Camp St. Joseph's Villa

I have been asked by the founder of this page, Peter Christy, to take over the reins. Peter did an admirable job of researching and setting it all up, soliciting pictures and stories, and making it what it is today. Unfortunately, there aren't many folks left who remember or who are interested. My husband, George Andresen, is probably one of the oldest survivors of the Camp which he attended for MANY years, into his teens...starting at age five through becoming a worker. It is one of the fondest memories of his life. He is not into Facebook, so out of love for him, I will make an effort to keep it alive. In the
meantime, I am researching ways to make access more user-friendly. This is not a viable "business"....just a group for fun and banter between members. Somehow, through Facebook's new rules/restrictions, it was turned into a "business page" which has many different parameters that do not apply here. We have some local interest of late which may provide more information and insight into the past of what used to be such a beautiful place for kids. Hopefully, we can make this work. I want it to work because this camp remains one of my husband's passions. With that being said, with this communique, I hope to find someone who might have an idea as to how we can convert back to what we had....a "non-business page." I have a sinking feeling that since this was Facebook's doing, they will convert anything we do in the future to their standards/rules as well. I am hoping to convince them this is no longer an existing business....just an abandoned, old camp that has memories buried there. At the risk of Facebook "jail" (where I have been before), I hope it is okay to say that "some things should not be fixed unless they are broken"....Our beloved Camp page is/was one of them. If I can possibly fix things, then Peter can retire from the helm and sit back, knowing he started a good thing! This is a work in progress at this point. Please know we are open to suggestions, especially from someone who might be knowledgeable about the processes of Facebook. Sincerely, Jane Andresen.

Welcome to Rosann Glommeau. Hopefully, your interest will generate some local comments and input. We welcome anyone with an interest or information to share about the old camp. Please feel free to comment and/or join this group. Thank you!

Early-Summer 1959 with my aunt and my mother's poodle by the chapel on a Sunday visitors' day.

LocalPrayers.com thinks enough of our camp's page to 'scrape' its content and regurgitate onto their own page. This 'plagiarism' used to be upsetting, but remember the aphorism "there's no such thing as negative publicity"? Assuming there is some human behind LocalPrayers.com and it is not a mindless autobot eternally scraping the Internet ... we should take this a flattery!

Camp St. Joseph's Villa, 101 Mission Rd, Hackettstown, NJ (2019) A Catholic summer camp founded in 1919 for poor Italian children in New York City welcomed boys age 8 to 14 for almost 50 years. Msgr. Joseph Mary Congedo, Founder Rt. Rev. Msgr. John J. McEvoy, Director New York Office: 307 E. 33rd Street Latitude: 40°49'59.15"N (40.83309º) Longitude: 74°48'11.3...

Sad news to report. Betsy Guzenski, former President of the Washington Township Historical Society has passed:

https://patch.com/new-jersey/longvalley/retired-mansfield-special-education-teacher-passes-away

My wife and I met Betsy at the museum in the Summer of 2011 when I was starting my research on Camp St. Joseph's Villa. Betsy shared the society's library of pictures of our camp, which you've been able to view since our page was founded soon after our visit.

When I last was in contact with Betsy she was planning a museum exhibit about Long Valley, including information about our camp from our camp's page. Were it not for Betsy and the Washington Township Historical Society our camp would not only be gone, but also forgotten!

Retired Mansfield Special Education Teacher Passes Away Elizabeth "Betsy" Guzenski was a longtime Long Valley resident. She passed away at 67.

Facebook allows a 255 character description of our page for Camp St. Joseph’s Villa. Here is our current description:

”A Catholic summer camp founded in 1919 for poor Italian children in New York City welcomed boys age 8 to 14 for almost 50 years.”

That’s a lot less than 255 characters so there’s room for more description ... or we can start over with a better (and longer) description. Any suggestions?

Facebook also took away the option to categorize CSJV as a camp! No doubt this reflects modern trends as camps have become déclassé ... unless they teach something practical like social media or coding. The most likely combination of categories to represent CSJV are "religious organization" and "private school" although CSJV wasn't really either!

Facebook gives ... and takes away!

The following description will be removed from the information about this page on August 1, 2019. Rather than struggle to understand why ... much less to argue against ... here's what will disappear, which is simply the text on the historical marker erected by the Washington Township Historic Preservation Commission:

"Founded in 1919 by Monsignor Congedo, former pastor of The Sacred Heart Parish in New York City, the camp was the summer home to over 300 young Christian boys and girls each July and August. In 1942, the Xaverian Brothers, under the guidance of Brother John Joseph, were brought in to staff the camp. The camp had a main house, a dining hall, and numerous sleeping cabins. For recreation there was a swimming pool and areas for baseball, basketball and roller skating. There was also a large chapel, and in the woods, a stone grotto containing a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Washington Township Historic Preservation Commission Historical Marker"

Please confirm this is the Chapel at Camp St. Joseph's Villa. I know this is me and my mother and if you can confirm it is the CSJV chapel then we know it was the Summer of 1959.

Even if you have reviewed our page, commented on our page and voted in our poll you need to 'Like' our page. We just got our 72nd 'Like' which is a rough count of how many former campers have found our page. If you haven't already ... please 'Like' our page for Camp St. Joseph's Villa ... thanks!

Our page for Camp St. Joseph's Villa is not a 'group' in Facebook's vernacular so we can't count members who join if it were a group. However, 71 people have 'Liked' our page and most are likely to be former campers. Let's at least vote in our poll, which may be the closest we can get to a "camper count"!

Our poll for when we attended Camp St. Joseph's Villa is producing interesting results, but they are skewed toward the most recent years, which is expected as younger campers are more likely to have discovered our page on facebook rather than older campers:

• Ten campers attended in the summers of 1957, 1966 and 1968.

• One camper attended in the summers of 1936, 1937, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1960 and 1963.

• Three campers attended every summer from 1945 to 1963 ... that's what they claim.

• The earliest camper attended in 1936 and the latest campers attended in 1969, which seem reasonable as those who attended earlier than 1936 are unlikely to have found our page and 1969 is the last year of the camp's operation.

You are welcome to review our poll, which is pinned to the top of our page and to vote for the years that you attended. Please vote for each year you attended ... you can add a year if it is not already an option in the poll.

Robert Muller published this professional photograph taken of the inside of the chapel.

This is a professional picture taken of the inside of the chapel

Chuck was contacted by a reporter looking to write an article about our camp. If the article gets published, we hope to post a link on our camp's page. As the reporter is writing for a New Jersey newspaper, we may be able to contact more former campers.

The enduring questions about Camp St. Joseph's Villa are "When did it start?" and "When did it stop?". 1919 is the earliest date for what eventually became Camp St. Josephs Villa. Surprisingly, the latest date is the harder to establish!

At least once camper claimed to have attended as late as 1969. This was long after the Xaverian Brothers were withdrawn from camp supervision. We know that at least one other religious order was involved in operating the camp after the Xaverians were withdrawn.

It would be helpful to learn from our younger and most recent campers the name(s) of the religious order(s) involved in camp operations following the Xaverians. Did Camp St. Joseph's Villa officially close after their last season or did it simply fail to re-open the following season?

Camp - July 1968. I am the goofy looking one facing left. Does anyone know who the other kids are? I don't remember them.

August 10, 1969 is dated on the picture - validated by the baby in the picture, my niece, born in December 1968. Did the camp cease operation after the summer of 1969? As I remember, the place was nice and showed no signs of decline at the time.

Camp - 1968

That's me, standing between my grandparents with my older brother on the far left. This was taken on visiting Sunday. We are standing in front of my parents car, which is in front of Cabin 6B. You can see the Mess Hall in the background. I'm guessing this was about 1962 or 1963. This is actually only about 20 feet or so from the front gates, which look so different today!

7/7/15.. My "Cabin Ace" trophy from 1962. My mother saved it all these years.

7/7/15.. The sign still looks great. Although, one correction. On the sign the years read 1919 - 1963. I don't think the camp started until 1930. And then in 1964 it was taken over and run by the Brothers of the Sacred Hearts, finally closing for good in either 1969 or 1970. I went there every summer from 1962 through 1968. Very special memories!

7/7/15.. Me at the pool 50 years later. Is it swim session for my cabin?

7/7/15.. Another angle of the pool.

7/7/15.. The swimming pool. Nature is slowly taking it over. My brother and I stood on one of the side walls. There was still some blue paint on it. But mostly just the bare cement walls.

7/7/15.. Coming up on the pool..

7/7/15.. Patriots Path.. Kind of leads to the swimming pool. But the path only goes about 50 - 75 feet. Then you have to "Daniel Boone" it through some really heavy brush and woods.

7/7/15.. Me at the sign just inside the front gates. I think my hair is a different color these days!

7/7/15.. Me at the gate some 50 years later. Great memories!

7/7/15.. The front wall. The gate would be just to the right. That road was all dirt back in the day. With very little on it. I remember the barn and farmer's house across from the entrance. The house is still there.. added on to. But of course the barn is gone.