History of Camp. Part II

In 1917 the newly organized Schenectady Council of the Boy Scouts held a camp on Assembly Point. The following year arrangements were made to share the Pilot Knob site and from 1918 until 1921 both groups used the name Camp Chingachgook, the Y camp held in July and the Scouts in August.

In 1922 the Scouts began calling their camp “Rotary” in honor of the Schenectady Rotary Club, which had made substantial contributions to the new mess hall and furnishings. The Scouts continued to jointly own and operate the camp through 1943, when they developed Boyhaven near Saratoga Springs.

The YMCA and Boy Scouts not only shared the Pilot Knob site, but the two groups had very similar philosophies and programs regarding the purpose of the Camp. Today’s daily schedule has its basis in the schedules of those first decades of camp, when bugles calls structured the day. Everything from morning exercises, assemblies, cabin inspections, and even emphasis on Indian Lore are activities found in the very first brochures and schedules in the archives.