| This has been
a landmark and symbol of Camp Hinds as long as present staff and the camp
committee can remember. The Blockhouse was built by campers and staff
in the 1930s as a pioneering or axemanship project. The oak logs were cut
in the denser areas of the camp property and manhandled to the site by
boy power. The blockhouse has been used to store fire protection
equipment but is mostly just a symbol. In the late 60s the building
was in danger of falling because the two logs supporting the upper half
were rotting out, so Frank Bailey and Fred Foster jacked up the top section,
removed the rotting logs and replaced them with two new oak logs. It looks
like it will soon be time to make that repair again.
In 2008 a visitor to camp told this rendition of the blockhouse's construction to then Program Director Wayne Holden. He said that 'Skipper' Patrick thought that boys should learn how to use a knife and ax and he taught them Tot 'N Chip. He went on to explain that the next natural progression was to learn how to really use an ax and that the next week or so they earned the Paul Bunyan Axmen Award. Then as a pioneering project with the trees they cut down behind what is now Dan Beard, they dragged them to the area where they built the block house as a pioneering merit badge project. He said they worked on the block house from 1936 until its completion in 1939. |
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