| For many decades, Camp Tuscazoar served as a Boy
Scout camp, owned and operated by the
Buckeye Council,
headquartered in nearby Canton. The first scouts who camped in this
area had no idea that this would become a full-time council camp.
They just knew that they were going to spend the weekend at Bill
English's farm near Zoarville. Mr. English was one of the first
commissioners in the McKinley Council (a predecessor of the current
Buckeye Council) and a great friend of Scouting. So, whenever they
could, the first Canton scout troops would escape the city and head
down to the farm.
In 1920, Canton’s Troop 5 began building a cabin in the area. A
year later, the newly-formed Canton Scout Council chose an open
meadow a half-mile away for its summer camp. That first summer
camp was held in 1920 at what is now the Johnny Appleseed campsite,
and the camp then received a name: Wilderness Camp. The program and
the popularity of the site continued to grow, and council leadership
recognized the need for a permanent camp where the scouts could have
their programs and activities. Thus, in 1924, council benefactor
Frank G. Hoover provided the funds that bought the first tract of
65½ acres and placed it in trust for the benefit of the scouts. The
next year, the name "Tuscazoar" was selected as the name for the new
camp—a combination of the words Tuscarawas and Zoar, as both have
played a significant role in the history of the land composing the
camp.
Also in 1924, a camp honors program was developed by C. L. Riley,
Charles Mills, and George Deaver. Known as "Pipestone",
the program was eventually expanded to five degrees, one of which
could be earned each summer. The Pipestone program,which continues to this
day in the Buckeye Council's summer camp, has been very popular with campers
over the years and is credited with Buckeye Council's high repeat
attendance at summer camp year after year.
The camp continued to take shape. Cabins were erected, wells were
dug, a parade ground was built, and other facilities were
constructed. In 1927 the centralized camp plan, used since the first
Wilderness Camp, was changed to three troop villages. A nursery was
started at the present Turkey campsite to launch a reforestation
program for the many fields and clear-cut areas of the camp. In
those days, Tuscazoar did not have many wooded areas. Eventually,
craft houses were built in each of the villages and Scouts learned
to make useful ceramic items fired in George "Chief" Deaver's
pottery kiln.
"Chief" Deaver served as both Scout Executive of the McKinley
Area Boy Scout Council and as leader of the Pipestone program.
Because of this dual role, he became known to all Scouts as "Chief"
Deaver, or simply as "Chief" to those who knew and worked with him.
The relationship between "Chief" Deaver and Tuscazoar lasted more
than 30 years.
By 1930, the camp was comprised of 160 acres and operations were
in full swing, with almost all of the new camp buildings situated
right along the Tuscarawas River. There were a number of reasons for
this, the most pressing of which was that river access was important
for swimming and bathing because the camp lacked shower facilities!
However, in the 1930's trouble began brewing for the camp.
Authorities announced a new WPA project for the area, a huge cement
dam and reservoir to be constructed just below the camp under the
authority of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. Plans
called for water contained in the reservoir to be backed up into the
camp's central area. In addition, the Cleveland & Pittsburg
Railroad, which ran between the camp and the river, would have to be
relocated to a higher, newly-built, right-of-way. In order to
construct this new right-of-way the hillsides along the river, on
which many of the camp buildings sat, would have to be blasted away.
A higher railroad, demolition of most of the camp's buildings,
and a huge lake in the middle of the camp, taken together, meant the
end of camp operations—and the council seriously contemplated
abandoning Camp Tuscazoar. The council and the Conservancy District
were also unable to agree on values for the camp's buildings and
land, and a lawsuit ensued. Things were settled in 1937 when George
Markley, president of the Tuscarawas Mineral Land Company, agreed to
sell the council a 336 acre tract south of the camp's 160 acres,
which included such camp landmarks as Buzzard's Roost and most of
the remaining Zoarite Iron Ore Mines—where the Separatists who
founded Zoar mined iron ore to feed their furnace located just north
of the camp.
Most importantly, this purchase provided land for the
reconstruction of central camp facilities and persuaded the council
to stay at Tuscazoar. Also, the Conservancy District agreed to
construct an access culvert under both the old and new railroad
rights-of-way to allow the scouts continued access to the river, and
announced that the Dover Reservoir would be a dry reservoir, to
contain water only when necessary to control flooding downstream.
The old camp buildings were then demolished, the railroad relocated,
and central camp rebuilt where it is today.
With the camp rebuilt, life at Tuscazoar settled into summer
after summer of boys coming to camp, learning about the natural
world and growing into healthy and productive citizens. Although attendance remained high throughout the Forties,
Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, the council determined that it was
necessary to obtain a new camp and combine the operations of Camp
Tuscazoar and its sister council camp,
Camp Buckeye near Beach City. Thus, in 1984 Camp Tuscazoar was
sold by the council to the Kimble Family of Dover, ending more than
60 years of Boy Scout ownership. The last Boy Scout summer camp held
at Tuscazoar was over the summer of 1986. After the final week of
summer camp ended, Camp Tuscazoar was closed and all useable
equipment was transferred to the new council camp near Kensington,
known as the
Seven
Ranges Scout Reservation.
Almost immediately, Camp Tuscazoar alumni formed the Camp Tuscazoar Foundation, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation
with the stated purpose of "acquiring, perpetuating and maintaining
Camp Tuscazoar." The founding members believed that the camp was a
valuable resource that should be kept open and maintained for the
benefit of youth, families and the community and set about
accomplishing those goals. The Kimble Family agreed to lease the
camp to the Foundation and scouts began camping there again in 1987.
Another huge milestone was reached in December of 1989 when the
Kimble Family generously donated 110 acres containing the central
camp area to the Foundation. Several smaller purchases of land in
1997 from the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District along the
Tuscarawas River added a hiking trail, and later that year the
Foundation accepted the donation of the Zoarville
Station Bridge from Charles Lebold, which included a permanent
right-of-way for a hiking trail from the bridge to SR 800. With the
restoration of the bridge, Tuscazoar patrons can now access the
Ohio-Erie Canal Corridor and safely hike north to Zoar and Ft.
Laurens.
The Foundation has
continued to strive to acquire the remainder of the camp while
improving camp facilities. Several structures have been built in the
last few years, including the
W. C. Moorhead Museum, a repository of
Scouting and camp memorabilia, and the
Richard Belcher Memorial Lodge, a cabin dedicated to
Dr. Richard Belcher, a now-deceased former camper from North Canton.
In 2006, a grant from the Clean Ohio Fund enabled
the purchase of another 241 acres of the camp by the Foundation, and
we have obtained additional grant funds and hope to complete the
purchase of the final 113 acres in the near future.
The camp has hosted numerous groups for a multitude of
activities, from college students fulfilling community service
degree requirements to weddings. The Foundation has also
re-established a good working relationship with former camp owner
Buckeye Council. The Foundation is a Friend of Scouting and
strives to assist the council whenever it can. Scouts still camp at
Tuscazoar, as their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers
before them began doing almost ninety years ago. These youth, and
the friends and families that now call the camp home,
"keep the
spirit burning."
In the words of early camp leader I.W. Delp:
"Reluctantly we must turn away from the past so rich in glamour,
and get ourselves back to the realities of the present and the
promises of the future. The river no longer feels the dip of Indian
paddle. No more do the stealthy feet of the red man tread the
trails. Stilled forever are the sounds of Zoarite mining, and the
felling of trees for the charcoal burners. A new day is at hand,
with problems no less perplexing, and requiring no less sterling
qualities of manhood for their solution. As the wilderness built
sturdy bodies and splendid characters so necessary for its conquest,
so does it now for the living that looms ahead. In its few years, a
thousand boys have come to love Tuscazoar. In their turn, a host of
others will do the same. As with those who have gone before, they,
too, will climb the hilltops to ponder the heroism, 1abors, and
sacrifices of those who have built this valley, and to resolve to
meet the world with as high ideals and noble purposes. - When in
that distant day, if ever it comes, and a final taps sounds for
Tuscazoar, may it truly be said, "Here was done a good work." |
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First central camp (now Old Campsite) - 1920's
I.W. Delp places the first stone at Pioneer Point to honor the
soldiers who died at Ft. Laurens - 1925
First camp entrance near Pioneer Point - 1926
Pioneer Point - 1929
First camp swimming pool in
Netawatwes Brook valley - 1930's
Construction of Dover Dam - 1936
Dan Beard Lodge (originally Hoover Lodge) - 1940's
Camp dining hall - 1940's
Location of current stockade entrance - 1950's
Construction of One Leg adirondacks - 1950's
Shawnee Lodge (later destroyed by fire)- 1951
Leaf identification at summer camp - circa 1960
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