Eagle Island’s Camp in Soho

“Camp in Soho” is an opportunity to experience life at Eagle Island without leaving your backyard, while also supporting this worthy preservation cause. Join us for a fun fall fundraiser to benefit Eagle Island, featuring a silent auction, games, prizes, and more… and if you want to get into the spirit—wear your hiking boots!

Located on its own wooded island on Upper Saranac Lake in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, Eagle Island is a youth camp, a National Historic Landmark, and one of the best-preserved examples of Great Camp architecture in the Adirondacks. Designed by renowned Adirondack architect William Coulter in 1903 as a summer retreat for former U.S. Vice President and Governor of New York Levi Morton, it was sold to Henry Graves, Jr., an industrialist from Orange, New Jersey, in 1910. In 1937, following the tragic deaths of their sons, Henry and his wife Florence generously gifted Eagle Island to the New Jersey Girl Scouts of the Oranges and Maplewood. The Girl Scouts operated the camp for 70 years, with the Great Camp buildings remaining remarkably unchanged, as campers were housed in platform tents grouped into units throughout the wooded areas of the island. In 2010, the island was put up for sale. In November 2015, Friends of Eagle Island, Inc. acquired Eagle Island through the extraordinary generosity of an anonymous donor. FEI immediately began planning and fundraising. Professional assessments of the island’s historic structures and systems were obtained, while funding and grant committees were formed to reach out to supporters and foundations. Despite the lack of running water, the summer of 2016 was a busy one with contractors plus over 100 volunteers spending time on the island to begin initial clean-up, stabilization and repairs. More extensive work will be conducted during the summer and fall of 2017, including upgrades to the electrical, water and septic systems. Eagle Island has close to $2 million dollars of identified work needed to bring it back into operation.

Learn more about Eagle Island here: http://eagleisland.org/history.