Location: Holmes, NY.
Distance from N.Y.C.: 70 mi.
Size: 1,100 acres (original), expanded to 1,400 acres
Terrain: Hilly, rugged.
Start Date: Acquired 2/1/56. Opened for Scout use 5/20/56.
End Date: Sold 12/15/86.
Name Origin: From the camp of the same name operated by the N.Y.C. Sanitation Department's Welfare Honor Relief Fund.
Acquisition: Donated by the N..C. Sanitation Department's Welfare Honor Relief Fund to
the creater New or coundisinyboate constion was announces ov sanitation
Commissioner Andrew W. Murain after o meetina of the tunas boara of directors on February 1. 1956. Al the time, the property was estimated to be worth $I million. The Welfare Fund had operated the camp for fourteen years as a vacation resort for the Sanitation Department's employees and their families. The yearly $25,000 expense of operating the camp wos not sustainable. The Welfare Fund purchosed the property for $65,000 in 1941 from the estate of Dr. Arthur B. Duel. It invested heavily to improve the property, including the transportation of ninely-four old Sixlh Avenue elevated line cars to the camp and converting them into family bungalows. In 1969, the section of Sanita Hills previously used was closed and an entirely new camp was constructed in an unused section of the camp near Highway 216. The new camp consisted of lean-los, area cabins and a new lake.
How Disposed: Greater New York Councils put the Sanita Hills properly up for sale starting in
1976. On December 15, 1986, the property was sold for $2,094.300.
Weekend Facilities: Bungalows, tent sites, cabins, three lakes and bordering Whaley Lake, with fishing, boaling, swimming.
Lake or Pool: Willow Lake, Sunset Loke, Lake Sanita
Summer Operations: Sanita Hills was used for a Greater New York Councils summer camp operation in 1973.
Landmarks: Sixth Ave "EM Car bungelows
Additional Info: The Appalachian Trail ran through the camp property.