be found along the rear wall or in the rafters.
Back in 1968, another counselor and I found the picture of
Teddy Roosevelt seen here buried away in the camp barn. I have no idea who painted it, but
it was made out of a piece of plywood. We hauled it across camp and hung it on the
shelter, never expecting that it would still be there twenty years later. I was
amazed at how well it had held up over the years. Amazingly, it was still there during my
1998 visit as well! A new copy of the sign hangs there today, but the old
one is still there, tucked away in the rafters of the shelter.
Continuing past the shelter, the road passes by several
more campsites, then heads back to the intersection at the water tower where this part of
the tour began. Let's continue going straight, with the road passing along the border
of Chiefs and Tribes camps, until we get to the next fork. At that point we'll turn left
and head towards the Field Sports Center and the Dan Beard
Program Shelter, named for one of the two founders of the Boy Scouts of America
(the other being Ernest Thompson Seton). Back in the 60s, the Field Sports Center was the
camp stables, for there was a very active horseback riding program available to all
Scouts. This was a great benefit for the counselors as well, for if you treated the
wranglers right (generally by not commenting on their odor at mealtimes) you could ride
after hours or on a day off as much as you wanted. That was a great way to see the
camp and nearby area, and certainly was easier on the legs than the Power Line Trail was!
Visitors interested in the history of
Onteora should take the time to explore the area around the former stables
site and the Dan Beard shelter. This was once a farm owned by the Devoe
family, who now live in Grooville. Evidently there were once three family
houses on the property. Careful exploration will reveal the remnants of a
root cellar, as well as many of their plants and trees that have survived
all these years. Dick Horn sent me some interesting information on this
area:
About three years ago during pre staff week when I was putting
the phone wires back up, a car was driving around camp by the water tower
with a very lost looking family in it. Upon inquiry, they introduced themselves, one an old lady, over 90, was a Devoe child and was born in the
above mentioned first Devoe house. After leading them to that area, she then
proceeded to fill me in the history of the area, how she used to walk down
the road (trail) past Dan Beard straight past our current turnoff to go to
Erie site, straight to Grooville Road by the Red Barn at the end of the paved
road. About two miles each way, all winter long. She also said that there was
a lumber mill in what was now the Buckskin Camp open field. Electric power
was created locally via hydro from a pipe that was fed from a dam across the
stream above Wild cat Falls. I found this pipe many years ago but didn't know
what it was doing there.
Following the road past Dan Beard you'll come to an area on
the map marked as a swamp. This is an accurate depiction, for this part of camp was
relatively low-lying and very, very wet. There were some campsites right where the
road turns to broken dashes on the map, which is where it crossed a stream, and those
campers had to contend with a steady supply of mosquitoes and other nasties. The worst of
the sites was probably Yo-Kuts, for it was little more than a few tent platforms seemingly
tossed at random on boggy soil. While these campsites were probably necessary to meet the booming
demands of the late 60s, they couldn't have done much to enhance the camping experience!
Leaving the swamp, the road joins up with other loop,
leading you either back to the Long House or to Teddy Roosevelt Shelter, thus completing
your tour of Tribes Camp. Continue your tour with a visit to Buckskin
Camp, or head back to the main Onteora page. |
