Scouters Love Camp, Renovate Rosenberg Lodge

As Northern New Jersey prepares for the short-term camping season, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco is making the final preparations to introduce a “new” cabin for use by Scouts.  A new cabin at No-Be?  

In 2007, Rosenberg Lodge was in very sad shape.  With a leaky roof and significant rot issues, the cabin was not long for this world.  Lacking electricity, a heat source, and reasonable access, the cabin was completely unused in a busy camp.  Being slightly off the beaten path, most campers didn’t even know it existed.  After the roof was damaged by a falling branch, Scouters knew that the cabin was only about a year away from collapsing.

Today’s campers see something dramatically different.  Having been described by some No-Be diehards as “the best looking cabin in camp,” Rosenberg Lodge is now available for weekend rental.  Easily accessible by vehicle, the cabin features a small porch, a nice view of Sand Pond, new electricity, a new wood-burning stove, air-tight windows, a new floor, roof, built-in seating, and 10 cots for your troop.  Crisp, clean, and inviting, there are no traces of what might have been if Scouters didn’t care.

“The camp alumni - The Sand Pond Society saw the potential for this cabin,” said Steve Kallesser of the Council’s camp development committee.  “When we saw the branch sticking out of the roof and all of the water inside, we knew it was now or never.  We had a vision, and we put out the call and people responded in a big way.  We patched that roof and never looked back.”  

Donated by Jack and Lillian Rosenberg in about 1960 as a Jewish chapel and chaplain’s cabin, the building was largely abandoned since the late 1970’s.  Electricity was removed in the mid-1980’s.  In 1998, when all religious facilities were consolidated to the current chapels, Rosenberg was to be renovated to become a rentable cabin.

The first step to address the cabin was taken by Ranger Tom Rich when he bulldozed the footprint of what would become the road to the cabin.  Next, the Society worked with the Council to come up with a plan to address the remainder of the access problems to the cabin, namely a failed bridge, broken culverts, and a nearly-impassible road.  Still, when the first work weekend was called to replace the roof and take care of layout issues, access was so bad that materials needed to be carried by hand to the cabin.

“We came up with the plan to not just fix the cabin, but to make it a more attractive and usable space by the Scouts.  It’s a work of art.  A lot of time and energy went into the planning, design, and coordination of the project,” Kallesser continued.  After a year and a half, well over 50 people had contributed their unique skills to making the project happen – too many to name here individually.

Largely by passing around the hat, $5,000 was raised for materials, and many weekends and work-days later volunteers had put in over 700 man-hours into the cabin.  This does not include the ~$5,000 that was spent by the Council for the new bridge or gravel to improve the road.  The Rosenberg Lodge project marked an important standard for cooperation between summer camp volunteers, winter camp volunteers, the camp ranger, Council staff, and camp alumni.   The cabin itself represents a new standard in what troops might expect in the future.  As all volunteers eagerly await the start of the log cabin renovations, the many, many people who helped make Rosenberg Lodge what it is are ready to pitch in to bring the same level of excellence to many other cabins at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco.

For information on renting Rosenberg Lodge, please visit the Council website.

For information on how you can help on the log cabin project, send an e-mail to logcabins@sandpondsociety.org .