Founded in 1885 by Sumner F. Dudley, Camp Dudley YMCA is the oldest continually running boys camp in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is located in Westport, New York

Westport, New York

Westport is a town in Essex County, New York, United States overlooking Lake Champlain. The population was 1,362 at the 2000 census.The Town of Westport is on the eastern border of the county and is south of Plattsburgh and south of Montreal. Westport is inside the Adirondack Park.Westport is...

, on the shores of Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...

. In 1993, it was included within the Camp Dudley Road Historic District

Camp Dudley Road Historic District

Camp Dudley Road Historic District is a national historic district located at Westport, in Essex County, New York. The district contains 131 contributing buildings, one contributing site, and one contributing structure. It consists of an agricultural landscape and includes late-19th and early-20th...

 when listed on the listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

Early history

Sumner Dudley, long active in both the New York and New Jersey YMCA movements, was asked in 1884 to take "young honor YMCA members" camping. In 1885, he took seven boys for a week’s encampment at Orange Lake, N. J. The next year Dudley moved the site to Twin Islands, Lake Wawayanda, N.J. Ultimately, the camp settled on Lake Champlain, N.Y., in 1908. Dudley referred to the first camp as Camp Baldheadhttp://www.riversideymca.org/YMCAhistory.html, and later the Boys' Camping Society (B.C.S.). After Dudley’s death in 1897, the camp was renamed Camp Dudley.

Camp numbers

Campers are assigned camp numbers in ascending order based on when they first attended Camp. The first camp number (No. 1) was assigned George Peck in 1903. Since then, over 20,000 campers, leaders, and staff have each been given a unique, identifying number. At alumni gatherings, there is often a competition to see who in attendance has the lowest (or oldest) camp number.

Mission and values

No longer officially operated by the YMCA, Camp Dudley still affiliates itself with the group in name. It draws from the YMCA's own tenets of mind, body, and spirit. Though non-denominational, the camp espouses "Christian values" in its teachings and programs, not least of which is its motto, "The Other Fellow First".

Thanks to a strong and financially supportive alumni base, the camp offers scholarships to those in financial need.

In the summer of 2006 Camp Dudley acquired a sister camp in Colchester, Vermont

Colchester, Vermont

Colchester is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. The population was 17,067 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-largest municipality and second-largest town in Vermont by population.-Geography:...

 called Camp Dudley at Kiniya, after purchasing the former Camp Kiniya from the Williams family. A driving force in this expansion was for the daughters of Camp Dudley alumni to have a place to learn the same ethics and values that their sons could learn at Camp Dudley.

Alumni

One of the unique characteristics of Dudley is the loyalty and support of its alumni. For most campers, their relationship with Dudley does not end with the close of the camping season but continues throughout their lives. Many former campers return as Leaders, and alumni and parents contribute to Dudley through their financial support. All friends of Dudley are invited to attend the alumni gatherings, as well as the August CDA Reunion at Camp. Between 35 and 40 alumni gatherings are held during the year throughout the country and around the world on the Dudley "Reunion Trail". 2009 was Camp Dudley's 125th summer.

Camp Dudley at Kiniya

In 2006 Camp Dudley officially acquired Camp Kiniya to expand its rich camping tradition to girls. Camp Kiniya was founded in 1919 by Helen Van Buren and lies on the Vermont shores of Lake Champlain, in Colchester. Traditions at Camp Kiniya include the Kiwi Day, where the entire camp celebrates campers and staffers who have attended for four years or more. Camp Dudley at Kiniya has grown into a balanced blend of both camps, including traditions from each original camp.

Notable alumni

• Burgess Meredith
  Burgess Meredith
  Oliver Burgess Meredith , known professionally as Burgess Meredith, was an American actor in theatre, film, and television, who also worked as a director...
  
   (1907 - 1997) Actor, film & television
• Bruce Gehrke
  Bruce Gehrke
  Bruce Gehrke was a three sport star Ivy League Hall of Famer,former professional football player for New York Giants in the National football League and a winning coach...
  
   professional football and basketball player (NY Giants, NY Knicks)
• R. Inslee Clark, Jr.
  R. Inslee Clark, Jr.
  Russell Inslee "Ink" Clark, Jr. was an educator, administrator, and a key player in the transition of the Ivy League into co-education in the 1960s.-Personal life:Clark was born in 1935 and graduated from Garden City High School in 1953....
  
   (1935 - 1999) First Dean of Admissions at Yale University
  Yale University
  Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
  
   to admit women
• Rollie Stichweh Army
  Army
  An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
  
   quarterback, played in first game with tv instant replay (1963 Army–Navy Game)
• James Widdoes
  James Widdoes
  James "Jamie" Widdoes is an American actor and film and television director, sometimes credited as Jamie Widdoes.-Career:...
  
   Actor, director, film and television
• Mark Davenport Actor, film & television
• Russ Gebhardt Pitcher, Montreal Expos
• Samuel Adams Wisner
  Samuel Adams Wisner
  Samuel Adams Wisner is an American rapper, and recording artist from Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Personal life:...
  
   Rapper
• Shaun O'Hara
  Shaun O'Hara
  Shaun O'Hara is an American football center in the National Football League who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Rutgers University, and has been in the NFL since 2000, having begun his pro career as a free agent with the Cleveland Browns...
  
   Center, New York Giants
• Bob Pettit
  Bob Pettit
  Robert Lee "Bob" Pettit Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, all with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks . He was the first recipient of the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970...
  
   NBA Basketball Player, 1970 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee
• Reverend Kevin S. Moran Bronxville native, non-political activist, and humorist
• Charles O'RourkeDraino
• Oliver Jeffers
  Oliver Jeffers
  Oliver Jeffers is an artist, illustrator and writer from Belfast Northern Ireland and now lives and works in Brooklyn. He graduated from the University of Ulster in 2001.-Life and work:...
  
  Artist

External links

• Camp Dudley website - Now includes information about Camp Dudley at Kiniya for Girls
• Camp Dudley South Florida Reunion website
• Digitized Last Whistle yearbooks
• Riverside YMCA History
• Sumner F. Dudley death notice (NY Times)