Woodstock
Times
Letters to the Editor - August 19, 2010
CAMP WOODLAND REMEMBERED
Last Saturday about 80 people squeezed into the Woodstock Historical Society
building on a beautiful afternoon to listen to and take part in a program about
the Spirit of Camp Woodland, an extraordinary camp which lived in the Woodland Valley from 1939-1962. Norman and Hannah
Studer, the directors, set out to create this unique and wonderful institution
which did the prime collecting of the folk songs and folklore of the Catskill Mountains, embraced the traditional people of
these beautiful mountains, helping to preserve a world which was fast
disappearing. At the same time it brought with it “up from the City” the belief
in integration, challenging social and economic injustice, internationalism and
a deep love of music. Woodland
found a way to bring these two worlds together by reaching out with mutual
respect and love for the land.
So on Saturday we sang and told the story of Camp Woodland,
while laughing and crying. The beautiful music rang out as fabulous musicians —
Eric Weissberg, Mickey Vandow, Pat Lamanna and Joe Hickerson — Camp Woodlanders
all! — sang and led us in the choruses.
I want to thank the Woodstock Historical Society and especially Weston Blelock
and Letitia Smith who worked so hard to make this a reality. Their generosity
and their interest in this extraordinary institution which was Camp Woodland
is deeply appreciated by all of us.
Woodland has managed to send its legacy out in many directions — with those who
fight for social justice, with those who believe that the voices of children
are important, with those who believe that the past is rich with culture and
value and with those who are willing to stand up for what they believe and of
course with those who keep singing.
I talked to my son Mat, who has been organizing with “mountain folk” in WV to
stop the destruction of mountains by the Mountaintop Removal done by Big Coal
Companies, about the event. I said that I had told people of his work and that
it was so reminiscent of the spirit of Woodland,
mountain folk and radicals brought together with shared love and respect for
the mountains. He said he too has been talking to people in WV about Camp Woodland
and its love of the mountains and its legacy which he feels has proudly
inherited. The the spirit of Camp
Woodland goes on.
So thank you again to the Woodstock Historical Society, Letitia and Weston for
their incredibly hard work and for making that wonderful day possible.
Sue Rosenberg
Saugerties
Read more: Woodstock Times - Letters to the Editor August 19 2010
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