Tamiment, first known as Camp Tamiment, was an American resort located in the Pocono Mountains of Pike County, Pennsylvania, which existed from 1921 through 2005. Originally established by the Rand School of Social Science in New York City as a Socialist camp and summer school, Tamiment developed into a regular resort and later fell under private ownership. The Tamiment Playhouse entertained guests with weekly revues and served as a training ground for many prominent Broadway and TV performers and writers. Playhouse alumni have included Danny Kaye, Imogene Coca, Jerome Robbins, Carol Burnett, Woody Allen, Neil Simon, and many others. Tamiment was a popular resort for Jewish singles and has been referred to as "a progressive version of the Catskills" and "a pillar of the Poconos tourist industry. The Tamiment golf course, designed by Robert Trent Jones, was ranked among the top 200 U. S. golf courses by Golf Digest magazine. The resort was liquidated in 2005 to make room for a residential condominium development.
History
Background The Rand School of Social Science was a Socialist institution in New York City, founded in 1906 and governed by the American Socialist Society. The school enrolled five thousand students annually between 1910 and 1920 but often did not have enough capital to cover operating costs. The Lusk Committee, led by New York state senator Clayton Lusk, was investigating what it regarded as "subversive activities" and attempted to close the Rand School by injunction. The school fought and won a costly two-year battle to remain open but, in 1920, its operating capital was at an all-time low. Bertha Mailly, executive secretary of the Rand School, held many fundraisers and was credited for keeping the school afloat. She conceived of the idea of establishing a summer school and camp that would generate enough revenue to support both itself and the Rand School. In the summer of 1919 Mailly had visited Unity House in Bushkill, Pennsylvania, a resort operated by a local chapter of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). While she was there she learned that an adjoining 2,100 acre property was for sale, promptly made a deposit, and successfully raised the money to buy the land and establish a new camp. The facility was named Tamiment, an old Native American word for the area, and would be located less than one hundred miles from New York City.
Establishment and development Camp Tamiment opened on June 21, 1921, and its first visitors were 65 members of Local Allentown, a Socialist party. The camp was designed "to diffuse a general knowledge of literature, art and science through the medium of lectures, publications, and dramatic performances." It earned an operating profit in its first year and became self-sustaining after 1923. Between 1937 and 1956, Camp Tamiment funded between half and three-quarters of the Rand School's annual operating budget. In December 1922, Mailly referred to the camp as a "great aid and inspiration" for the Rand School. She said, "It enabled us to give the young men and women the thing they need, the joy of living to which they are entitled. They study with us. We teach them how to think in the right direction and in their leisure hours, we prove to them that we know how to play." Camp Tamiment was described as "...the first attempt of Socialists and working people to make for themselves a place for rest, recreation and vacationing." A corporation identified as the People's Educational Camp Society (PECS) was created for the purpose of operating the camp. Author Martha LaMonaco wrote, "Legally, the camp had been established as a separate entity from the school, but the two organizations shared both a common political and social ideology and numerous board members." The PECS board had envisioned Camp Tamiment as a country summer school, but Mailly and manager Ben Josephson chose to turn the facility into a regular resort. Political subjects were progressively downplayed while swimming, tennis, and calisthenics became the most popular activities. Tamiment served as a destination for Jewish singles from the working and emerging middle class and would be referred to as "a progressive version of the Catskills..." The facility included a 90-acre lake and, in 1947, Tamiment opened an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones. The golf course has been ranked among the top 200 U. S. courses by Golf Digest magazine and, beginning in 1959, it was the site of an annual golf tournament hosted by prominent entertainer Danny Kaye. Josephson described the Tamiment facility as "a summer resort that has attained top rank in the field, outranking by far many of the privately owned vacation places in both beauty and business." The camp did not consider itself just a recreational enterprise as it had educational and cultural programs. All of the profits were reinvested in the camp or donated to charitable or educational institutions. These factors allowed Camp Tamiment to have tax-exempt status, which significantly contributed to its success. Author Lawrence Squeri wrote, "Once Tamiment became a money-making resort, it also became a paradox. Ostensibly an institution devoted to the undermining of capitalism, it sought to make money in the best capitalist tradition." In the 1950s, resort guests might not have been aware of Tamiment's political agenda as it was sponsoring seminars offsite in New York City.
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