“Camp Atwater is a cultural, educational, and recreational camp designed for the children of African American professionals. The camp, founded in 1921 by Dr. William De Berry, was located in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Initially named St. John’s Camp, in 1926 the name was officially changed to Camp Atwater when Ms. Mary Atwater donated $25,000 with the stipulation that the camp’s name honor her late father, Dr. David Fisher, a well-known and distinguished physician in the town. The camp is the oldest American Camp Association (ACA) accredited African American owned and operated camp in the nation.”
did your father go there as a child? i especially love that the handwritten captions are included with the photos here.
I love the handwritten captions too. I’m really sorry the pages are crumbling. My father wrote all of them. No, my father was raised in Detroit. He never went to Massachusetts until he became the minister at St. John’s in 1945. My grandfather and some other professional black men went together and bought an old farm in Mt. Clemens, Mich that they called “The Meadows”, and they all used to go up there when my father and his siblings were growing up. It wasn’t a camp but when they got older the boys did camp out there.
Kristin,
Great photos. I never heard of Camp Atwater. Your writings are a pleasure to read; full of family history and educational as well. Thanks for sharing.
Sandra
Thanks for reading, Sandra. It still seems to be going strong. I guess if you didn’t live in the area or have family there you wouldn’t. There was a similar camp near to Detroit called “Green Pastures” that my cousins went to. My sister and I always had to go to the Congregational Camp. Maybe we got a discount because our father was a Congregational minister. We learned all the good songs from the cousins though, like “John Jacob Jinklehimer Smith”
I love reading your blog because I am always learning about someone or someplace that I never knew about. Great pictures and the handwritten captions are sweet.