The need for a permanent site became evident as Scouting grew.  The dream of a new camp became reality when Charles Hinds, executive board member and Portland business owner decided to make a substantial donation to pay for the new property in memory of his young son, William, who had died in a tragic accident.  The family owned the Portland based A. S. Hinds Company maker of Hinds Honey and Almond Cream, which was a popular skin cream sold nation wide.

After walking the property and, we can be sure, a lot of discussion, the committee decided on the Berry farm property in Raymond, but did not purchase the land and buildings on the north side of Plains Road.  According to Frank Bailey, they also did not purchase the land on the south side of the Tenny River at that time.  The initial Camp Hinds property consisted of 135 acres and was purchased for $8,200 - with buildings that represented an initial investment of $25,000.

Additional camp property include several acres on the top of Nubble Ledge, including the cliff itself, and several acres to the west of the main gate acquired from the Gardner's in the late 90s.

With the property in hand the access road was improved, architects were employed to design the necessary buildings and for several years the camp grew “from the ground up.” Camp Hinds was opened for the summer of 1927, directed by Council Executive Herbert L. Patrick, who continued in that role until 1943. There was only one building that first year, the combination kitchen and dining hall.  A new kitchen ell was added in 1928 to bring the seating capacity of the main building from 75 to 125 Scouts.  The recreation hall was built in 1928 and a small health lodge and camp director’s cabin were completed within a couple of years. There is evidence that Skipper Patrick’s “Pine Tree Cabin” was built with a screen porch across the lake end, but that was made part of the larger room when a flush toilet was installed in the front corner.  That facility shared a septic tank with the health lodge.  Campsites

In 1927 a row of eight-boy army pyramidal tents with wooden floors, with a capacity of 75 scouts, was set up in front of the area now occupied by the council ring.  Individual steel spring cots with straw mattresses were supplied for each Scout.  Seven Scouts and a junior leader were assigned to each tent.  Within two years the site had been extended to the area nearer the present dining hall and was divided into "A" and "B" campsites. "B" campsite was located near the site of the current dining hall.  By 1930 there were four sites named after Indian tribes.  Frank Bailey often said, "the original campsites, with Indian names like Sioux and Apache were lined up across the level area now extending from the Rec Hall to the dining hall." We only have documentation of the existence of Pawnee campsite.

The camp season was divided into two-week sessions, beginning and ending on Saturdays from 1927 through 1928.  In 1929 the camp week ran from Thursday to Thursday and in 1930 the camp week ran from Tuesday to Tuesday.  Starting in 1931 the changeover was done on Sundays.  Until the mid-fifties most provisional Scouts came to camp for two weeks. Staff days off were staggered throughout the week to provide continuous program and until 1954 or so staff time off was limited to 12 hours one week and twenty-four hours the following week. New Buildings

Frank Bailey told us this story: In the late twenties the camp had already begun to reach its capacity when Skipper Patrick one day announced in the old dining hall that there were a hundred boys in camp, a number that he thought might never be exceeded!.

The recreation hall was soon enlarged with the enclosing of the porch on the north end and the addition of a stage area.  This area is the current trading post. The back corners were enclosed to provide room for a trading post and a camp office (later called the “Camp Room.”)  That’s where the crank-operated phone (3-1 ring 1-3) was installed. The camp clerk served as telephone operator. The large porch on the lake side and south end provided space for training activities on rainy days.  Inside the Rec Hall book shelves were built on either side of the fireplace area and a large supply of Scout-oriented books were made available to the Scouts.   An upright piano, in the hands of talented staff members or their wives provided a source of music for shows and campfires.

Much later, in the early eighties, the trading post expanded into the former stage of the Rec Hall, with more stock, more space, more hours of operation, and greater sales.  This was a walk through trading post but customers were still served by a clerk who fetched the merchandise for the customers. In 1986 the trading post was moved to the front of the old health lodge to create the first self-service operation.  By 1990 the space in the Rec Hall was doubled in size and the self-service trading post was moved back to the Rec Hall. Staff Cabins

The first three "Leader Bungalows" were constructed in 1930.  Staff cabins were constructed for each campsite as well as others including Androscoggin on the waterfront, Chipmunk Point, Presumpscot behind the kitchen, Kennebec near the Rec Hall, another where the Konecki health lodge is now sited and a larger one near the present volleyball court. The Wilderness site was established with its rustic cabin and functioned as the site of advanced Scoutcraft training in Camping, Cooking and Pioneering merit badges and as a site for troop overnight camping.

“Skid Ridge”, the cabin originally located at the Konecki health lodge site, was moved from that spot to the top of the small hill nearby by Frank Bailey and Fred Foster, who “skidded” it up the hill with a system of rollers and ropes. It became Frank Bailey’s permanent summer home until his retirement in 1970.  The original Boone staff cabin was damaged by fire around 1950 and razed, and another cabin, name forgotten, was “skidded” a hundred feet or so into the campsite, where it remains now.

The large cabin from the dining hall area was moved up to the training center and converted into a truck garage as well as a shelter for the well serving the Training Center.  The trap door can be seen just inside the overhead door. The building had to be raised on concrete block walls to make it tall enough for the camp truck. You can still see staff names painted on the walls from its days in camp.  We speculate that this is the building constructed in 1930 to be the craftshop.

The waterfront area was first set up with rustic docks and diving platforms, then later developed with a dock system and a metal slide in the 'non-swimmers’ area.  The ‘beginner” area included a turning board to be used in swimming races; a float was positioned in deep water for the qualified swimmers, and a diving board was installed at the outer end of the dock. No more – safety considerations later caused us to cancel all ideas about having a diving board. The boat and canoe area was sited at Chipmunk point which had its own staff cabin.

From the wooden rowboats and canvas covered canoes of the 20s through 50s camp has seen many aquatic craft.  After WWII we were given two large surf boats by the government.  Known as “Cutters”, these were used for troops to take rowing trips (10 foot oars and a sweep oar for steering) across the lake to Raymond.  They rotted away by the mid-fifties.

By the 80s the National standards required a site for troop swims so we opened a beach near the Tenny pump house for troops where they could practice safe swim procedures.  The next beach development came after the boardwalk to “West Beach” was opened.  The boardwalk was originally built to provide access to west beach for Cub Scout day camp.  Within a few years an entire swimming instruction area for the Boy Scout program was opened there with a shallow sandy bottom. Log Cabins

The blockhouse was built as a pioneering merit badge project with the trees cut down for the Paul Bunyan Axeman Award from the area behind what is now Dan Beard. They worked on the block house from 1936 until its completion in 1939. The original nature lodge, another log cabin, was built by staff members near the terrarium. The terrarium was constructed in 1928 by staff member Paul Siple, who went on to national fame as a scientist and developer of the “wind chill” concept. See his story in the campsites section.

In the early days campfires and ceremonies were held at the present “parade ground.” The site of our current council ring, actually a glacial kettle caused by a left over chunk of ice over 10,000 years ago, was developed as the camp grew.  The low ground was extremely wet (under water) in the spring, so truckloads of sawdust were used as landfill, bringing the level up some, but still the water had to be pumped out before camp each June.

In 1994, the 50th anniversary of Madockawanda Lodge, the old council ring benches were ripped out.  The area to the right (facing the fire) was filled in with gravel, and benches were then installed to enlarge and renew the council ring.  The youth chairman was Chad Wilson, with advisers of his grandfather Charlie Wilson, and father Bud Wilson.

By the late thirties the water system grew to serve close to three hundred people per week with two central latrine buildings. In the main camp there were “Harvard” and “Yale”, the flush toilets in the main camp which served the six provisional campsites, and another latrine building in the Senior Camp. When waterfront director Don MacLean supervised the Explorer Scouts camped in Tenny in 1956 he named that latrine "Princeton”

For drinking water a 120' deep well was drilled below Boone campsite in the field area.  According to Anna Collins, who had owned the Kokatosi property next to Hinds for many years, this field was once known as Ephraim Jordan’s pasture.  There was also a water supply for the kitchen from a point driven on the river shore behind Presumpscot Cabin (“Slave’s Rest”) and a drilled well in a pump house on the Senior Camp side near the shore.  Eventually the Tenny pump was connected to the main system with a line under the river.

In 1930 a small craftshop was built and was used for that purpose for one year.  When the new dining hall was built in 1931, the original dining hall and kitchen became the craft shop and nature museum for a short period, then it was entirely used for crafts until the roof caved in under heavy snow in January 1952. Some of the sailboats stored inside suffered damage, but were salvaged. With a temporary roof over the tool shop (kitchen) area and an open work area for the Scouts the building served one more year as craftshop, then the staff tore it down during the closing staff week. In those days that would have been our tenth week in camp! The lumber was all salvaged and stored in the maintenance area, where it provided materials for many projects over the next few years.

From 1953 through 1955 the craftshop was located in Maintenance building.  A concrete floor was poured inside the old two-story building and Frank Bailey’s power tools and supplies were installed there. A sixteen by thirty-two foot army tent was set up in front of the building and the craft tables were set up there.

In 1956 the new craftshop was built behind the blockhouse, with staff members joining in to complete it in time for the summer season.  Frank Bailey specified that the deck boards be left widely spaced, so that the dirt and sawdust produced every day could be swept through the cracks. Program Changes

Frank Bailey was asked to open the shop after dinner for boys to work on their craft projects; evening waterfront hours were expanded to include troop swims, and water polo matches as well as the traditional free boating.  Softball and volleyball games were scheduled for the troops and the archery and rifle ranges were made available for troops to schedule or for individual Scouts to try.

The advancement program, which had traditionally centered around the campsite all morning for all scouts under First Class rank, was expanded to provide Scoutcraft training by staff members for boys of all ranks, since most troops coming to camp did not have enough trained leaders to instruct all their boys in the many skills of Scouting. Compare these troops with the provisional sites in which forty boys were served by a Scoutmaster, one ASM and at least one JASM. This change required an expansion of the Scoutcraft department which had previously offered only the merit badges in that field, especially Camping, Cooking and Pioneering.

Other program areas were being expanded in the fifties and sixties as well. We built an obstacle course in the present parking lot and a Scoutcraft area, called the Demonstration Area, across from the blockhouse. Archery originally had been taught by Frank Bailey in the evening at a small course next to the Boone pump house.

Camp Director Bill Scoville saw the need for a rifle range so he asked Frank Maguire to build it in the field which is now the Little League ball field.  There were no plans written down but the lumber was purchased and with Fred Foster’s occasional guidance the shelter, much like the one we use today, was built during staff week. Fred provided an extension cord (12-2 cable) about 200 feet long to bring power to the project.  Someone also brought in a bulldozer and created a high mound of sand as a backstop and we were in business!

We extended the firearms program with Mo-skeet ( 22 cal. Shotgun) in a space near the rifle range, then moved it across the road near Bates Cabin.

By 1956 more troops were coming to camp under their own leadership, most of them using the Tenny site, and the need was felt for expansion.  Ridgway campsite was soon opened followed by Patrick, Baden Powell, Siple and West. Wilderness became a provisional campsite rather than a Scoutcraft training area in 1964 when MacArthur campsite was closed.  The Cadigan Lodge was opened by 1967, named in honor of Ken Cadigan, the Camping Committee Chairman who supervised the development of that cabin.

The dining hall could not handle the crowd so a number of picnic tables were set up outside, similar to the table arrangement now used.  Then in 1962 camp director Bill Scoville and the camping committee, under the leadership of Harvey Woodbury, decided to add onto the dining hall.

In 1966 a real period of expansion began with the construction of the Tenny River Bridge.  Early Scouts had to do make do with row boats to cross to the senior camp, then a series of rafts, known as the “Tenny Belle" were used,  Early versions were box-like barges which frequently sprung leaks or filled with rainwater and had to pumped out frequently by a less-than enthusiastic staff.

Until the fifties almost all bathing was accomplished by “soap swims” held at the waterfront.  Many boys’ camps in those days had an early morning soap swim for the entire camp on a daily basis to ensure that cleanliness was maintained.  The first shower in camp was in the old health lodge. Eventually a small two-stall staff shower was built on the back of the chef's cabin/storage bunker building, with warnings not to use it when dishwashing was going on.

A lot of things happened in the eighties. Ralph Lawrence and Bill Adams, members of the Camp Committee and experienced in construction and design, contributed their time and skill to updating many of our facilities. The recreation hall roof was replaced with metal, the rotting porch was removed, and the trading post relocated. The rafters were reinforced to avoid snow damage and a new floor was installed.

The dining hall rafters were also reinforced so we no longer had to install snow braces inside every winter.  The electrical system was upgraded with underground wiring in the central area, starting from the new A-frame utility building behind the kitchen and leading to the kitchen, Konecki Health Lodge, and Recreation Hall. The Konecki Health Lodge

The original Health Lodge, built on a slope in thee distinct pieces, was becoming outmoded and even unsafe by the seventies, so the Camping Committee determined to replace it.  With plans drawn by Bill Adams funds were raised and the work began. A concrete slab was poured just above the council ring, with underground utilities in place, and construction went on all summer.

The work was performed partly by professional builders and partly by our volunteers. This resulted in some confusion when one troop leader would begin a project when his troop was in camp, only to leave before the job was done.  The next leader to volunteer would have to examine the work which had been done and determine what was left to do.  Frank discovered a jumble of pieces of wood pre-cut for interior window finish and finally figured out where they were intended to go, but had to manufacture window sills to fit. Terrarium & Showerhouse Water

A few years later in the eighties it was determined that it would be a good idea to supply the terrarium and camper showerhouse with lake water, rather than deplete the drinking water supply, so a contractor was brought in during the June work weekend who used a large backhoe to make a trench from the lake pump to the terrarium and camper showerhouse, following the roadway.

The next year the OA was hard at work with the June ordeal when a parade of flatbed trucks drove into camp, each one loaded with two old tourist cabins, the gift of someone in Saco who was closing his campgrounds.  Glen had the cabins (now known as Condos) unloaded into the only open spots accessible to the trucks and accompanying crane, and positioned them behind the Recreation hall, except for one next to the A-frame behind the kitchen (now removed). There they sit to this day.

Next came the much needed Maintenance and Storage Building which was completed in January 1989.  It was designed to be 3600 sq ft with a large heated work space, bathroom, expansive storage loft, many large garage doors, and storage space for all tentage and other summer equipment. The contract was awarded to K-Valley volunteer Bruce Fadden.

A well was dug and pump house was constructed off the main camp road, which solved water supply problems the camp had previously experienced.

Next came renovations to the Rec Hall. A new roof had been added two years before by the Sea-Bees. At that point the porch was removed and space was designed for a new Trading Post, Camp office and SM lounge. This made the central meeting space which had been used for rainy night campfires (in extremely crowded conditions), way too small, so the fireplace was added to the dining hall.

At the same time, new roof joists were added to the dining hall because the existing roof was in danger of collapse. The new, much larger kitchen was added at the same time which opened for the 1990 camp season, with nearly all new equipment, much more storage space and work space was added in.

Next, both Bates Cabin and Cadigan Lodge were given major renovation as was McCurdy Lode at Camp Bomazeen. Renovation included new wiring, built in bunks, new walls, some new windows, insulation, and other features as needed. This work was done by volunteers, Bates by friends of Casco Bay Day Camp, and Cadigan by Madockawanda Lodge.

The Training Center and Ranger's residence was the next project. The entire building was totally re-wired and electric heat was added to the ranger's house which had been previously wood stove heated. The roof was re-shingled. The entire building was re-sided (and insulated) to match the Maintenance and Storage Building.

Shotgun shooting was added to the camp program but the site was never firmly established. We remember boats on the river occasionally being rained on by pellets and we would move the shooting spots. Later the shooting station was moved back and the angle of the range changed slightly to resolve the problem.

The only project left to complete when Marty left the council was a new staff and adult shower house which was built by the Camp Hinds Alumni Association with materials provided by the capital campaign. Also built during that time was the Byrd lean-to by Troop 41 and the council ring gateway by Troop 880 of So. Windsor, CT.

The BB range was built later by the Webelos from Pack 805 of Windham rightfully dedicated to Phil Seaward, Council Field Director, who had passed away in June of 1991 from a brain tumor. Camp Ranger Glen Gisel was critical in all the projects!!

Until the late fifties Camp Hinds was still operated seven days a week, with all changing over done on Sunday afternoon.  The troops in camp packed their gear and moved out right after lunch, when the plaques were nailed to the beams and the staff formed their farewell arch (those traditions started in 1958.)  By 2 PM the new scouts were arriving, with Frank Bailey standing on the camp road directing troops to their campsites and provisional Scouts to their sites as well. Parking was allowed all over camp and most parents drove right to their boy’s tent if they could get there!

There was the week when the South Berwick Scoutmaster, assigned to Siple (now Dan Beard) campsite, decided that he could drive his big Chevy sedan over that rocky lane into the campsite.  He gunned the engine as he approached the rocky outcrop in the middle of that path and ended up with his car suspended with the wheels off the ground, resting on the undercarriage! It took the camp truck and several jacks to get him out of there.

Procedures were then established to have all parents park in the upper lot, near Bates cabin, and have their boy’s gear hauled to the campsite by truck.  Since many boys still came with footlockers it was a major production but somehow we worked it out.  Hauling the gear back to cars at the end of the week was less chaotic since many boys left at different times and a lot of parents managed to sneak their cars closer to the campsites.

Many parking schemes have been tried over the years but the perfect plan is yet to be developed.

In the early sixties it was decided to ease the crunch by dismissing the campers after Sunday breakfast and receiving the new Scouts in the afternoon.  This eased the traffic jams but still caused conflict because in that era of large troops we were required to use the flatbed truck to move many platforms, tents and bunks from one site to another to accommodate the boys coming in.  Sometimes we had to set up an extra patrol at Ridgway, in the field in front of the site. Sometimes we had to move a half dozen tents into Tenny, negotiating that long twisty road while parents drove in and out, and then setting up tents anywhere we could find room in the crowded area near the cabin and Tenny Rec Hall – then move them all out at the end of the week.

Eventually the camp committee decided to shorten the camp week and send everyone home Saturday morning, allowing for the entry of Cub Scout camping on the weekend.  Before long many parents decided just to attend the Friday night closing campfire and bring Johnny home then which in time did away with the six-night camp.

Intercamp Activities

From the 30s to the 50s, when most Scouts came to camp for two weeks, there were other boys who came for a longer period of time, even for the entire summer.  Those Scouts soon became friends to the staff and sometimes exhausted their options for earning merit badges, so other program opportunities opened up for them.

They became adept sailors and developed into a sailing crew which represented Camp Hinds in regattas conducted by a number of the nearby private camps, such as Luther Gulick on Sebago Lake, Timanous and Hawthorne on Panther Pond, and a couple of camps on Crescent Lake.  Somewhere around the recreation hall you might run across plaques or paddles won as trophies at those regattas.

From the late fifties through the sixties an intercamp swim program opened up with Camp Bomazeen.  Hinds hosted a Bomazeen team once during the summer and we sent a team to Bomazeen at another time.  That was back when we could load the camp truck with 20 or so boys sitting on wood benches borrowed from the Rec Hall and have an exciting ride through the “woods” to our brother camp.

Also during the sixties we developed a good relationship with Camp Wayaka on Pleasant Lake in Otisfield, the Auburn Council’s Girl Scout Camp.  The joint programs included cookouts at each other’s camp (the girls did it better), campfires (we learned some new songs) and dances, held in the Memorial Room at our Training Center. Most of the boys involved in these activities were CITs, but  campers aged 14 or older were also welcome.

Saturday Programs

Until the fifties special activities were held on the middle Saturday of each two-week session.  Many of these were called a “Salamagundy”, a combination of athletic contest, swimming event and skills challenge.  No lists remain to tell us exactly what they did but it definitely provided a break from the usual camp program.

When a seven day camp became the norm a weekly big event was planned with an emphasis on patrol competition. It was up to the program director, working with the senior patrol leaders of the troops, to decide on a theme for the week’s event.  Often the dining hall was livened up during the week with promotional skits designed to motivate the campers for the upcoming “Gold Rush”, “Olympic Games”, Aquatic Meet, or other themed activity.  Most of the programs were based on each patrol using Scout skills to solve problems or earn points.

Naturally the program staff got to man the stations, trying to keep the playing field level for all the patrols who were competing, and to encourage the adult troop leaders to let the boys solve their own problems.

Emphasis on the patrol method also resulted in a weekly “Patrol Adventure Award” during the fifties and sixties. All the patrols in camp were invited to try for this award, which gave points for displaying a patrol flag, doing a patrol good turn for camp, earning points in the Saturday competition and cooking out as a patrol, among other things.  The winning patrol got to decorate an arrowhead shaped plaque and hang it up in the dining hall. Some of those plaques can still be seen among the hundreds of troop plaques, which were first displayed in 1958.

Conclusion, by Frank Maguire

In the fifties we had a new program director, a professional Scouter who had a lot of new ideas about camp.  He had a hard time in tradition-bound Camp Hinds because he changed things!  He moved Scoutcraft to the new “demonstration area” across from the blockhouse, he lined up the tables in the dining hall in diagonal rows so no one could find their table, he spent all Monday morning having the boys sign up for program classes, he upset people!  He also brought new ideas into camp, trained the staff in some new Scout skills, introduced the attitude that we actually could do some things we hadn’t done before, and moved us into the future of Scouting, but we went kicking and yelling.

When I followed him as program director I tried to follow tradition as far as it was reasonable to do so.  We tried new ways of signing boys up for program and introducing their leaders to camp. We opened up more time for activities on the waterfront, in the craftshop, and in field sports.  Bill Scoville, the Camp Director, told me once that what I did was change whatever needed changing for the better while insisting that we weren’t changing the camp, just bringing it up to date. It seemed to work!

Conclusion, by Dean Zaharis

Camp Hinds is a mixture of change and tradition.  In the mid eighties we had a new camp director, a professional Scouter from out-of-state, who had a lot of different ideas about how to run a Scout camp.  His program director had not been on Hinds staff before and he didn't know the Hinds traditions either. The staff had a hard time because they changed things!   I became program director the following year and worked hard to re-instate some of the traditions and incorporate most of the changes.  I could not have become camp director without all I learned from him - Thanks Marty.  After my term as camp director ended, I had many people tell me camp wasn't the same.  It couldn't be the same as each camp director/program director team have different leadership styles and different goals - so camp changes.  As I visit camp today, I see some things that are exactly the same as they were when I was a Scout.  I see things that where changes I made, and I see some new things.  What makes Camp Hinds great is all the attention and dedication that the camp staff over the years have put into Camp Hinds - keeping traditions and making changes.