• Black and white photo of people in uniforms holding flags in front of a rustic building.

EXPLORE THE RICH HISTORY OF EDITH MACY AND BRIARCLIFF MANOR

Located in Westchester County, 50 minutes north of Manhattan, Edith Macy Center today is a 400-acre site named after Edith Carpenter Macy, chair of the Girl Scout National Board of Directors from 1919 - 1925. With land and capital donated in 1926 as a memorial tribute by her husband, V. Everit Macy, an industrialist, philanthropist, and local government official, it honors Mrs. Macy's dream of a permanent Girl Scout instructional facility, staffed and equipped to offer high quality training and guidance to Girl Scout leaders.

Everit Macy purchased 200 acres adjacent to the already-established Girl Scouts' Camp Andree and donated $50,000 for construction for the original buildings, designed by James Yardley Rippin, a friend of Lou Henry Hoover, wife of President Herbert Hoover, and Mrs. Macy's successor. Rippin, the first presidential retreat, Rapidan, for the Hoovers, and shared Mrs. Hoover's interest in the benefits of the outdoors. The centerpiece of the camp, Great Hall, is a magnificent rustic-style shingled-clad structure that is nearly entirely intact and worthy of historic landmark status.

Macy was the site of the first United States International World Camp in 1926, the last Girl Scout gathering attended by Juliette Gordon Low, propelling forward her advocacy of internationalism for Girl Scouting only one year before her death. During this Camp, participants designated February 22nd as World Thinking Day.

  • A building with a modern design, outdoor seating, American flag, and landscaping.

1982

In 1982, under the leadership of CEO, Frances Hesselbein, GSUSA added a conference center, including corporate meeting rooms, a 190+ seat auditorium, and 52 guestrooms. The "University in the Woods", as Macy was called in its early days, continues to serve as the site of many Girl Scout workshops and conferences, as well as numerous non-Girl Scout meetings, and is managed by Pyramid Global Hospitality.