Prologue
The 1919-1930 Camp Winsum site is in Porter County Indiana within the Indiana Dunes National Park (East end of West Beach). Camp Winsum was the place for East Chicago and Indiana Harbor Girl and Boy Scouts to learn to swim, fish, tent, boat, merit badge, conserve nature, golf, cook, and hike. Camp Winsum was a success because of the dedication and support of scout leaders (such as A.J. Sambrook Indiana BSA Executive of Harbor Council and subsequent merged Twin City Council), scouts, scout families, volunteers and corporate sponsors (such as Inland Steel ( currently Cleveland Cliffs East Chicago) which donated supplies and the use of dune land).
What was Camp Winsum?
Camp Winsum was a Boy Scout of America camp built in July 1919 Gust 9 years after the founding of Scouts in the US) located near Lake Michigan, West of Polliwog Pond, South of the water pumping station, and East end of Indiana Dunes National Park’s West Beach (GPS Camp coordinates N41d 37.596′, W87d 12.057′). The “Camp Winsum” name came about because Scouts planned to use the Camp in both winter and summer seasons. The Camp first opened on August 1, 1919, and operated for 11 years until May 10, 1930.
Who planned, donated, and built the Camp?
Mr. A. J. Sambrook, Indiana Harbor Council Scout Executive and Civil Engineer, helped plan and build the Camp. Inland Steel granted Scouts the use of its sand dunes east of the Lake County line and donated supplies for the Camp. On July 10, 1919, a Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company tug pulled two barges loaded with lumber, brick, cement, roofing paper, nails, and provisions to the location East of Miller Beach. The Scout volunteers waiting at the site built the clubhouse, kitchen, and dining room before the first campers arrived on August 1. Later that summer, volunteers built an East room (as a bedroom and office for Scout executives) and an enclosed porch.
What did the Camp look like?
The clubhouse was thirty by sixty feet in dimension and supported by utility poles eight feet or more above ground level, well above high lake level. An enclosed porch ran the length of the clubhouse and faced the Lake. The clubhouse was about 150 feet South of the Lake. Space at ground level underneath the main house was used for activities, including loom weaving of reed mats for clubhouse and tent floors, and storage of carpets, tents, and two row boats. Campers pitched tents directly behind the Clubhouse.
The Scouts built a large, two-story, octagonal-shaped log cabin (twenty-one by twenty-eight feet) for weekend camping located three hundred feet west of the Clubhouse. The cabin had a stove and large fireplace. Two smaller cabins were also built at the , rear of the Clubhouse for the summer camping season. Camp lighting was initially from oil lamps and campfires. Late in 1922, the Scouts installed an electric generator to provide additional camp lighting.
What were the trails to get to Camp Winsum?
During the first two years of the Camp, supplies were either brought in by boat when there was an offshore breeze or carried the four miles over the dunes from Miller to the Camp when the Lake was rough. After Highway 12 was constructed, Scouts would hike a shorter trail of about a mile from the Highway to · the Camp. Scouts could also hike on trails from two Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad local stops (SW of Long Lake and Wickliffe) to the Camp. Scouts built log stairs as part of the trail over the dunes to the Camp (GPS Stairs coordinates N41d 37.379′, W 087d 12.216′).
What were Scout activities at the Camp?
Scouts would swim and boat in Lake Michigan. Scouts built diving rafts and anchored them near shore. A lifeguard watched over the swimmers. The Camp had a perfect safety record of no mishaps or fatalities during all 11 years of its existence. Scouts would catch perch fish in the Lake with doughball bait. One year, four Scouts in a rowboat often caught one hundred perch before breakfast, enough for the Camp dinner. Scouts collected firewood. A team of leaders and scouts would cut up the collected wood for campfires. One year, Scouts picked enough blueberries to serve campers fresh or preserved berries through the summer. Scouts washed dishes in the Lake using sand instead of soap detergent. A Boy Scout paid $3 per week (about fifty cents per day) to stay at Camp.
Scouts named ten acres of ravine between two dunes as “Conservation Park.” In 1924, Scouts built an elevated wooden bridge of 75 feet in length and 35 feet high over the ravine. Scouts sought to save Conservation Park from sand mining by steam shovels, which had already removed large dunes to the West of the Camp. From Conservation and Forestry merit badge work, the Scouts cataloged various plants and thirty tree species. Scouts observed many species of birds, including seagulls, terns, chickadees, wild ducks, sandhill cranes, ruffed grouse, and eagles. Scouts saw many types of animals, including rabbits, foxes, mink, flying squirrels, brown squirrels, raccoons, skunks, snakes, ground hogs, and deer.
Scouts and East Chicago family visitors were entertained around the evening campfire with “old time” music by guitar, violin, harmonica, and plays, singing, and games. Evening campfires were times for stargazing, campfire joke telling, and the Scoutmaster sharing inspirational wisdom. From 11 am to 12 noon on August 8, 1928, Scouts broadcast a Camp music show on radio WJKS Miller from the Camp. Scouts liked the hide-and-seek night game of “Wolf’ played by two teams. The Scouts built a par-49, 9-hole golf course, and named it the “All Hazards Course” for its continuous sand traps. Scouts made their own wooden clubs.
Girl Scouts at Camp Winsum
Girl and Boy Scouts of East Chicago shared Camp Winsum. The Boy Scouts used Camp Winsum on average for 2 weeks during July through September, and some weekends throughout the year. The Girl Scouts used the Camp and equipment during the summer months when the Boy Scouts were not at Camp. Boy Scouts welcomed Girl Scouts to use the Camp, so that the girls would encourage their future sons and daughters to attend Camp.
Alice Gray (aka Diana of the Dunes) and her companion Paul Wilson
Alice Gray and Paul Wilson moved in the summer of 1919 into a fishing shack called “The Wren’s nest” located East of the Camp Winsum, near Mary Gasser’s former house at 149 Shore Drive, and half a block from Lake (GPS Wren’s Nest coordinates N41d 37′ 36″, W 87d 11′ 54″). Early each summer morning, Diana would skinny dip in the Lake near Wren’s nest. Scouts caught near Wren’s nest when Diana was skinny dipping were assigned to K.P. (kitchen patrol) duty for the week. Paul built two sturdy rowboats for the Scouts. Alice died on the cold February 9, 1925, in Paul’s arms at Wren’s Nest from uremic poisoning, kidney disease.
Why was Camp Win-Sum closed?
The Dunes were becoming a popular place to live and visit. Over time, the new settlement of Ogden Dunes sprang up, car traffic started to zoom in 1923 with the completion of Highway 12, South Shore trains carried people from Chicago to enjoy the Dunes, and visitors came out of curiosity from newspaper stories about “Diana of the Dunes.” Swimsuits that were optional early on at the Camp later became mandatory, especially on Sunday mornings when Chicago Prairie Club members walk down the beach. Due to this loss of privacy from encroaching public, the Camp closed on May 10, 1930, to be replaced by Camp Happy on the Tippecanoe River, near Buffalo, Indiana. During the Camp operation, Scouts found joy, excitement, and the wonder of nature. These early Scouts were camping pioneers for many Scouts to follow.
Acknowledgements:
Mr. Rieger is a resident of Ogden Dunes, HSOD Historic Trail Committee member and former Boy Scout/Sea Explorer.
Early Stories of Ogden Dune Volume 1: 1900-1970; prepared by the HSOD, edited by Dick Meister and Susan MiHalo. Recollections by Alene Stevens and Jacob Ridinger provided wonderful insights into Girl Scouts at the Camp and Diana of the Dunes.
Report “50 Years of Scouting in East Chicago”, BSOA, Testimonial Banquet, Elks Ballroom, East Chicago, IN, 3/18/1970, from files of East Chicago reference room of East Chicago Public Library.
Report “History of Camp Win-Sum., 1919-1930″, West of Polliwog Pond and near the Wren’s Nest, Home of Diana of the Dunes,” Eagle Scout Project, by Mr. Dylan Scully.
Mr. Jim Scherbarth, Scout Historian and Eagle Scout of Park Ridge Illinois provided information for Mr. Dylan Scully’s Eagle Scout research project on Camp Winsum.
Ogden Dunes History pamphlet, from files of Westchester Public Library, Chesterton, IN.
Site Locations:
Mr. Dave Larson Sr. on 6/13/2012 discovered the remains of hand-sawed log stairs along a dune trail to Camp. He located the Camp from discovery of well pipe.
