Lifestyle: Seems everyone who was alive for the Moon launch in 1969 has a story to tell and of course so do I.
I was at Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camps in Narrowsburg NY. during that summer working as a Dining Hall Steward. This meant I was in charge of seating the Scout Troops, making sure the food was served on time, the dining hall was cleaned and also I ordered the food for 200 plus campers. It was a big job for a newly graduated high school kid , heading to Hunter College in the fall. If you screwed up on any aspect of the daily regiment everyone would notice and would point out what you did wrong.
The staff lived in leantos which were three sided cabins, open in the front. No heat but we did have as a luxury, electricity which was considered a big perk. There also were no toilets but nearby was a latrine , the old fashion kind.
I loved camp , the job and the people I met. All of us followed the exploits of the NASA astronauts and when it was time for the blast off and landing , the whole camp was jacked. However, the problem arose that we did not have a TV in the whole camp. The camp, named Nianque was pretty rustic with limited amenities. We needed to figure out something so the staff could watch the moon landing.
As with any industrious group someone acquired an old black and white TV which was rigged to an even more ancient large TV antenna. This rig was hooked up to a leanto with spit and rope. A strong wind would probably knock it down.
Narrowsburg NY. is an upstate community of 600 people but in reality that was the mailing address. TMR as everyone knew it was at that time , was a 13,000 acre enclave , the largest Scout camp in the United States. It’s history is fabulous but very rural and isolated. Great place for boys from New York City.
The weather was always difficult to predict and of course it rained hard and the winds howled the day of the moon landing. The TV was on , the attenna barely held and we watched in the pouring rain, with horrible reception, 30 or so staff totally silent.
Still for many of us, this was the event of the century and viewing it in a Boy Scout Camp that was created in 1933 with the support of Franklin Roosevelt , made us very proud to be Americans. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we would not miss it.
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