Camp WaBak’s Opening

In my first post about Camp WaBak’s beginnings, I highlighted how WaBak came to be with one exception – how did it get its name?

In May of 1948, Clyde Brooks sold ten acres to the Greenville Girl Scout council which included a five room lodge and an outdoor cooking shed.  What had his family called the lodge before he sold it?  Why, WaBak of course!  Because it was “way back” in the woods.  I’m not sure why it was abbreviated that way, but we’ll go with it.  I haven’t seen documentation as to when the lodge was built, but I did find evidence of the WaBak name prior to the camp.  Before Facebook status updates, newspapers way back in the day (see what I did there? 😀 ) published gossip – I mean – society news.  I guess people submitted their comings and goings to the newspaper, like the Brooks did to let everyone know that Miss Mary Lee Mies visited them back in May of 1936: 

And it even got a subtitle!  This might have led to a few wives saying, “Honey, why don’t the Brooks ever invite us to Wa-Bak?”  And I bet Miss Nina Curry felt pretty special too.  Or maybe not if she was trying to slip in and out of town without anyone knowing.  Thanks for ruining it, Greenville News!  Anyway, I digress.

So what happened after the Greenville Girl Scout council bought WaBak?  They immediately got to work!   In July of 1948, an additional 1 ½ acres was purchased from Timon Potts.  I’m not sure what was included in that property – maybe the falls?  Around that same time, the lodge was improved with electric wiring, sanitation facilities, running water, and bath facilities.  A 1000 gallon water tank was installed as well.   A gravel road was built running from the main highway to the camp along with a dam across Gap Creek to make a fishing pond and swimming hole.  Here’s a Greenville News article from July 4th, 1948 about these upgrades:

On July 19th, 1948, the camp opened for the first time to troops!  Troop 38 of Slater, SC was the first one to stay there:

After getting the basics in, the focus turned to building additional cabins and cottages to house campers for the next year’s summer camp.  The Greenville Civitan Club took a big interest in helping WaBak get off to a good start by providing money for one of the cabins by approving $400 as explained in this Greenville News article from September 14th, 1948:

Greenville’s American Business Club provided a lot of labor as well according to the Greenville News edition from December 30th, 1948.  You’ll be glad to know that I left in the FEEN-A-MINT ad for laxative gum just for you, the reader.  I guess FEEN-A-MINT is no longer available, because it’s not on Amazon.com.  Yes, I checked.

And a few months later, it was time!  Camp WaBak officially opened for summer camp on June 15th, 1949!  Here’s the announcement from the Greenville News one day prior:

Although it’s not mentioned in this article, a week of camp cost $17 for Girl Scouts and $18 for non-Girl Scouts.  No word on whether the trading post carried FEEN-A-MINT gum or not.

For the next WaBak related post, I plan on sharing what a week of camp at WaBak was like in the early days!  As a side note, there will be a Camp WaBak 70th Anniversary Celebration hosted by GSSC-MM on August 4th, 2018 at Camp WaBak.  Registration and more information can be found on GSSC-MM’s website.  I hate that I will miss it, but I’ll be on vacation.  But while on vacation, I plan on making a side trip to J-Low’s Birthplace and First Headquarters with my OFFICIAL scarf and two daughters in tow wearing their vests and khaki and white for pictures!