Our Summer Camp History and Traditions
About Us | Mission & Passion | Our Beliefs
Camp Arrowhead for Boys was founded in 1937 by the Bell family, which means in 2012 we will be celebrating our 75th anniversary! The Bells, a family steeped in the camps of Western North Carolina, owned and operated the camp from 1937 until 1996. In 1990, Arrowhead moved just up the mountain from its original location to a new campus that remains its home to this day.
In 1996, Steve Reynolds bought the camp and infused the program and people with his energy and passion, celebrating eight summers of rich traditions at Arrowhead. In 2004, a new group bought the property and sought non-profit status for the camp, which was organized as a 501c3 organization allowing all donations to be tax exempt. Donations provide funds for camp improvements and more importantly "scholarships", giving underprivileged boys an opportunity to have a summer camp experience. Camp Arrowhead and its team is pursuing a new mission and philosophy while continuing and reviving many of the old traditions.
Camp Arrowhead has many traditions…
Every staff member and camper at Arrowhead is inducted into one of two tribes, the Bootashataloos and the Chickensaws. If your grandfather was a Boot, you will be a Boot. And every summer camp season, each tribe elects its chief, medicine man and dog soldiers to lead them in friendly competitions, culminating in the final marathon and bragging rights as winners of the log, which has been mounted proudly in the dining hall since 1937.
Weekly council fires are a special time for telling stories, singing songs and recognizing campers for skill progressions and excellence in character. Occasionally we’ll go off campus for dances or to regional festivals like Coon Dog Days. Other special events include Wild West Day and Mardi Gras, both celebrated with sister camp Glen Arden.
For the early-rising, athletic types, Iron Man and Pothole get the blood pumping before breakfast with a run down camp road and back, sit ups, push ups, chin ups and then a final splash down in the lake. Not for the faint of heart!
And throughout the summer Ten Foot, camp’s guardian spirit, watches over the property and campers, proud to see them developing into the young men God intends them to be.
