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Camp Savitz
The Glassboro school's great outdoors
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“The enchanting lake with its gliding canoe, the old, inviting farmhouse, and the smell of appetizing foods in the kitchen made us feel that here was a wonderful place for our social gatherings.” —The Oak, 1928.
The Outsiders
Not long after Principal Jerohn Savitz welcomed the first students to Glassboro Normal School in September 1923, he already had his sights on getting students out of the new building and even away from campus for study as well as recreation. Biology instructor John B. Sangree agreed.
Savitz and Sangree called on outdoor enthusiasts to form a club. Savitz planted the idea for them to start a camp and the students accepted the challenge.
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Over the next couple of years, students and alumni worked together to raise funds and find property for a suitable camp. Even before they were able to purchase it, they began to visit and use Greenwood Lake in nearby Elmer, benefiting from the goodwill and generosity of the Greenwood family.
Education and recreation
Professors John and Mildred Sangree, both science instructors, “trained groups of students in the art of outdoor camping, in order that they might truly appreciate the pond life, wildflowers and birds put at their disposal.” —History of Glassboro State Teachers College.
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“The moon, caressing the earth with her long golden tresses or dipping her delicate fingertips in the wandering mystical stream. A low-lying canoe drifting languidly along with just the occasional lazy dip of the paddle. Silence, except for the drip, drip, of the oozing springs, or the swish of the over-hanging bushes, as you pass beneath them.”
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“An occasional call of an owl, then—the strains of a guitar, a serenade. The moon, the canoe, someone and you—just drifting along.”
Saving and selling
Still, the goal of owning the land kept the students and alumni motivated. To save money for a substantial downpayment, the student body decided to produce a more modest yearbook. All along, they frequented the place they would call Camp Savitz, coming to treasure it and create traditions that students, alumni and faculty would enjoy for decades.
Clubs, societies, fraternities and classes made donations. All incoming freshmen paid a $1 share toward the project. The Outdoor Club sold candy at the school store. Students held parties to sell baked goods, soup and sandwiches to fund supplies and equipment for the camp’s opening weekend.
Finally, on Oct. 1, 1929, the Glassboro State Normal Student and Alumni Camp Association agreed to purchase the 56-acre Greenwood Lake Estate for $9,250. The Salem County clerk recorded the transaction March 10, 1930.
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From farmland to campground
The property was approximately 11 miles away from campus, near the current intersection of Mill Road and Lower Mill Road in Pittsgrove. Originally, a dirt road led to its lake, a spindle mill, a pond and an old farmhouse.
The homestead and spindle works had been well-established. During World War I, expert spindle maker Robert K. Greenwood had sped his water-powered mill to capacity and supplied weaving spindles to many of the largest clothing manufacturers of the time. After his death, real estate agent William Wheatley helped accomplish the sale. Wheatley was the father of Mary Wheatley ’28.
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Shares of Camp Savitz
Students and alumni purchased shares which contributed to mortgage payments and camp maintenance.
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Home away from school
In the farmhouse living room hung the declaration of the camp’s christening: “The Student Alumni Camping Association of the Glassboro Normal School on this, the 23rd day of December 1926, do lovingly and joyously dedicate the camp at Greenwood Lake to Dr. Jerohn J. Savitz, and out of the affection of their hearts in token of their gratitude to him for originating and executing its purchase do bestow upon this site of land the name Camp Savitz.”
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“It is an old mansion mellowed with years, a home by virtue of the many generations of happy feet that have scampered through its corridors.”
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Camp delights
“The tale of the Camp Ghost is told and retold for the benefit of the freshmen. Poe’s ‘Tales of Mystery’ takes on a new and breathtaking quality when read by the light of the blazing logs. Out-of-door activities put life into jaded appetites and cooking becomes an adventure and a necessity during these carefree weekends.” — The Oak, 1937.
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“After the meal, a fire sparkling and crackling on the hearth, chestnuts roasting, a violin, a piano, the strains of a waltz, someone dancing, someone singing; someone prodding the fire and the sparks twirling merrily up the chimney. All draw close while someone tells a ghost story or spins a weird arm [sic] of the sea.”
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“Thumbing through the pages of the visitors’ book, one is always impressed by the happy, contented attitude of those writing. There are names on these pages representing all graduated classes, and all those to be graduated. It is the obvious opinion of all that it was a great project, well worth the years of effort.”
—Margaret McKenna ’40 from the History of Glassboro State Teachers College
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End of an era
The first three days of September 1940 brought devastation to the region when a tropical storm moved in from the east and combined with a band of severe thunderstorms from the west. Together, they formed one of the worst storms in the state’s history, causing widespread flooding. According to the United States Geological Survey, rainfall was close to 24 inches in nine hours and most of the dams and bridges in the area gave way or were destroyed entirely. When the lake’s dam washed out at Camp Savitz, the retreat suffered severe damage.
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After the destructive storm and World War II-era deprivation that followed, maintenance and restoration efforts would prove to be difficult for the Camp Association. In 1945, students began work to restore it, but postwar recovery in many other matters became paramount.
In the 1950s, President Thomas Robinson called for a consensus on the camp's future. Student and alumni shareholders voted to sell the property. Eventually, the State bought it for the use of the Division of Fish & Game in the Department of Conservation & Economic Development.
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“Suddenly it is left vacant. It is dark, dreary and lonesome and just longing for someone to light its candles, thaw out its cramped and frozen limbs, kindle once more a fire on its cozy hearth.”
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