A town in Saratoga County is planning to purchase a former cub scout camp, with plans to preserve it as a park. WAMC’s Southern Adirondack Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports...
Camp Boyhaven operated for nearly a century until it closed at the end of the 2017 season.
The 300-acre property was most recently used as a cub scout camp by Boy Scouts of America’s Twin Rivers Council.
After the camp was put up for sale, the Town of Milton was selected as a finalist.
Town Supervisor Scott Ostrander is envisioning a park on the property.
“If I was going to say what we’re going to do with it at this point, I would say it’s just going to be a passive recreation park at this point,” said Ostrander.
In January, the Milton town board voted to bond $500,000 to purchase the property. That, in addition to a matching contribution from an anonymous donor, brings the total bid up to $1 million.
Milton Planning Board Chair Larry Woolbright said he received the call from the anonymous donor unexpectedly after the camp went up for sale.
“Sort of a cold call. And lo and behold he offered to try to donate a bunch of money to help with the purchase. I was pretty floored,” said Woolbright.
Right now, the town is waiting on the bond and an environmental review.
“The bond is in progress and the engineering work should come back any day now, I believe,” said Woolbright.
Twin Rivers Council’s Drew Chesney, who worked as properties chair and camp director at Boyhaven, said the idea to potentially preserve the camp as a park was attractive to the council.
“That was a huge selling point to us and something we took very seriously,” said Chesney.
The camp is home to several buildings built over the decades in various conditions, from small cabins and structures to a large dining hall. Some of the buildings are not up to code and may have to come down.
The council has already moved equipment and resources out of Boyhaven to redistribute to its other scout camps, Camp Rotary in Poestenkill in Rensselaer County and Camp Wakpominee in Fort Ann in Washington County.
Proceeds from the sale will go toward an endowment at Twin Rivers Council and will assist camping programs.
If the sale goes through, Supervisor Ostander said the state has also expressed interest in purchasing some of the land from the town.
“That’s not definite at this point. Everything is just in talks at this point,” said Ostrander.
While Boyhaven may not host summer day camp programs and wintertime Klondike Derbies as it did in the past, Chesney is looking forward to the property being open to all.
“Is it going to look the same as it did when we sold it? No, I’m sure they’re going to have their own spin to it and some things will be gone. But it does make me feel a lot better. Hopefully everything goes through OK and, you know, I’ll be able to walk it someday as part of it being state or town land and we can appreciate those moments,” said Chesney.
