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Council History |
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Otetiana Council, now Seneca Waterways Council, has a long and distinguished history, which is faithfully documented and preserved by the Seneca Waterways Council Scouting Historical Society. The society meets monthly to review incoming donations and prepare new exhibits for display in the Strong Scout Shop atrium.
The group also publishes The OCSHS Thread, an occasional newsletter. The following is featured in the Winter 2009 edition.
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A BRIEF STORY OF CAMP OTETIANA, 1918-1926
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Camping is the heart of Scouting. Sometime after the first area troop was organized at the Y.M.C.A. in 1910, leaders began thinking about camping with their boys. By 1912 several more troops had been formed and Troop 15, of Brick Presbyterian Church used Camp lola, the Y.M.C.A. camp at Tichenor's Point on Canandaigua Lake for the first time. Seventy Scouts camped at lola that year. News of its availability spread, and the following year the numbers increased to one hundred campers.
The arrangement for Scouts to use Camp lola was difficult as they were not able to use the facility until after the end of the "Y" camping season. In 1913 the Rochester Council was chartered and by 1916 there was a strong desire for the council to obtain its own facilities that could be operated during the regular summer camping season and for year-round activities. The Rochester Council annual report of that year expressed a need for at least two campsites, "one within a short distance ofthe city for weekend or overnight hikes, another to be located some distance from the city, preferably near a body ofwater for camps of longer duration." Additionally, a new guidebook entitled "Rules and Suggestions for Conduct of Scout Camps" was adopted by the Council.
The following year was the last season for Scouts at lola. In 1917, with financial help from the Chamber of Commerce, the Rochester Council purchased four and one half acres ofland on the northeast side of Canandaigua Lake, about three miles from the City of Canandaigua, on the East Lake Road, for the site of a camp to be opened the following year. A contest to name the new camp was held, and Scout William Leonard of the Parsells Avenue Baptist Church Troop 33 was the winner, proposing the name "Otetiana." Bill was awarded a free period at Camp. Bill's suggestion deeply impacted the future of Rochester Scouting.
The name Otetiana is a variant of the name Otetiani, meaning "Always Ready" and equates to the Boy Scout motto Be Prepared. Otetiani was the boyhood name of the Seneca-Iroquois orator who was also known as Sagoyewatha, meaning "He keeps them awake." Many people, however, now know him as Red Jacket, a name he received during the Revolutionary War. Shortly after the Rochester Council was formed, Scouts to the west of the city formed Red Jacket Council.
Later, in 1936, while searching for a name for the just formed local Order of the Arrow lodge, Scouts visited Dr. Arthur Parker, director of the Rochester Museum ofArts and Sciences and himself a Seneca. Parker suggested the Seneca name Ty-Ohni, meaning "Wolf", possibly due to the fact that Red Jacket was a member of the Wolf Clan. A few years later, in 1943, Rochester Council merged with Red Jacket Council to form Otetiana Council. For some |
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Entry gate to Camp Otetiana, east side Canandaigua Lake. |
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Patch from Camp Otetiana. |
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