CAMP BOYD

Camp Boyd was a piece of property owned by the Boy Scouts.  It was used for short-term or weekend camping.  No buildings were erected and it does not appear the property was used for anything susbtantial.

 

Stacy Alton Stewart, a Troop 12 Scout as a youth, donated Wilderness Camp Willis M. Boyd to the Cherokee Area Council.  It was a 33-acre tract located on Signal Mountain in an area known as the "The Horse Shoe."  The property was located about 15 miles north and west of Chattanooga.

 

On February 11, 1952 the council Executive Board voted to accept the donation from Mr. Stewart.

 

The camp was named after Willis M. Boyd, a former Scoutmaster in Stewart who resided in Adairsville, Georgia.  Boyd became a Scoutmaster in 1915.  Council President Tom Willingham said in 1953 that a plaque honoring Boyd would be erected.

 

A 1966 property report said of the property:

 

The useable area on this site is the top of the ridge between Hurricane and Chickamauga Creeks.  There is space enough for three or four troop sites that can be used for short term camping.  I would recommend no cabins or lean-tos.  Troops using these sites would bring their own tents.  For sanitation, a dry pit latrine should be built on each site.  There is no water available, and consideration should be given to drilling a well that would serve all sites.  The well should be equipped with a self draining submerged hand pump.  Access from the end of the road is across private property.  The council should ascertain if it has a right-of-way.  Although the present woods road could be cleared for jeep or pickup truck, I question allowing car traffic.  I would negotiate with the Yoders for a small parking area and require troops using the sites to back-pack in as part of their training experience.  Hiking, exploration and possibly fishing in addition to the normal Scouting skills seem to be the program possibilities.  You should find out who your adjoining and nearby neighbors are and secure permission for Scouts to hike over their land.

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Stacy Alton Stewart was born December 30, 1905.  By 1935 he lived off Lower Mill Road and continued living in or around Chattanooga through the 1940s and 1950s.  He died October 24, 1969.

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(In at least one newspaper article, the camp is called Willis T. Boyd instead of Willis M. Boyd.)

 

(Another camp was located on Signal Mountain in 1944.  It is unknown whether these camps are related.  See 1944-05-04 - Signal Property To Be Scout Camp.)