It’s become increasingly difficult to find a date where SUNY Maritime can put us back onsite. This year we were informed that roof work to the fort itself has already started and is scheduled to run through April of 2015. So for the 3rd consecutive year we’re simply left without a weekend at the fort.
After a 3-year absence we’re certainly hoping that they can fit us back in for 2015. Have faith streamers, we haven’t given up on AirSchuyler…
Everyone was disappointed when our 2012 weekend event was cancelled by SUNY Maritime, so this year we had requested a backup date, just in case another conflict came our way. We were hopeful that we would be back at Fort Schuyler for our primary dates, June 6 through the 9th, but we also requested June 20th through 23rd as a backup date.
We’ve been told that there is both roadwork and parking lot work scheduled for the month of June and the Facilities Department has not made it clear as to when this work will start, or by when they will be finished, so we have not been able to confirm any dates for 2013.
It will be a 2 year absence before we can get back on site but be assured that we’ll be looking to book 2014 dates for one of the most unique and best Airstreaming experiences on the planet.
For those that have never made it, there are always photo albums to view and be envious of. For those that did manage to make 1, 2, 3, 4, or all 5 Fort Schuyler events, you have plenty of great memories to last you a very long time. Let’s hope it’s not too long though, as we’re looking forward to seeing everyone back in 2014 in their Airstream RVs!
AirSchuyler 2012 is a bust – cancelled due to a scheduling conflict with SUNY Maritime College. We’ve been invited back for 2013 though so please stay tuned for more information.
In the meantime have a look at our photo gallery for a few glimpses of previous AirSchuyler rallies. We’ve had a very successful 5 year run from 2007 – 2011 so far, we’ll hope to pick it up again in 2013!
There are a few of us trying to find something new to do this same weekend in 2012. If you’re interested please reply with a comment. Some efforts are being made to find a location on Long Island. If you have something you would like to offer anywhere in the Metro New York City area please don’t be shy!
…and regardless of what happens in June please don’t forget our 3rd annual Airstream Owners Rally at Pocono Raceway this coming August! This is a rally just like any other rally that you might attend anywhere, only we have a whole world of racing happening all around us, including music concerts, fireworks and Joe Fodor’s hospitality. You don’t need to be a racing fan to attend AirPocono 2012! You’ll find more information at AirPocono.wordpress.com (shortly)…
Many of you have been thinking about camping at Fort Schuyler again. Many of you are waiting to attend your very first AirSchuyler Rally. Some have even been a little impatient waiting for a registration form to appear (you all know who you are). 😉
Wait no further, a printable registration form is now online on the home page of our website. With only 39 Airstream RV sites available, 6 Airstreamers have already tried to claim their spot (yeah, the check’s in the mail bud!).
You’ll also find TWO Slideshows available on that main page, our 2008 and 2010 Rally photos. There’s a lot more coming, but some people thought it was more important that we get this registration form out with more than just one week to go… 😉 Well maybe time is getting short – more of a reason for you to register NOW… 🙂
AirSchuyler 2011 – Sleep Wit Da Fishes!
Our 5th Consecutive Year in Da Bronx! Limited to just 39 Airstream RVs!
No other group has ever camped at Fort Schuyler and if you know any Airstream Owner that has attended any one of our our past 4 rallies you know they had a great time! See Hunt Jones’ 2009 Rally Review. For out-of-towners this is a great base for a NYC day-trip or two or three. Times Square is but a 30 minute drive, or 1 hour by bus. The Bronx Zoo, Botanical Gardens, Little Italy, and City Island are all very close by.
The SUNY campus itself is both peaceful and serene. Waterfront Campsites with an 1800’s Granite Fort backdrop provide a truly park like setting that is like no other. The NYC waterway provides spectacular views of both private and commercial vessels. A local yacht club’s Saturday morning races have taken place immediately off our shores most years. Fort Schuyler itself houses a 19,000sq ft Library which has received awards for its design. The Fort also houses a Maritime Museum which features more than 700 ship models and exquiste maritime art, photos, and artifacts. Bike riding, roller blading, walking the campus or just sitting in a chair relaxing have kept many attendees from ever leaving the grounds. Bring your camera and binoculars!
This rally is retiree and working family friendly with
Thursday or Friday arrival dates and fees.
Thu, June 9th – 7am Instant Parking, all day, all night. 4pm Happy Hour(s). 6pm Dinner on your own. Sundown Campfire Social until the last man or woman stands!
Fri, June 10th – 7am Instant Parking, all day, all night. 8:30am+ Chef Joe’s Continental Breakfast plus Pancakes w/Sausage. 4pm Happy Hour(s). 6pm Assorted Heros w/Potato Salad & Coleslaw. Sundown Campfire Social until the last person collapses.
Sat, June 11th – 7am Instant Parking, all day, all night. 8:30am+ Chef Joe’s Continental Breakfast plus Omeletts in a Bag. 4pm Happy Hour(s). 6pm Lasagna +Greens Salad +Garlic & Regular Bread. Sundown Campfire Social until the last person collapses.
Sun, June 12th – 8:30am+ Chef Joe’s FREE Continental Breakfast. Please plan your day accordingly, CHECK-OUT is at DUSK…
The Photo Slideshows from years past (right column) paint the perfect picture!
There’s little doubt that Airstream Owners won’t find a more economical base to do day trips from than our Fort Schuyler Rally.
City Island – 8 miles away. The island is famous for its seafood restaurants, with lobster being a common specialty. Over 30 eating establishments compete for business, ranging from fast food (Johnny’s Reef) to The Lobster Box to a French bed & breakfast and a popular spot, The Black Whale, famous for its desserts. The ‘Snug’ is a popular local Irish pub. While a few of the restaurants close during the winter months, most are open year round. Local shops include Focal Point Gallery (a gallery of photography), Starving Artist Cafe & Gallery (featuring musical talents), Exotiqa International Arts (featuring art objects, gift items and jewelry from around the world), Early Ruth’s Antiques, Midtown Antiques, My Dolls And Things, and recently-opened (April 9) Calico Juno Designs, a handcrafted jewelry store where all the jewelry is handmade on the premises. Source: Wikipedia City Island
Bronx Zoo – 7 miles. Home to more than 4,000 animals of 650 species, many of which are endangered or threatened. Some of the exhibits at the Bronx Zoo, such as World of Birds and World of Reptiles, are arranged by taxonomy, while others, such as African Plains and Wild Asia, are arranged geographically.
Outdoor exhibits
African Plains exhibit, recreates the African plains. Visitors can walk past lions, storks, and zebras, and see herds of gazelles sharing their home with nyalas and African wild dogs. Giraffes roam nearby. The wild dogs can be viewed close-up from a glass-fronted viewing pavilion.
Baboon Reserve recreates the Ethiopian highlands, and is home to a troop of geladas. Visitors can watch the geladas from multiple viewpoints along with the Nubian ibexes, rock hyraxes, and African waterfowl that also live in this area.
Congo Gorilla Forest is a 6.5-acre (2.6 ha) rainforest that is home to the 20 or so western lowland gorillas in the zoo. Colobus monkeys, guenon, marmosets and mandrills also call this area home. Visitors walk through the area and can also view it from treetop lookouts.
Wild Asia Monorail takes visitors through a 40-acre (16 ha) area that recreates the mud wallows and pastures, forests and riverbanks of Asia. Visitors will see tigers, elephants, and rhinos, and wild horses in their natural habitats. As the monorail travels along the Bronx River, visitors can see native animals including egrets, turtles, and ducks. The monorail is accessible for wheelchairs up to 26″ wide. Smaller chairs are available at the monorail platform for visitors with wider wheelchairs or motorized scooters.
Indoor exhibits
Jungle World is an indoor tropical jungle and home to nearly 800 animals including otters, gibbons, and a tapir, live in mangroves and on the beaches. Visitors can watch the gibbons swinging or singing, and watch the otters play. The exhibit includes species that are usually on the jungle floor including stag beetles, scorpions, and fire-bellied toads, but behind glass. A pond with a waterfall lets visitors sit and observe gourami and Fly River turtles.
Butterfly Garden is an indoor butterfly conservatory which lets visitors walk through gardens and meadows and watch the butterflies up close.
Monkey House is home to cotton-topped tamarins, white-faced sakis, marmosets, and other New World monkeys.
Madagascar exhibit, which opened on 20 June 2008, recreates a small section of what many people call the eighth continent. It contains a variety of wildlife from Madagascar, including lemurs, hissing cockroaches, sifaka lemurs, and the Nile crocodile.
World of Birds is an indoor walk-through aviary. As of the summer of 2010, it is closed for repairs and upgrades. Source: Wikipedia Bronx Zoo
Arthur Avenue, Little Italy – 8 miles. Ask any New Yorker about Arthur Avenue in the Bronx and you get either puzzlement or a flood of loving sentiment about the real Little Italy of New York, the best place for bread, pasta, meat, pastries, the only place to buy Italian sausage, and more. The paradox is real: Many New Yorkers never heard of the place, while for others it’s home away from home … although it is often a well-kept secret.
We’re describing the Belmont section of the Bronx. Whether you call it Belmont, Little Italy of the Bronx or Arthur Avenue, the neighborhood beats its other rivals in the sheer number of establishments offering fine Italian-American foods, dining, house wares and other goods. The quality and values are tops – a recent ranking confirmed once again by critics like the Zagat Survey whose readers repeatedly give “Best Bets” status to more Arthur Avenue shops than any other neighborhood in New York City. — Source: LittleItalyBronx.com
New York Botanical Gardens, Bronx NY – 8 miles. The Garden contains 50 different gardens and plant collections. Sightseers can easily spend a day admiring the serene cascade waterfall, wetlands and a 50-acre (20 ha) tract of never-harvested oaks, American beeches, cherry, birch, tulip and white ash trees — some more than two centuries old. Garden highlights include an 1890s-vintage, wrought-iron framed, “crystal-palace style” greenhouse by Lord & Burnham, part of the Haupt Conservatory; the Peggy Rockefeller memorial rose garden (originally laid out by Beatrix Farrand in 1916); a rock garden; a 37-acre (15 ha) conifer collection; extensive research facilities including a propagation center, 50,000-volume library, and an herbarium archive of over seven million botanical specimens dating back more than three centuries. At the heart of the Garden are 50 acres (20 ha) of virgin woodlands which represent the last stretch of the original forest which covered all of New York City before the arrival of European settlers in the 17th century. The forest itself is split by the Bronx River and includes a riverine canyon and rapids, and along its shores sits the landmark Lorillard Snuff Mill dating back to the 1840s. — Source: Wikipedia New York Botanical Gardens
Times Square, 17 miles. A major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. The extended Times Square area, also called the Theatre District, consists of the blocks between Sixth and Eighth Avenues from east to west, and West 40th and West 53rd Streets from south to north, making up the western part of the commercial area of Midtown Manhattan. – Source: Wikipedia Times Square
From Times Square, all things NYC are easily within reach!
“Noah!” 
“Who is that?”
“It’s the Lord, Noah.”
“Ri-i-i-ght! What do you want? I’ve been good.”
“I want you to build an ark.”
“Ri-i-i-ght. What’s an ark?” (From Bill Cosby’s “Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow”)
Yes, indeed. It rained. Lots. Rain, record breaking attendance, and camaraderie were the hallmarks of the third Fort Schuyler Rally held at Fort Schuyler, the home of SUNY Maritime College, on June 11-14. Under the direction of tri-Unit hosts Mark and Debbie Hammer (Metro NY), Susan and Hunt Jones (Watchung), and Ray and Cynthia Richard (Charter Oak), 37 coaches/MoHo’s appeared over the course of the rally in addition to Watchung’s Dick and Ann Best who stayed in a suite on campus, and Watchung’s Widneys who made a guest appearance Saturday. We had Airstream owners from the New England, Cape Cod, Charter Oak, Metro NY, Hudson Mohawk, Watchung, and WDCU Units attending. Now in its third year, Fort Schuyler Rally attendance has grown exponentially in this historic jewel of a campus hidden at the end of Throg’s Neck…
To read the rest of Hunt’s article and get a better understanding of just how great this location really is, download the entire side-by-side 4 page review: 2009 Fort Schuyler Review
AirSchuyler 