In the 1970s there was a proliferation of new villages: Sequoia was created in the early 1970s (our adventure village), Cherokee for the oldest girls (forerunner of Windsong), Winnetou for a group of German-language campers (Winnetou, Winnetou, ja, ja, ja!), Seneca (a forerunner of MAC)...and also Lacota, a Native American village modeled on the Oglala Sioux, the creation of Leon Van Heusen, who was Lacota's first village chief. The Lacota people were very very serious about reproducing Plains Indian ceremonies and customs (and costumes). The tipis were pretty real - the poles were made of Lodge Pole Pines, brought to the Catskills by Chuck White who several times drove all the way to South Dakota and back to pick up the poles just in time for the start of camp. The tipis lasted five or six years, as did this experimental village. "Van" as he was known, alas, died of heart failure in the village's second summer. Folks such as Dave Gansler, Heather Sachs and Rich Weinberg succeeded Van as VCs. In recent years, the name Lakota (with the k) was brought back as a girls village to match Outpost. Here is a photo of the Lacota staff.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Lacota (not Lakota), the tipi village
In the 1970s there was a proliferation of new villages: Sequoia was created in the early 1970s (our adventure village), Cherokee for the oldest girls (forerunner of Windsong), Winnetou for a group of German-language campers (Winnetou, Winnetou, ja, ja, ja!), Seneca (a forerunner of MAC)...and also Lacota, a Native American village modeled on the Oglala Sioux, the creation of Leon Van Heusen, who was Lacota's first village chief. The Lacota people were very very serious about reproducing Plains Indian ceremonies and customs (and costumes). The tipis were pretty real - the poles were made of Lodge Pole Pines, brought to the Catskills by Chuck White who several times drove all the way to South Dakota and back to pick up the poles just in time for the start of camp. The tipis lasted five or six years, as did this experimental village. "Van" as he was known, alas, died of heart failure in the village's second summer. Folks such as Dave Gansler, Heather Sachs and Rich Weinberg succeeded Van as VCs. In recent years, the name Lakota (with the k) was brought back as a girls village to match Outpost. Here is a photo of the Lacota staff.
