Teen Takes Push For Hampton Bays Campground to Facebook

Armed with a Facebook page, a group of recent high school grads have joined forces to turn Camp Tekakwitha, the former Nassau County Girl Scout Camp on Red Creek Road in Hampton Bays, into a community campground.

Kyle Kratoville, the nephew of , Southampton’s management services administrator, started a Facebook page on Thursday morning to garner support for a community campground on the property, which overlooks the Great Peconic Bay and was purchased by the town of Southampton for $16 million in 2007 using .

“I discovered the place last summer,” said Kyle. “Call me weird, but I fell in love with the place when I found it.”

With many of the old Girl Scout buildings still in place, Kyle said the town has a perfect opportunity to restore the camp for the community.

“It would be a shame the let it rot away and turn into woods,” said Kyle, who hails from Flanders and graduated in May from Riverhead High School.

Under Kyle’s plan, the town would not need to do much since they already own the 65-acre property, which houses four campsites, each complete with a cabin, fire pit, electricity, water hook up and grills.  There are also bathrooms and showers.

Kyle said he would not expect the town to pay to fix up the existing infrastructure, which has been subject to vandalism, but instead he would look to companies such as Home Depot and Lowe's to fund the project.

“It’s just a matter of putting the doors back on the hinges, cleaning up some graffiti with some fresh paint.  Home Depot and Lowe's do projects like these all the time,” said Kyle.

Kyle said he also imagines the town opening the beachfront to bathers by hiring a lifeguard.

Kyle says once he has garnered enough support through his Facebook page, he will take his proposal to the town. 

“I don’t think a lot of people know about this property. If I could get enough people interested in this, we could bring this to the town,” he said.

Kyle said he has already asked his uncle to look into rules and regulations for using the property as a campground knowing the law restricts use for property purchased using community preservation funds.