More information on Camp Big Island
Ah the internet is wonderful for our hobby. An earlier post shared some information about Anthony Wayne Area Council’s Camp Big Island. A former staff member saw it and commented. I asked for some follow-up. Here’s what staff member David Moses provided.
He sent a great picture of several of the early felts from Camp Big Island: Click on it to see a bigger image.
Plus he provided some history and wonderful pictures of the camp that are in the article below. He includes some information about Kiskakon lodge 75 as well.
Camp Big Island
Anthony Wayne Area Council
Fort Wayne, Indiana
My brother had attended Camp Big Island as a camper and as a staff member, so by the time I was eligible to attend, I knew a bit about the place. Camp Big Island, the Anthony Wayne Council’s summer camp, was located on Sylvan Lake about six miles northwest of Kendallville, IN and about one-and-a-half miles southeast of Rome City, IN. There was a parking lot in the woods on the mainland that sloped down to a landing dock. This parking lot was a wooded but grassless area that quickly became slick with mud with only a small amount of rain. Campers, parents, supplies, staff and everything else needed to run the camp had to be transported from the mainland via an old life boat that would hold fifteen or twenty people and some of their gear. The boat was equipped with a gasoline engine fixed onto the tiller. There was also a pontoon raft with an outboard engine that was used to carry camping gear, supplies and larger pieces of equipment. Upon landing at the dock on the island and finding your gear, it was necessary to carry it to one of about fifteen cabins that would be home for the week. Each cabin was set on a wooden platform and was screened in on all four sides with a solid roof overhead. There were canvas sides that could be rolled down in case of inclement weather. Each cabin contained space for eight to ten campers in double deck bunks. Gear went under the bottom bunks. Troop leaders, wishing to retain at least some sanity during the week, slept in different cabins away from their charges. In any given week there would be from one hundred to one hundred twenty campers plus their leaders and a resident camp staff of about twenty.
We ate in the dining hall that accommodated all of the campers and staff at one time. Service was family style and each table designated one person to pick up the food from the kitchen. Others would be responsible for clearing the tables after the meal and following the noon and evening meals, the staff would lead singing.
A favorite spot after lunch and dinner was the concession stand. This building, similar to most of the others except for the cabins, was painted a nondescript yellow and contained in addition to the concession stand the camp offices. This is also where a camper would obtain craft supplies. I can only imagine how many yards of boondoggle, a simple, extruded plastic lace for those who don’t remember, were sold for making lanyards and bracelets. The stand also carried a limited supply of candy bars.
Activities during the week included crafts, swimming, canoeing and boating, games and classes to help earn higher rank and merit badges. There were also cabins to keep clean, ceremonies to attend, meals to serve, fire watch at night to walk and other things to keep one busy. If you worked hard and learned, at the end of the week you were rewarded with a special patch. I went to Camp Big Island as a camper five years and the fourth year, much to my dismay, I did not satisfy the requirements in the eyes of one of the counselors and I did not get a badge that year. It was a crushing blow.
One of the popular games that took place after dark one evening of the week was “Capture the Flag.” The entire camp was divided into two teams and the camp was divided into two sections. Each team had to display their flag within reach from the ground and then defend it from the other team. It was a very rough commando style game. You had to go into the other team’s area to capture their flag, but at the risk of being captured yourself. Rough, but everybody was friendly at breakfast the next morning. This was during and soon after WWII and we were practicing being Rangers.
Camp Big Island was in fact connected to the mainland via a marshy area that seldom had enough water in it to take a boat through but not really dry enough to walk over. The center of the island was a swamp complete with rattle snakes. There was a nature trail that ran around the perimeter of the island where one could see and hear many kinds of birds and view poison ivy and poison sumac naturally growing.
One evening late in each week at camp there was a ceremony to call out new members of the Order of the Arrow. It was a dramatic event with several staff members dressed in Native American costumes, a large ceremonial fire and lots of anticipation on the part of those attending. (The headdresses are ones that I made.)
I went to camp two more years, but as a counselor and stayed all summer long. In the summer of 1949, I was a counselor in camp crafts. I taught things like fire building, camp cooking, knot tying, and how to make simple things by lashing limbs together. In the summer of 1950,r I worked on the water front teaching swimming and rowing.
Many years before the island was a Boy Scout Camp my grandmother picked berries on the island, arriving there by boat from the far end of Sylvan Lake where my grandparents had a cottage. At that time, she said the island was called Rattle Snake Island and she took a rifle with her while picking berries for protection in case one of the rattlers showed up.
on February 24th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Wow. Those felts are gorgeous.
on June 13th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
My brother, William “Bill” Kamm and his friend Jack S Ford attending Camp Big Island in the approximate years of 1948-1950. They both loved it there! Am wondering if those names ring a bell. Both are gone now.
on April 29th, 2012 at 10:07 am
I went to summer camp there in 64, and 65 and I think 66 it’s last year. I have my older brothers patch like ones above. We were staying in wall tents by then. I did my ordeal their carying food up and down the hill at the parking lot and up and down the hill to the dinnig hall. We went fo two weeks, thanks for the walk down memory lane.
on April 29th, 2012 at 10:10 am
Forgot to mention, I stopped by there about 10 years ago, and they had drained the lack to kill the algy and clean up the lake. Then again about 5 years ago. People who live there still call it Boy Scout Island.
on June 25th, 2012 at 7:13 am
I appreciated getting this one. I remember well going to Camp Big Island back in the mid 1960’s. About 2 years after the camp was sold, a storm came through and leveled the large dining hall where we used to eat and sing a lot of songs.
on August 18th, 2013 at 12:29 pm
My husband was at camp big Island with the boy scouts when the Japanese surrendered.
on October 12th, 2013 at 7:33 am
Do you have any pictures from him when he as a Scout or at camp?
on October 12th, 2013 at 6:58 am
I went to Big Island Camp 1951 to 1956. I have the 1951 to 1956 patch red and white segments. Elected to O A and took my ordeal there. Very nice camp.
on April 17th, 2017 at 9:56 am
I & my 2 Brother all when to Big Island,from 64 to 67. My Dad also when in the 40’s. I have 2 BI patches from Dad,but they don’t have dates on them??.Dad also work on many Project there(phone line across lake)
on April 17th, 2017 at 12:45 pm
The early years were undated. I think the different colors represented how many years you’d been at camp.
on November 20th, 2017 at 9:45 am
I went to camp big island in mid 60’s does anyone remember the camp song?? I remember some of it ” on the hills above lake Sylvan, high above the trees, flies the flag of camp big island blowing in the brees……….. ” an ends CBI love you
on January 16th, 2018 at 8:32 pm
Just found this site and am flabbergasted! My late (much older) brother-in-law, Charles W. Moses, was David Moses’s cousin (I believe), a district scout exec., and CBI camp director for one or two summers in early ‘60’s. This is great. Wasn’t aware patches were collected!
on January 16th, 2018 at 8:35 pm
I was a Camp Big Island camper two years in the early ‘60’s and have some patches.
on March 7th, 2019 at 8:26 am
Shot my first rifle at camp Big Island, a 22. Still have my junior marksman certificate for the 50 foot range. Back in 1966. What a fun week!
on April 23rd, 2020 at 2:29 pm
My father, Gerry Muir was the camp director at Big Island from 1950 to 1953. Our family stayed out there several times during the summer. I got to drive a tractor there, and got swimming lessons from one of the counselors. We also got to ride in the barges that brought campers and gear to the camp. Our Scotty dog often came along for the ride. My mother had some pictures of our time there.
on June 21st, 2023 at 10:22 pm
My grandparents were the camp cooks in the late 50s until it closed. Their nickname was the Cros. I remember my Grandfather Cro came across the lake with a flat pontoon and picked us up and brought us out to the camp to visit them. One time they were bringing a small tractor to the island and it flipped the pontoon and ended up at the bottom of the lake. Story has it they fished the tractor out of the lake with a crane of some sort. Does anyone remember my grandparents or the story of the tractor? After they closed Big Island my Grandparents cooked for the scouts at the Pioneer Trails Camp
on August 13th, 2023 at 8:04 am
Went to camp there in 65 and 66 i think. My memories are priceless. The song ” on the hills above lake sylvan, high above the trees, flies the flag of camp big island flowing in the breeze” cant remember the rest but i do remember the melody. Anyone help me with the rest??
on August 13th, 2023 at 10:35 am
I spent a week @CBI summer of 1951 as part of Troop 5 from Fort Wayne.Fondest memories are the mosquitos and bonfires at night, the candy bars from the campstore, the plastic strips woven into bracelets and the “bug juice” in aluminum pitchers in the dining hall. Never remembered anything about snakes.