Camp St. Joseph's Villa

08/31/2022

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.

08/13/2022

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!

04/15/2020

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

10/21/2019

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!

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...

06/19/2019

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!

Elizabeth "Betsy" Guzenski was a longtime Long Valley resident. She passed away at 67.

06/19/2019

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?

06/18/2019

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!

06/18/2019

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"