Nitgedaiget: A Vanished Utopia
Did you know that Beacon was once home to a vacation resort for Jewish progressive liberals and Communist sympathizers? Camp Nitgedaiget, (Nish-guh-die-get,) meaning “no worries” in Yiddish, was later called Camp Beacon. It operated from 1922 until the early 1950s and was located in the hamlet of Dutchess Junction, approximately two miles south of the city of Beacon on Route 9D. Click the link below to read the full article,
The reprint of this article is a courtesy of the Dutchess County Historical Society (from DCHS 2015 Yearbook Volume 94.) To learn more about the Society, visit www.dchsny.org.
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Special thanks to Ellen Gersh on vocals, Joshua Reece on piano, and Vince Carnevale from Sunshower Recording Studios in Beacon for bringing this song to life after almost a century.
Trustee and Past President Diane Lapis and Dr. Steven Payne, Director of the Bronx County Historical Society, delivered a fascinating program on the resort Camp Nitgedaiget and the Coops (a related housing development in the Bronx) for Jewish progressives and Communist sympathizers. Camp Nitgedaiget (pronounced “Nish-guh-die-get” and meaning “no worries” in Yiddish), operated from 1922 until the early 1950s and was located in the hamlet of Dutchess Junction, about two miles south of Beacon on Route 9D. Starting modestly with only tents, the camp quickly grew to accommodate up to 1,000 patrons daily through features such as its hotel