Platform Tent Units at Camp Crowell Hilaka

page contents: 
diagram
tent care
unit histories
unit diagrams

The first platform tent sites at Camp Julia Crowell were:  Innisfree, Glencairn, Fernwood, Beechcliff, Hickory Hill, Orchard Way and Windy Hill. All were rapidly constructed in 1937.  The date of Waterfront is unknown.  Seely Cabin was constructed at the waterfront site in 1940, but it is believed that the tents were added later. Camp Hilaka was acquired  in 1957, but Far Away Pines and Last Chance were added later ( their original names were "Gypsy Ridge" and "Vagabond") .  Whispering Winds and Green Trees were right across from Gund Hall. Waken Tanka was built in 1967 at the north edge of the gas cut.  The site turned out to be too small, so it was moved across to the south side, where its name was corrupted into "Wonken Tonken". The old shelter, now without tents, remained as "Wayside".  

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The site diagrams below were drawn as they existed in 1982, by landscape architects Knight & Stolar.  Two of the tent sites,  Windy Hill and Wonken Tonken, were moved; probably as a result of this study and the accompanying capital campaign.  

Fernwood as seen from the closest trail. The fire ring is to the right, very close to the trail. There isn't much level ground for tents, but the location is one of the loveliest in camp. To the left, the ground slopes down to Garfield Hall. To the right, there is an even steeper slope down to the creek below the secret waterfall. Just across the trail from the unit, a cliff overlooks the Lower Lake (aka Lake Jinelle). Behind the unit, the ground rises slowly in a series of rolling hills.

Beechcliff is located on the corner of two ridge lines. On the west is the hill dropping down into the Wild Ravine. Southward, the valley opens up onto Lake Jinelle. The unit overlooks Garfield Hall and Cook's Cabin.

"Hick Hill" is directly across from the large measow now Known as Mable Smith Meadow, but at one time simply called "Hick Hill Meadow" . To the west is a steep hill leading down into the Wild Ravine. Directly north is a smaller, but dramatically picturesque ravine.

This is the layout of the site north of the gas cut. The unit was moved to a larger site just south of the gas cut, but much deeper into the woods. The old shelter stayed where it was and re-named "Wayside"

According to the camp history by Renee Lisa Antoine, the original site of Windy Hill unit was near where the Summer Barn is now. It "fell into disrepair and with help from the Capitol Fund Campaign, it was reconstructed on its present site." The Summer Barn was built from funds raised in the 1984 campaign, so that's likely the time the unit was moved. This diagram shows the old site.