Schiff Scout Reservation

Located in the Long Island Pine Barrens is Schiff Scout Reservation in Wading River, New York. Situated within 500 wooded acres surrounding a 30-acre pond, Schiff is an ideal site for camping, aquatics, and field sports, making it the perfect home for the Council’s Cub Scout summer day camp and a full program of year-round camping and activities for Scouts of all ages.

In 1921, the Council opened its first camp in Miller Place called Camp Wauwepex, which is the Native American word for “place of good water.” Initially William K. Vanderbilt and Henry Payne Whitney, two of the wealthy residents of Long Island’s Gold Coast, leased it to the Council for $1 a year. A year later the camp was relocated to its current location in Wading River.

In 1926, with the financial support of donors, the Council bought the Wauwepex camp property outright at a price of $300 an acre. For many years, Wauwepex remained the premier camping facility of the Council, and was used as a resident camp for two weeks during the summer and for weekend camping the rest of the year. Generations of Scouters have fond memories of time spent there.

In 1979, the Schiff family donated $1,000,000, allowing the Nassau County Council to rename Camp Wauwepex as the John M. Schiff Scout Reservation and the property has continued to serve thousands of Scouts annually.

Today, Schiff hosts hundreds of unit camping trips and themed events for Scout families throughout the year.

At Schiff, programs for Cub Scouts and their siblings enable youngsters to enjoy crafts, archery, cooking, climbing, hiking, as well as S.T.E.M. based activities such as building a catapult and launching rockets. The Council hosts two incredibly popular Cuborees, each spring and fall, as well as Cub Family Weekends, which feature short-term camping and an introduction to outdoor programs and activities to our younger Scouts. In Autumn, the spectacular Halloween Cub Family Weekend draws nearly 1,000 participants and features a haunted house, field games, and more.

Recent property enhancements at Schiff include a new year-round 7,100-sq.-ft. dining hall dedicated in 2015. This state of the art facility features an indoor rock wall with an auto-belay system, an indoor/outdoor fireplace, central air conditioning, and a wrap around porch. The dining hall has also been equipped with sound dampening panels and modern audio-visual furnishings to provide space suitable for large scale trainings, conferences, banquets, and more.