Our own Big Chief Steve in his counselor days! (Top row, second from right)

Mohawk's long history starts well before it became a camp over 75 summers ago. It begins, in fact, more than 285 years ago.

The official history of our site starts in 1720 when the property became a farm. You can still see the stone walls that divided the land into crop fields, as well as the one separating the camp from the road. The original farmhouse was located at the bottom of Old Tarrytown Road by Hillside Avenue (Route 100), and the entire plateau was owned by one family. During the Revolutionary War the Battle of White Plains was fought in the area that included Old Tarrytown Road!

Many of the buildings on the camp property are quite old. We think that the Little House was built before 1820, and that the Main House was built about 1850. The Main House originally had eleven fireplaces, many of them marble, and lacked plumbing until 1918. Water was supplied by the three wells located on our grounds, one of which we still use today. Between the 1920s and 1940s, the property was used as a county hospital for children with long-term illnesses.

Camp Mohawk, Then and Now...

Mohawk Day Camp was founded in 1930 by Glenn and Eleanor Loucks. Mr. Loucks was a physical education teacher at White Plains High School Glenn started Mohawk with just a handful of campers, using his school athletes as counselors. In 1951, one of those school athletes was our own Steve Schainman!

In its first two years, Mohawk used a field in Scarsdale. In 1932, it moved to the Roger Askem School, the current site of the Kol Ami Synagogue . The campers went swimming twice a week, driven by bus to the Playland pool and the old Oakland Beach pool, both in Rye.

During World War II Glenn Loucks joined the Navy, while his wife Eleanor continued to direct Mohawk. After he returned, they decided that they wanted a place of their own, and in 1946 moved the camp to Old Tarrytown Road. In 1948, Glenn and Eleanor purchased the The Home School, and at the new location united the Home School and Camp Mohawk.

When Steve Schainman first became a Mohawk counselor in 1951 there were only two lifeguards (now we have more than 75!), and just a handful of counselors who ran the pony rides, woodshop, nature, dance, and arts & crafts activities. By 1953 Steve had become a group Head Counselor. After college, Steve spent some time in the Army, attended graduate school, and worked in business and in teaching. However, it was always camp he loved and longed for. In 1965, he became Mohawk's new Director. To our campers he's 'Big Chief Steve,' and when we have our camp carnival celebration, he's 'Mohawk Man' - our own superhero in red tights and flowing red cape!

During his first summer as Director, Big Chief Steve invited his best counselor, Barbara Baskind, to help with after-camp phone calls from parents. Barbara was the Head Counselor for the only preschool group we had at that time. In 1967, Barbara was promoted to Co-Director, which may have had something to do with the fact that she married the boss that same year!

In the decades since, Big Chiefs Steve and Barbara have been delighted that Camp Mohawk has provided such positive day camp experiences to thousands of campers.

Today, the Schainmans feel enormous pride and delight that their son, Ken Schainman, has joined the ownership team and is now, along with Steve and Barbara, a full Director of Camp Mohawk and The Mohawk Country Home School. Many of you remember Ken from his many years at Mohawk and we are thrilled that he has returned.

The Schainman family looks forward to many years of working together and, most importantly, we know that with Ken on board, Mohawk's culture, traditions and unsurpassed quality will be preserved and enriched for decades to come. Hopefully your family, too, will soon become part of the Mohawk Tradition!