Camp Olmsted is a summer camping facility in Cornwall on Hudson, New York, operated by the Five Points Mission, a Methodist organization. It is located along Bayview Avenue, NY 218, near Storm King Mountain.
It was founded in 1901 when the mission, which had been working to improve conditions for residents of the eponymous Manhattan slum (depicted in the Martin Scorsese film Gangs of New York) since 1848. At the turn of the century, they realized children from the immigrant families they were helping needed a place to get away from the city during the summer. Sarah and John Olmsted donated the 21-acre (8 ha) parcel that was originally known as the Olmsted Fresh Air Home. Campers would take the Hudson River Day Liner from the city to Cornwall and then proceed to the camp.
In 1966 the New York City Society took a role in operating the camp, which, when three cabins were winterized, allowed for year-round operation. The camp was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and accredited by the American Camp Association two years later. The addition of two adjoining properties in 1998 brought the facility to its current 76-acre (30 ha) size. Today the camp runs four 12-day sessions for city children in the summer, and religious retreats year-round.
Famous quotes containing the word camp:
“The triumphs of peace have been in some proximity to war. Whilst the hand was still familiar with the sword-hilt, whilst the habits of the camp were still visible in the port and complexion of the gentleman, his intellectual power culminated; the compression and tension of these stern conditions is a training for the finest and softest arts, and can rarely be compensated in tranquil times, except by some analogous vigor drawn from occupations as hardy as war.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)