Historical Interpreter

To apply send a cover letter explaining your interest and qualifications, a resume, and the contact information of three references to: rengel@greatcampsagamore.org

Job Title: Historical Interpreter

Location: Raquette Lake, NY

Job Type: Full-time, seasonal

Salary: $16.00/hour

About Great Camp Sagamore

Great Camp Sagamore is a unique organization that combines the preservation of an Adirondack "Great Camp" with educational programming and guest accommodations. Visitors come for historic tours, residential programs and family events. Staff and guests stay in our iconic buildings, eat in the historic dining hall, provide hospitality, and lead programs that connect people to history and nature.

Great Camp Sagamore is an authentic 1897 National Historic Landmark in the heart of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. It is in Raquette Lake, NY within 100,000 acres of forest preserve to explore and enjoy.

Working at Great Camp Sagamore

Great Camp Sagamore employs eight year-round and 18-20 seasonal staff members. It is a collaborative work environment where all staff are expected to lead by example and to foster a safe, encouraging, and enjoyable community for all staff and visitors. This is a full-time, non-exempt, hourly position. The standard work schedule is eight hours per day, five days per week. In addition to their job-specific duties, historical interpreters may be assigned up to four to six paid hours per week to assist other departments as needed including office, kitchen, housekeeping and facilities.

Great Camp Sagamore is committed to creating, supporting, and sustaining a diverse, inclusive, and equitable work environment that empowers all staff members to grow and to be active within decision making spaces. We are committed to ensuring an anti-racist culture and a work environment free from discrimination and harassment where staff are empowered to bring their authentic selves to every aspect of their work.

Great Camp Sagamore does not discriminate based on gender, gender expression, sexual identity, sexual orientation, race, class, color, age, ethnicity, first language, religion or belief, or family, marital, parental, military, or veteran status in any aspect of employment including recruitment, hiring, promotion, discipline, termination, wages, benefits, training, and professional development.

Position Overview

The interpreter’s primary responsibility is to lead groups of day visitors and overnight guests on guided tours of Sagamore’s 17-acre, 27-building campus. They also lead specially themed infrastructure tours to nearby wilderness sites using hiking trails.

Located in New York’s Adirondack Park, Sagamore’s lakeside campus is surrounded by vast tracts of “forever wild” State Forest Preserve. Started in 1895 by William West Durant, the complex was sold to Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt in 1901. For five decades, the Vanderbilts hosted some of the most exciting public figures of the time, far from the trappings of modern life. They hired local craftspeople who knew how to build and maintain the unique rustic complex and how to provide an authentic human element for their guest’s Adirondack experience. Sagamore’s iconic Main Lodge is one of the most recognized buildings in northern NYS and is an architype of the Adirondack style.

Interpreters become full participants in camp life and contribute to providing a safe and welcoming atmosphere for guests and staff.

Interpreters will learn Sagamore’s historical origins, its cast of characters and the functions and culture of camp life through its various phases. Their tours, usually two per day, will draw guests into an intricate narrative and do so in ways that are lighthearted and accessible to all.

Preferred Skills and Experiences

• Bachelor’s degree preferred, but flexible for the right candidate.

• Previous experience with public speaking

• A demonstrated interest in history

• The ability to thrive in a small, tightknit community deep in a wilderness setting.

• Excellent customer services skills

• Recent graduates, retirees and everyone in-between are encouraged to apply.

Benefits

All meals and housing during the season are provided by Great Camp Sagamore in the Dining Hall, and staff have full use of the camp’s amenities, including the Boat House and the open-air bowling alley. Staff members’ friends and family members may enjoy tours, meals, and overnight accommodations at reduced costs.

To apply send a cover letter explaining your interest and qualifications, a resume, and the contact information of three references to: rengel@greatcampsagamore.org