The History of Camp Regis Applejack
In the beginning…
Earl and Pauline Humes founded Camp Regis in 1946 in an effort to create the future they wanted for our country. In the aftereffects of World War II and with the continued segregation the Humes’ wanted to create a camp that was for everyone, regardless of their religion, skin color, country of origin, or financial background. They created a safe and accepting place for children to come together to enjoy the wilderness of the Adirondacks.
They purchased an old camp from modern dancers Gail Gardner and Ruth Dewling and begain converting it into a functioning children’s summer camp.
Camp Regis
The Humes’ named their camp after the lake it is located on, Upper St. Regis Lake, and so Camp Regis Applejack was created and ready for business. To say that they were successful in their vision for a space for a diverse community to live in harmony would be an understatment. Their first year they had two little contessas from Italy whose nannies had sewn the family crest on their shirts and they also had three children out of the concentration camps who had been kept alive with barley water.
Not only was the camper population diverse and accepting, but the staff were also. That first year they had a counselor who had saved some 5,000 children during the Nazi occupation of France working alongside possibly the first black counselor in the United States who was a teacher from Bermuda. This caused some outrage from some parents but Earl and Pauline turned a blind eye to the hate and continued to create their Adirondack Paradise.
Camp Applejack
In 1956 Earl and Pauline realized that they were not properly serving the needs of their teenage campers. So they created the Applejack Teen Camp at Applejack Farm. Applejack Teen Camp emphasized a teenage community living experience with campers involved in various work and service projects within both the camp and in the local community.
Camp Regis Applejack
After several years of managing two separate properties the strain of proved to be too taxing for the couple so they conjoined the two camps onto the original Regis Camp property. The plan was to simply absorb Applejack Teen Camp into the mantle of Camp Regis, but the summer of the merger the AJ campers camp into Regis Camp with all their camp pride proudly displayed. They would not become Camp Regis because they were proud of Applejack Camp, and so Camp Regis Applejack was created.
In the 1970’s Earl and Pauline handed over the mantel of camp Director to their son Michael Humes. And only a few years later Earl passed away from cancer. Michael continues to run Camp Regis Applejack, despite developing cancer himself in 2009, shortly after the death of his mother Pauline in the same year. In 2019 Michael brought in alumnus Will Bettmann to assist with the Camp Director responsibilities, and then later in that same year Michael’s eldest daughter Emily Yancey joined on the Camp Regis Applejack administrative team. Together the three of them continue to bring Earl and Pauline’s message of acceptance and peace to this new generation of campers.
Want to read more about Camp Regis Applejack’s History? Check out:
The Way It Was (Part 1-4) – written by Pauline Humes
The Applejack Teen Camp Experience
How Did Camp Regis Get Its Name?
Applejack Farm
The Gardiner-Doing Camp
