Great place, great memories, great lessons!

I attended Camp Eagle Island during my 6th and 7th grade summers and loved it. Now my 6th grade daughter wants to attend a girl scout camp after I told her about EIC. I'm heartbroken that it is closed and hope that it will reopen.

Angela from Livingston, NJ originally

I was a camper at Eagle Island and I had a great there.I had such a great time that I came back as a camp counselor. The experience was great and it was very memorable. I even did the chaperon thing and rode with the girls to camp. I am really upset that it is closed but I hope that it does open back up. My niece would love it also.

When my Dad told me last summer that EIC was closed for camp I think I cried. One of the saddest things I ever heard. I think of EIC as a family tradition my aunts went, my sisters and I went and I was hoping to take my boys up for family camp. I was a counselor for the summer of 1993 and the waterfront director for the summer of 1994. I still have a sweatshirt that I wear!!! Some of the best times I ever had were on that rock. God bless the island and all who love her.

EIC lost one of their own yesterday. Mike Destefano the cook for women's weekend and Family Camp for many years passed away yesterday of an apparent heart attack. Mike and Rose were two of the hardest workers EIC has ever had and truly loved it. Rose came to EIC the summer of 2002 knowing it would most like be her last as she was battling breast cancer because it was a place of comfort for her. She passed away in the fall of that same year. Now we have lost Mike. They will both be sorely missed.

Yes, Ellen Strauss is found. Cancel, the APB and take down the "Wanted" posters. She admitted that she had been a little lost until we reunited at the reunion April 10. I think Marilu and I and others from our group all felt that way a bit. Thank you Chris and Mary (host) for making all of this possible. You can rely on our pack to help save EIC for future happy girls and women. Council, when can we meet up again for a work weekend or women's weekend?

Fabulous news!! Ellen Strauss, now Ellen Strauss-Prottas has been found! She was a camper from '59 to '63. She lives in the Boston area.

Ellen Strauss-Prottas <e.prottas@USA.net>;

The EIC alumnae reunion on Sat. April 10 was attended by nearly 70 people, including campers, alumnae from all decades of EIC, and friends. Stacy Perman attended and spoke about the book she is writing on Henry Graves, Jr. who gave Eagle Island to the Girl Scouts in 1937. We heard from campers who want to return to EIC ASAP and from Peggy Mellors from Council who is new head of Properties and Asset Management.
The Board is discussing an operational plan to go ahead with getting the camp ready to open in 2011. If you are interested in the campaign to save Adam the Moose and leave him on the island, please contact Mimi Harrington gowharr32@yahoo.com. YOu can read more about this on the Eagle Island, Saranac Lake facebook pages.
Thanks to all who helped make the reunion memorable, and to those who travelled great distances to attend.

Jan Cunningham, past Waterfront Director and Women's Weekend participant has passed away. Condolences to her daughter Mary would be greatly appreciated.
Mary Cunningham
C/O Rita Keefe
326 River Ave
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742
732-714-9044

FYI, the photo albums on the site somehow lost all their pictures, but not their comments or thumbnail versions - very mysterious... thanks to Chris H. for the heads-up! I am replacing them, but i don't have all the backups in one spot so it will take me a few sessions to get it done.

Please follow the links to the GSHNJ report of the Nov meeting held at council. One of the planned ways to make money for repairs is to sell the the animal heads including Adam.

Ellen Strauss we are looking for you. We have found each other, Ginny, Marilu, Kathi Q., Emily Jo, Emily Sue, Rowain (counselor) but the Rat Pack is incomplete without you. Please contact us . Then we can cancel our all points bulletin and take down the wanted posters in Main Camp (and the post offices). xoxo Ginny.

Hi, i never attended this camp but my grandmother worked at Eagle Island in some of its first years and still speaks of it as some of the best memories of her life. I was hoping to find a picture of the camp scenery to frame for her as a gift, but wasn't sure if these pictures I am finding, for example of the boathouse are recently built or some of the remaining foundations from when the camp began. Is anyone here familiar enough with the camp to let me know!

Those of us assembled outside the GSHNJ Board of Directors Meeting on Nov. 9th, were verbally told by designated Board members that Eagle Island will reopen in the Summer of 2011 as a resident camp, and will open on a limited basis in the summer of 2010. Possibly programs would be work weekends,women's weekend, family camp or troop camping.
Money has been allocated to continue to complete the necessary repairs, including big projects like the water and electricity. Many repairs have already been completed this past summmer and fall, but the big projects remain. There is supposed to be a complete report going out to all who subscribe to the EagleIsland@gshnj.org
e-mail communications box. You should e-mail to that address if you want to be included in the official reports.

Dear Ms. Solomon and whom else it may concern.
If I could go back and re-experience anything in my life, it would be my times at
Girl Scout residence camp. I spent 6 unbelievably wonderful summer sessions at
Camp TeAta and these were truly some of the best times I ever had! My daughters
have similar memories from Camp Eagle Island. My daughter Juliet attended five
summers and learned to canoe, sail, and primitive camp. She is twenty now and
was heartbroken to hear that the camp may close. My younger daughter Rachel
continued in the tradition by attending in the summer of 2008. She had a fabulous
experience and was broken hearted to have her session for this past summer
canceled. Although we own a home in the Adirondacks, my daughters say that
the best fun they EVER had was at Camp Eagle Island. It is a very special, magical
place. To live on an island with the beauty of the Adirondacks all around singing
night and day is an experience that should not be taken away from our scouts
of today. Please do your best to keep it open! I would like to attend one
summer as a volunteer myself!!!

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!
Christine Carafello

I wonder why the council has not came out and told the public what the plans for the camp are. The two members of the board of directors told us a clear plan for the camp

Like everyone else, I frequently check for updates on the camp. As I live here in the Adirondacks (about 30min from Eagle Island) I get to enjoy the beauty and wonder of this fantastic land. It is somehow different without the kids being at the island It's quieter in a odd way like when all your kids aren't home. No singing or laughter bringing life to the forest. I guess I have an empty camp nest syndrome. I'll keep watching for signs that the "kids are coming home" lou

Seeing this website, the photos, and reading these posts brought back sweet, sweet memories. I've not been back since my last time there, as a Mariner in 1963 (I'm 2nd from the left on the bench in the pic), but Camp Eagle Island is always in my heart!

The November GSHNJ Board of Director's meeting is Nov. 9th in Westfield.
They will be discussing important matters concerning EIC including the engineering report and the mission, vision and use committee report. If you want to show support, please gather at the Westfield Service Center between 6:00 and 7:00 PM. Directions on www.gshnj.org website

Correction for my previous post: one of my cousleor's names wasn't Kristin, I believe it was Kristine or Christine Van Houten or something like that.
I also forgot to put in I wonder how Maureen and her daughters are doing? I think they're names were Kiri and Ameeka or Aneeka? Maureen was a sweetheart and she there was a counsleor that used to look after the baby Kiri I don't remember her name but I believe she was Irish.
I also remember a lifegaurd or counsleor by the name of Eliza she was like the only one that didn't have a nickname lol I remember she had thick curly reddish brown hair.