The moment you take a step back and journey through time
Want to learn more about Tamarack Camps history? Explore our journey, which spans across generations of unforgettable adventures, lifelong friendships and a deep connection to Jewish values.
For the past century, Jewish summer camps have played a significant role in shaping the identities of Jewish youth. The first summer camps in America, primarily for boys, emerged in the 1870s and 1880s. And the first Jewish summer camp was established in 1893, during a period of mass Jewish migration to America. Initially, the mission of these camps, or “fresh-air refuges,” was to provide Jewish youth with an escape from crowded, often impoverished urban living conditions. And while they used to focus on helping immigrants assimilate into American culture, rather than reinforcing Jewish values and traditions, they laid the foundation for the rich, culturally immersive experiences that camps now offer.
Tamarack Camps has been a leader in Jewish camping for five generations — a tradition we believe should be available to all children and families. And when former campers talk about their time here, they talk about some of their happiest childhood memories, the skills they gained and lifelong friendships made. Learn more about Tamarack Camps history.
1902
During the summers of 1902 and 1903, Blanche Hart and Ida Kopple took Jewish children and their mothers to Belle Isle for day outings. Arriving by streetcar, the children were treated to a hearty meal and enjoyed a leisurely afternoon, and this was the beginning of what would become known in 1904 as the Fresh Air Society (and the first chapter in the Tamarack Camps history book).
The same year, Hart took the experiment one step further and paid $50 for one month’s rent on what she described as a “tumble-down” house in Kingsville, Ontario. She and fellow volunteer, Anna Solomon, rid the house of mice, dirt and dust so a group of 25 campers would find suitable accommodations. And while it was ultimately called off just two weeks later (when the water supply at the house ran out), a permanent campfire had been sparked.
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1925
Feeling like the location of the Fresh Air Camp was too close to the multitude, our board envisioned a new site, far from the city. Somewhere quiet, spacious, and plush with flora and fauna. This dream became a reality in 1925, when Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Rosenthal donated 55 million acres on Blaine Lake in Brighton.
The United Jewish Charities tapped every resource available to amass the $90,000 needed to construct the site, and it formally opened in 1927 as the Fresh Air Camp at Brighton. There, 200 children were housed in four large dormitories. The original camp structures also included a recreation hall, dining hall, administration building, garage, powerhouse, water tank, a women’s building, two bathhouses and a dock.
1949
The first outpost camp in Tamarack Camps history was established at Kensington Park. That summer, thanks to a $500 gift from the Sheruth League, nearly 75 senior boys and girls cooked their own meals, slept in tents, hiked and canoed.
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1950
Once again, we sought out another location. Irvin Shaw, our executive director at the time, stumbled upon a tamarack tree farm in Ortonville, which would eventually become the site of Tamarack Camps.
Instinctively, Shaw knew how Ortonville would function and how it would look: 12 self-contained villages scattered idyllically throughout the woods, with a dirt road connecting them all. Within every village would be a central meeting place, a family room of sorts, where villagers would come together for meals and special activities. Children would sleep on small cots, facing each other head to toe. Those same cots would later be converted to bunk beds, and they were still used well into the 1990s. (How’s that for Tamarack Camps history?)
1966
The first teen travel trips in Tamarack Camps history ventured east and west, and wilderness exploration adventures to Lake Superior Provincial Park began.
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1969
The same year that America celebrated its first Earth Day and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the Fresh Air Society acquired the Charles N. Agree Outpost Camp in Wawa, Ontario. Set upon the shores of Lake Kabenung, Agree was in the completely untamed wilderness of northern Lake Superior. The only people who lived in the vicinity were French-speaking lumberjacks and Native American Indians.
1981
Benard Maas, an auto industrialist, pledged $1.5 million to the Fresh Air Society. And after much debate, our grateful community renamed Camp Tamarack at Ortonville to Camp Maas.
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1994
After half a century of success, Brighton was slated to close in 1976. However, that winter, an unexpected increase in applications revived the camp. The camp was updated in 1984 and remained open until 1994, after a final summer session. It was an emotional time for campers, counselors and alumni.
2002
In response to the Second Intifada, Tamarack Camps, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Detroit (JFD), brought more than 300 Israeli children to Camp Maas to provide normalcy and respite from the stresses at home. What started as an emergency response evolved into the Israeli Camper Program, now a community gem.
Since its inception, Tamarack has welcomed more than 1,600 Israeli campers from the Partnership2Gether region in the Central Galilee. At camp, our children, teens and staff live alongside their Israeli peers and learn firsthand about Israeli culture and the realities of life in Israel. After camp, they are hosted by local families — more than 500 and counting — and form connections that last a lifetime.
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2016
Tamarack partnered with JFD and local congregations to lead the biennial Sue & Alan Kaufman & Family Teen Mission to Israel. Now, in alternate years, Tamarack’s rising high school seniors enjoy the Joy and Allan Nachman Teen Leadership Trip to Israel. On both trips, former Israeli campers join their American peers and travel together throughout Israel, then return to Tamarack as part of the Teen Leadership Village, further deepening their bonds.
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