Bert Adams Scout Camp is a long-term overnight camp owned and operated by the

Atlanta Area Council The Atlanta Area Council is a local council of Scouting America. It serves 13 northern Georgia counties: Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, and Rockdale. Organization The co ...

of the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

. Bert Adams is located south of

Covington, Georgia Covington is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia and the seat of Newton County, and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, its population was 14,192. History Covington was founded by European immigrants to the Unite ...

, situated on Lake Bulow Campbell; the camp is one of three major BSA summer camps in the

. The camp is named after Albert S. "Bert" Adams, a "beloved leader in the city of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

", and the president of what was then called the "Atlanta Council of the Boy Scouts", during the 1920s. Bert Adams has consistently been listed as one of the best

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

camps in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by Boys Life and Scouting Magazines.

History

Camp Friendly

Early proposals for a new

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

in the council began as early as summer of 1916, however, the

entry into

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

delayed any potential progress on these proposals. After the war concluded, one of the original proposers of a new

, Mr. Roland Shine, directed a temporary summer camp, Camp Friendly, which acted as a placeholder until a new permanent camp could be established. After some time, though "successful as a summer event", Camp Friendly, did not fully meet the needs and goals of the council, and was cancelled after its 1922 season.

First Permanent Camp

Construction

After the closing of Camp Friendly, a representative of the council and advocator for the building of a new summer camp, Richard Darby, began the search for a location for a permanent camp. The property he settled upon was located in Vinings, about 11 miles (17.7 Kilometers) north of

. The

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

s the site was located on then were then purchased one by one by Albert "Bert" Adams (the president of the

, and the later

namesake A namesake is a person, place, or thing bearing the name of another. Most commonly, it refers to an individual who is purposely named after another (e.g. John F. Kennedy Jr would be the namesake of John F. Kennedy). In common parlance, it may ...

of the camp) and the Adams-Cates Realty Company, and began the building of the camp. After the land purchase was completed, sporadic and unorganized construction of the camp began shortly after. A

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

was constructed on a creek running through the property, with the resulting 1.3 acre lake being named after Richard Darby, in recognition of his work in championing the idea of building a new camp. Though parts of the camp were still being built at the time, the core of the camp began welcoming scouts in the

autumn Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemisphe ...

of 1925. Much to the sadness of the council and Scouters throughout Central and

North Georgia North Georgia is the northern hilly/mountainous region in the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of north Georgia were often scenes of important eve ...

, Albert "Bert" Adams died in December 1926, before the construction on the camp could be completed. Shortly thereafter, Chairman Law of the Atlanta Area Council Executive Board proposed that the new camp, once completed, be named in his honor. The proposal was approved by the Council Executive Board unanimously. Due to Adams' death, financial troubles early on, and the slow and relatively unorganized rate of construction, the completion of the building of the camp missed its summer of 1926 deadline. A large campaign in order to raise the remaining $75,000 1926

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

(the equivalent of $1.08 Million

in 2018), began in February 1927. The campaign was hugely successful and its goal was met on April 3 of that same year. On April 3, 1927, a groundbreaking ceremony for what would become the main structure of the camp, a 60 x 100 foot (~19 x 33 meters) dining hall, was conducted by the son of Albert Adams,

Life Scout Advancement and recognition in Scouting America is a tradition dating from the inception of the Scouting movement. A fundamental purpose of advancement is the self-confidence a young man or woman acquires from his participation in Scouting. Advanc ...

Albert S. Adams Jr.

Dedication

On June 11, 1927, the camp was officially dedicated and opening with a

grand opening An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

ceremony. Many of the general public from cities throughout the

area were in attendance. Among guests of particular note would include,

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Clifford Walker,

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

I.N. Ragsdale Isaac Newton Ragsdale (1859–1937) was mayor of Atlanta from 1927 to 1931. He moved to Atlanta in 1880 from Dallas, Georgia. He lived for many years in Oakland City and served as mayor there in 1908 before it was annexed into Atlanta. He ...

, and

Chief Scout Executive The Chief Scout Executive is the president and chief executive officer of Scouting America. The office holder is a member of the organization’s professional staff and is responsible for its management and operations. Roger Krone is the curren ...

James E. West. In his address, West indicated that

was one of only a few councils at that time to own any overnight camping facilities.

Relocation

The camp continued operation at that site for 33 years, until 1960, when a new larger site was found, and moved to.

Current Permanent Camp

Following the 1960 summer season, with the original camp facilities growing old and falling to disrepair, a new site was chosen just south of

. This site has been the location of the camp since that time. The current camp has received multiple commendations and

awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

from various scouting magazines for its layout, events, camp staff, and facilities.

2018 Accident

On June 25, 2018, a severe weather storm came into the camp. Elijah Knight (14 at the time), went to his tent with two of his friends, seeking shelter from the storm. Minutes later, a tree came crashing down on their tent, crushing Knight. The other two boys escaped unharmed. Knight was found dead just minutes after.

Climate

Weather

Due to the camp's location in the

region of the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

, the camp often sees moderate to severe

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...

. This particularly includes

thunderstorms A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are som ...

and

rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

. In order to counter this, the council has several safety precautions and campwide alarms in place in an attempt to prevent incident. In June 2018, there was an incident where a Scout was killed as a result of a tree falling on the Scout's tent after severe storm force winds pushed the tree down.

Fauna

The camp is a native home to many of the same animals that are native to both Central and

. In the case of land animals, this includes, but is not limited to: Black Bear,

White Tailed Deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

, and American Copperhead. Deer are particularly prevalent, and can be found once or twice in any given week. In addition, the lake, Lake Bulow Campbell is home to several species of freshwater fish. Fishing is allowed on a catch-and-release practice.

References

Links

*{{Cite web, url=https://www.campbertadams.org/, title=Bert Adams Scout Camp {{! Atlanta Area Council {{! 92, website=www.campbertadams.org, language=en, access-date=2018-07-13 Local council camps of the Boy Scouts of America 1927 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in Newton County, Georgia