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 and are designed to be enjoyed by multiple generations - our much-loved, traditional programs are for grandchildren to attend with grandparents, and this year we have a new camp for all generations to enjoy! 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)  

Check –in on Sunday begins at 4PM. Good-byes and see-you-next-year’s are at 10A Friday. 

 

Road Scholar Intergenerational Programs

2013 Dates	Road Scholar #
June 23 - 28	#4977	Intergenerational Camp (ages 8-11)
June 30 - July 5	#4978	Boat building and canoe skills (ages 11-14)
June 30 - July 5	#17352	Adirondack Camping Adventures (ages 8-11)
July 7 - 12	#9543	Grandmothers and Granddaughters (ages 6-12)
July 14 - 19	#4977	Intergenerational Camp (ages 6-9)
July 28 - Aug 2	#17352	Adirondack Camping Adventures (ages 8-11)
August 4 - 9	#4977	Intergenerational Camp (ages 6-9)
August 11 - 16	#21022	*new*  Family Week (ages 6 and up)

More Road Scholar Courses: 

Sagamore and Adirondack History

The Illusion of Roughing It: Adirondack Great Camps of the Vanderbilts & JP Morgan  RS# 14875  
2013:  June 4 - 7;  Aug 25 - 28;  Sept 8 - 11; Oct 14 - 17  
                
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. 

America's Treasures: Great Camp Sagamore   RS# 20944
2013:  May 28 - June 2;  June 16 - 21;  Sept 3 - 8;  Sept 29 - Oct 4

Few have ever experienced “roughing it” like the wealthy businessmen of the Gilded Age, who turned the quiet wilderness of the Adirondacks into a haven for the rich and famous. Today, Great Camp Sagamore, once the summer home of the Vanderbilts, remains an icon of the early Adirondack lifestyle — and is the perfect location to begin your in-depth study of this opulent era.  Join historians for a look into the lives of these famous camp owners, their well-known guests and the workers who maintained their lavish properties. Then, gain an appreciation for the region’s natural treasures as naturalists share their insight on the ecology of the Adirondack Forest Preserve, Lake Sagamore and Raquette Lake.  A special component of this course is a luncheon cruise and tour of Pine Knot, Durant's first camp and the prototype of "Adirondack rustic" architecture.   

Outdoor Programs

Boreal Birds of the Adirondacks  RS#14872
2013:  May 28 - May 31;  June 4 - 7             
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     RS # 16454                             
2013: Aug 25 - 28; Sept 15 - 18;  Sept 29 - Oct 2    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  RS #16453
2013:  June 16 - 20;  Aug 18 - 22;  Sept 15 - 19      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 Mountain Song , Story & Dance  RS #14641
2013:  Oct 8 - 11
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!

Register online by clicking any course title above or call Road Scholar at 800-454-5768.

 

Other courses we have offered include:

Adirondack Flora: Diverse, Abundant, Endangered   RS # 16452     

Dates ~ To be announced. 
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.

Adirondack Scandals & Scallywags    RS #19024   

Dates ~ To be announced.
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  RS #19127     

Dates ~ To be announced.
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. 

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!