Greater New York Councils


The Greater New York Councils is a local council of Scouting America that serves the New York City area. GNYC has a unique organization in that it is sub-divided into boroughs, each of which is led by a borough executive. The boroughs are then divided into districts. Over five million young people have experienced Scouting through GNYC, since the council's inception in the 1920s.
The programs of the Scouting America aim to serve young people by encouraging healthy habits and a lifelong appreciation of physical and personal fitness, replacing bullying with kindness, instilling a sense of environmental stewardship and sustainability, and providing leadership development opportunities and STEM Education, preparing young people for the workforce. The mission of the Scouting America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

History

In 1915, the Greater New York Advisory Council was founded, changing its name to the Boy Scout Federation of Greater New York Council in 1925. In 1936 the council changed its name to the Greater New York Council. Since the beginning, the five boroughs of the city each maintained their own council under the umbrella of the "greater" council Bronx Council, Brooklyn Council, Manhattan Council, Queens Council, and the Staten Island Council.
In 1967, the council was renumbered as Greater New York Council with each of the boroughs also being renumbered: Bronx Council, Brooklyn Council, Manhattan Council, Queens Council, and the Staten Island Council.
The Greater New York Councils office relocated from the Empire State Building to 475 Riverside Drive in Morningside Heights in December 2018.

Organization

The name of Greater New York Councils is written in plural form, because the five borough councils that composed it were themselves councils and operate as such in many respects. Each had its own BSA council number, a council president and a council commissioner. Each selects recipients of the Silver Beaver award and presents these along with other council-level awards annually. Until 2013, each borough council had its own Order of the Arrow lodge. Those who are registered as youth or adult participants with borough councils wear borough council shoulder patches on their uniforms. This has been permitted by BSA uniforming rules, because each of the boroughs had been technically a local council in its own right.

Bronx Borough

  • Bronx River District
OA Chapter - Uteney Gohkos
Formerly:
  • Eastern District
  • New Horizon District
  • Frontier District

    Brooklyn Borough

  • Breukelen District
  • Lenape Bay District
OA Chapter - Shu-Shu-Gah

Manhattan Borough

  • Big Apple District
OA Chapter - Man-A-Hattin

Queens Borough

  • Founders District
  • Trailblazer District
OA Chapters - Matinecock & Mespaetch

Staten Island Borough

  • Aquehonga District
OA Chapter – Aquehonga

Camps

The council currently operates and maintains three year round Scout camp properties: William H. Pouch Scout Camp, Alpine Scout Camp, and Ten Mile River Scout Reservation.

Ten Mile River Scout Camps

Ten Mile River Scout Camps is a - roughly the size of Manhattan - camp near Narrowsburg, New York, has four miles of frontage on the Delaware River, and is owned and operated by the Greater New York Councils of the Boy Scouts of America since 1927. It is the principal Boy Scout camp serving New York City. In recent years, TMR is also now increasingly used by other councils in New York state. Over the years, prominent Americans have been instrumental in its history, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and New York mayor William O'Dwyer.

History

TMR was founded as the result of efforts by the New York City Boy Scout Foundation beginning in 1924 to develop a camp large enough to accommodate the burgeoning growth of Scouting in the New York metropolitan area during the 1920s, with a goal of providing camping for 3,500 Scouts at a time. Led by future New York governor and President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was president of the New York City Boy Scout Foundation, the group selected TMR's present site, oversaw the land acquisition process from multiple owners, and raised funds for the large camp's development.
In recognition of his pivotal role in the founding and development of TMR, received Scouting's Silver Buffalo Award in a ceremony held at the camp on August 23, 1930. Later, as recently elected president of the U.S., FDR returned again to the camp in the summer of 1933 to be inducted into the Order of the Arrow. By the summer of 1936, 10,000 boys were attending the camp each summer, the New York Times reported.
In 1952, a Manhattan Boy Scout was recognized as the 250,000th Scout to attend TMR and given a special award by FDR's widow, Eleanor Roosevelt. At its peak in 1965, Ten Mile River operated eleven camps with a peak usage of nearly 12,000 boys. Following a decline in the 1970s, five of TMR's eleven camps closed. By the late 1990s, attendance had rebounded to 6,000 Scouts.

Ten Mile River Scout Camps Notable Alumni

  • Charles Camarda, astronaut.
  • Tony Curtis, actor.
  • Eugene Calvin Cheatham Jr., Eagle Scout, Tuskegee Airmen.
  • Jay M. Cohen, Eagle Scout, Rear Admiral US Navy.
  • Andrew Cuomo, Governor.
  • Harvey Finkelstein, Distinguished Eagle Scout, Inventor.
  • Johnny Ford, Politician.
  • James P. Gordon, Eagle Scout, physicist known for his work in the fields of optics and quantum electronics.
  • Earl G. Graves Sr., publisher, philanthropist, and advocate of African-American businesses.
  • Johannes Knoops, Eagle Scout, Rome Prize Fellow in Architecture and noted educator.
  • Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate.

    Present

TMR is heavily wooded with hills overlooking the Delaware River. It has 10 lakes and ponds, including Half Moon, Crystal, Nianque, Turnpike, and Rock, for boating, swimming, sailing, canoeing, rowing, kayaking and other aquatic activities, as well as an Olympic size pool. In addition to specialty camps such as Aviation Camp, National Youth Leader Training, Trail to Eagle Camp, Shooting Sports Camp, and Aquatics Camp, TMR has a central headquarters area, a state-of-the-art outdoor amphitheater, a high ropes team-building course, three climbing towers, an ATV program, horseback riding, sports complex, family camp, and three active youth camps, each offering different programs and activities:
  • Camp Aquehonga on Half Moon Lake, with traditional Scout camping including patrol cooking, along with an olympic-sized swimming pool.
  • Camp Keowa on Crystal Lake, offers water activities such as canoeing, sailing and waterskiing, with meals served Near Bethel, New York
  • Camp Ranachqua on Lake Nianque, with meals served This is the principal Boy Scout camp serving the Hudson Valley Council.

    Closed TMR camps

Crystal Lake
  • Camp Kernochan
  • Camp Lakeside
  • Camp Manhattan
  • Camp Man
  • Camp Rondack
Lake Nianque
  • Camp Nianque: Once the kosher meals camp for TMR until its closure, it was located about one-third mile North of Stillwaters/Ranachqua on the east side of the lake
  • Camp Stillwaters underwent a name change to Camp Ranachqua by the end of the 1950s. Located near the south end of Lake Nianque, Stillwaters was the traditional camp for troops from the Bronx. The Bronx OA Lodge #4 was called Ranachqua until the merger of the five Greater New York Councils lodges.
Davis Lake
  • Camp Davis Lake
  • Camp Hayden
Rock Lake
  • Camp Chappegat
  • Camp Ihpetonga
  • Camp Kotohke
  • Camp Kunatah - Camp Kunatah was also utilized by Kosher Observant troops from mostly Brooklyn, but also from New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia for 1/2 summers. At the end of the summer traditional camp would take place with troops from all over. Explorer Camp was held for many years in Week 8.
  • ''Camp Brooklyn''

    Alpine Scout Camp

Greater New York Councils also operates Alpine Scout Camp, located in Alpine, New Jersey. The camp is used for short-term wilderness camping, as well as long-term platform tent camping. Various activity areas include orienteering courses, an indoor climbing wall, an outdoor climbing tower, archery range, BB range, a pool, an activity center with indoor games, as well as a network of trails.
"Cub World" includes a representation of a Wild West frontier fort and a large "land ship" used for many youth activities. 2024's Summer Camp Theme was Knights and Dragons.
During the summer, "Cub World" offers week-long over night camping experiences for 6- to 10-year-old boys and girls. Kimama, Camp Gan Israel and Alpine Day Camp are three of the Day Camps hosted on the Property. They experience most of what a Cub Scout would experience during a week of camp without an overnight stay.
Alpine Scout Camp is host to the majority of GNYC's off season events such as Outdoor Skills Days, Winter Camp, Family Fun Weekends and Cub Day Activities.

William H. Pouch Scout Camp

Greater New York Councils also operates William H. Pouch Scout Camp, located in the Greenbelt Trail on Staten Island, New York. William H. Pouch Scout Camp, located in Staten Island, is New York City's only Scout Camp. Pouch Camp is open year-round for Scouting activities. The camp is approximately 143 acres, including several cabins with capacity to hold 14 to 22 Scouts and Scouters. The camp also includes 55 leantos, 20 tent sites, and a low-impact Camp-O-Ree field with an adjacent amphitheater. There are numerous Picnic Groves as well as a Chapel. GNYC operates a summer day camp designed especially for Cub Scouts drawn from the surrounding communities.