In 1885, Camp Baldhead (later known as Camp Dudley), the first residential camp in the United States and North America, was established by A. Sanford and Sumner F. Dudley, both of whom worked for the YMCA. The camp, originally located near Orange Lake in New Jersey, moved to Lake Wawayanda in Sussex County the following year, and then to the shore of Lake Champlain Near Westport, New York in 1891. By 1910, the YMCA was an early influence upon scouting, including the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and German Scouting. Edgar M. Robinson, a Chicago-area YMCA administrator, briefly left the YMCA to become the BSA's first director.
As a youth, I attended Camp Wawayanda for two weeks each summer, learned to swim, play inter-church league basketball through the YMCA of Montclair, New Jersey and I became involved in the Cub Scouts of Caldwell, New Jersey as well. Each Sunday morning, I attended the First Presbyterian Church on the corner of Bloomfield and Roseland Avenue in Caldwell, New Jersey.
As one of three children in a household parented by a single mom on welfare this is the environment in which I learned right from wrong. Thank God!!! And, thank you America the beautiful!!!
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