At Keowa Online we are trying to develop a page to recognize some of the history of Keowa. (We will only post some of the more interesting things, don't worry.) Thanks to Mr. Dave Malatzky from the TMR museum for much of this information. Some basic background information you might need to know before you read on it that before the camp was called "Keowa", it was called Camp Manhattan.
Q: What does the word "Keowa" mean?
A: I have heard from Sal, who works at Family Camp, that the word "Keowa" means "Great Thunderbird."
Q: When did Camp Manhattan become Camp Keowa, and why?
A: Camp Manhattan was renamed Camp Keowa in 1955. At about this time the concept of "Borough Camps," where the borough where you lived determined which camp you went to, was discontinued. Since Camp Manhattan no longer was restricted to Manhattan Borough Scouts, it made sense to change the name.
Q: What happened in 1945?
A: In 1945 Camp Rondack was constructed. Rondack was the first experiment in the modern style of "Troop Camping." The camp was specifically built with troop-sized sites rather than 100 boy-sized sites as was typical of the provisional style camping, which had been the rule until that time. The experiment was successful and troop camping was encouraged more and more. This means, technically, the modern day tradition of camping with your troop was started right here in Rondack.
Q: What does Rondack mean?
A: Rondack was the name of a Troop Camp (Troop Site) at Camp Manhattan in 1937 and perhaps earlier. Unfortunately, I don't have a camp map from this era and can't confirm that the 1937 Rondack is in the same location of the present Rondack, but this is certainly a possibility.
These were the answers I got from Dave Malatzky when I asked the questions listed above. However, I wanted to further inquire about Rondack. From here, I e-mailed the current chief of the Lenni Lenape tribe. He told me that neither the words Keowa, or Rondack are from the language of the Lenape. The other site names Mr. Malatzky lists, however; Mohawk, Iroquois, Algonquin, Mohican, Onondaga, Delaware, Seneca, Oneida, Cherokee, Chipewa and I think Cayuga, were all different names for Indian TRIBES, not words from the Lenni Lenape language. I have never heard of Wyandote, Ramapo, or Rondack before, however, so I still don't know where they might have come from. That leads one to believe Rondack might have been another tribe. However, once again, when I did some more research, I was disappointed. No where could I find any scrap of information about a Rondack tribe.
There is one more possibility. Rondack might just be part of the word "Adirondack". The name "Adirondack" was not the name of one individual tribe, although it is an authentic Indian word. It was originally a term the Iroquois used to refer to the Algonquins who were forced to live on tree buds and bark during the severe winters. The word Adirondack has a strange translation. J.B. Hewitt of the Smithsonian Institution believed that it was derived from the language of a tribe of Indians that lived on the lower Saint Lawrence in the early 1500's and that it meant "They of the Great Rocks". When it was passed on to the Iroquois the meaning got jumbled to mean "They Who Eat Trees". Remember, this is only a possibility. The two words may have nothing at all to do with each other.
From there however, I do not know where to go, so I go to you. If anyone knows what Rondack means, or where the word originated, please e-mail me.
On the TMR Museum page, there is an archive of Staff Photos from Keowa. Just scroll down to where it says "Camp Keowa Staff (Manhattan)". There are pictures from scattered years all the way from 1955 to 1997.
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Last Updated: March 05, 2006 |
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