Sagamore is proud of its long partnership with Road Scholar, a nationwide continuing education program for adults of all ages.
INTERGENERATIONALS: our most popular programs.
These Grands camp sessions build life-long memories, friendships, and skills. Many participants return annually. Great Camp Sagamore has a team of professional instructors who lead your camp experience. Our camp director and assistant are outdoor educators assisted by interns. A certified teacher instructs our crafts classes. Our musicians are professionals with competencies in both voice and instrument. Full program details available at www.roadscholar.org (view Sagamore's Grands Camp)
Cost: $697 per adult, $677 per child
Check –in on Sunday begins at 4PM. Good-byes and see-you-next-year’s are at 10A Friday.
Road Scholar Intergenerational Programs
| 2012 Dates | Road Scholar # | |
| June 24 - 29 |
#4978 | Boat building and canoe skills (ages 11-14) |
| June 24 - 29 |
#4977 | Intergenerational Camp (ages 8-11) |
| July 1 - 6 |
#17352 | Daring and Dangerous (ages 8-11) |
| July 8 - 13 |
#9543 |
Grandmothers and Granddaughters (ages 6-12) |
| July 15 - 20 |
#4977 | Intergenerational Camp (ages 6-9) |
| July 29- Aug 3 |
#17352 |
Daring and Dangerous (ages 8-11) |
| August 5 - 10 |
#18557 | Grandfathers and Grandsons (ages 6-12) |
| August 5 - 10 |
#9543 |
Grandmothers and Granddaughters (ages 6-12) |
| August 12 - 17 |
#4977 | Intergenerational Camp (ages 6-9) |
After registering, please revisit this page and print Road Scholar Health Form (required for each participant): Road Scholar Health Form
Print Road Scholar Parental Consent Form (required for each grandchild):
Road Scholar Parental Consent
More Road Scholar Courses:
Sagamore and Adirondack History
The Illusion of Roughing It: Adirondack Great Camps of the Vanderbilts & JP Morgan # 14875
2012: May 29- June1; June 17-20; Aug 26 - 29; Sept 4 - 7; Oct 8 - 12
Limit: 40
Newport was the way they went to the beach. Great Camps were the
way the wealthy of the Gilded Age went to the woods. Tour Sagamore the
Vanderbilt camp and Uncas, JP Morgan’s. Learn about the rise and fall of
William West Durant the camp architect and observe how
upstairs-downstairs was imported to the woods.
Adirondack Scandals & Scallywags #19024
2012: June 3 - 6; Aug 19 - 22; Sept 9 - 12
Examine the many scandals that occurred in the Adirondack Park
following the arrival of those well-heeled urban industrialists and
socialites who built the Adirondack Great Camps, and learn how these
figures introduced licentiousness into the once insulated Adirondack
wilderness. With local historians discuss the Gilded Age land-grab by
cutthroat robber barons, and investigate the death of Grace Brown on
Big Moose Lake for which Chester Gillette paid with his own life in the
electric chair. Examine the sordid details of murder in the Baekeland
family, heirs to the Bakelite fortune and summer denizens of the
Adirondacks, and reevaluate the charity of Andrew Carnegie in light of
the miserliness that led to the carnage of the Homestead Strike.
Music and Society at Great Camp Sagamore: Jerome Kern, Richard Rogers #19127
2012: Sept 9 - 12
A favorite pastime of Mrs. Vanderbilt was inviting interesting and
intelligent people to Camp Sagamore. One such celebrity, Richard
Rodgers, signed her guestbook with a bar of music from "Carousel," and
one can imagine him at the piano in the Playhouse while other guests
sang the hits he had composed. Study the role of the socially prominent
in the careers of Rodgers and Jerome Kern, both guests at the
Vanderbilts’ Adirondack getaway. Examine American musicals of the
period to learn how the genre shed its European influences and adapted
to indigenous forms like jazz. Through discussions, films and
singalongs, analyze “Oklahoma,” “The Sound of Music” and other
creations of the fruitful partnership between Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein II.
Outdoor Programs
Adirondack Flora: Diverse, Abundant, Endangered # 16452
2012: June 17 - 20 Limit: 11
The Adirondacks boasts 90% of the plant species found east of the Mississippi. Your instructor will include field trips that visit both land and aquatic plants while he discusses the dangers the environment now poses to their future.
Boreal Birds of the Adirondacks #14872
2012: May 29 - June 1; June 3 - 6
See and hear the boreal birds (gray jay, white- throated sparrow, black-backed and Northern three-toed woodpeckers, boreal chickadee, etc.) that make their home in and breed in the Adirondacks. Lectures and slide shows will prepare you for field trips to two New York State Important Birding Areas.
Kayaking The Adirondacks # 16454
2012: Aug 26 - 29; Sept 4 - 7 Limit: 12
Many describe kayaking as being at-one with the water. Our
instructor will discuss safety and equipment and then teach the best
techniques for flat water kayaking. One day is spent on Sagamore Lake
and another on an out trip. All equipment is provided.
Digital Photography: Conquering Cameras & Computers Without Curses #16453
2012: Sept 23 - 27; Oct 8 - 12 Limit: 15
Great Camp Sagamore is a photographer's paradise. This is an expanded, 5-day photography course to give you more in-depth instruction and more time to practice your growing skills.
Adirondack Song & Dance #14641
2012: Oct 2 - 5
Get rhythm on an Adirondack musical and cultural immersion! Each day, local experts teach you how to sing, play, dance and tell stories like a native. Discover the diverse talents of your instructors, then select your classes. A professor demystifies the art of storytelling while a musician reveals regional culture through music instruction. From fiddles and banjos to spoons and whistles, instrument lessons offer opportunities for all musical abilities and interests. Write and sing your inner song with guidance by a singer-songwriter. In the barn, grab a partner and do-si-do as your dancing instructor calls contras, reels and squares. Display your new skills at the grand finale talent show, where everyone is guaranteed a standing ovation!
After registering with Road Scholar, print RS Health Form (required for each participant):
Road Scholar Health Form
Other courses we have offered:
Edison: How He Brought the Vanderbilt Great Camp to Light #17654
Dates ~ To be announced.
Sagamore still has the gas light system that was replaced when
Edison came to the Adirondacks with his light bulb. The Vanderbilts
erected a hydro-electric plant in 1914 and began generating their own
electricity to accommodate his invention.
Guides and Great Camps: An Adirondack Experience # 4295
Dates ~ To be announced.
Learn Great Camp history from the Gilded Age when Alfred
Vanderbilt hired guides who led the “sports,” hunting and fishing safely
in the woods. Guides were very special people that had to have savvy,
expertise, and a good sense of humor. Expect woods lore and
almost-believable stories about guides.
The Vanderbilt Great Camp and All that Jazz #17549
Dates ~ To be announced.
Sagamore was the wilderness retreat of the Vanderbilt family
starting in 1901, the same era that nurtured jazz, blues, and tin pan
alley. The Vanderbilts were very interested in Broadway and Hollywood
and had many stars as their guests at Sagamore. The Vanderbilt’s parties
of the era, even in the woods, would have been steeped in this music.
The class room for this course will be the “Playhouse” the very building
where these parties would have taken place. If the walls could
talk—they would speak jazz. In this course we'll trace the development
of Jazz from its beginnings in the south to its rise and transformation
into many of the musical styles of today. Along the way we'll focus on
developing your ability to hear all of the things that characterize Jazz
and its greats-from rhythm to chord progressions. In the evenings
we'll sit back, enjoy a fire, and listen to great Jazz music in
Vanderbilt Playhouse. The course will be taught by Dr. Erik Holmgren
from Columbia University, who lives, works, and plays in New York City.
It will also include a tour of Sagamore’s 27 buildings and will provide
time to enjoy the incomparable natural setting the Vanderbilt guests
enjoyed.
The Vanderbilt Great Camp & The Great Outdoors #14983
Dates ~ To be announced.
See
the Adirondacks the way the "sports" of the Gilded Age saw them. Trace
the history of the Adirondack Gilded Age and the social, cultural and
architectural value of the Vanderbilts’ Great Camp. Sacred to the Native
Americans, inspiration to artists and power sources for the
industrialization of America in the Gilded Age — witness firsthand the
art, culture, industrial use and natural beauty of waterfalls on
excursions with local experts. In the Gilded Age, sporting gentleman
experienced the mere illusion of “roughing it” while servants and
Adirondack guides kept them comfortable far away from their city
mansions. Examine the social importance of guides and discover the wide
range of skills necessary for guides to do their jobs.
Contact Us for more information. We look forward to welcoming you to Great Camp Sagamore!
Raquette Lake, NY 13436 | info@greatcampsagamore.org
Tel: (315) 354-5311 | Fax: (315) 354-5851
Sagamore Institute of the Adirondacks, Inc. is an independent non-profit 501c3 Corp dedicated to the stewardship
of Great Camp Sagamore in Raquette Lake, NY.





