HOVC History – Camp Shawondasse in 1948
Pictured Left: In October 1947, 85-year-old B.W. Partee (seated), caretaker at Camp Shawondasee in Chesterfield County for 26 years, was ready to retire. He was known as a storyteller, and here, he entertained E.G. McDowell, field executive of the Richmond Boy Scouts Council. Shawondasee closed in 1965 after more than 50 years serving Scouts in the region. The next year, the YMCA purchased the land, and its Camp Thunderbird still operates there. Sources: Richmond Times-Dispatch
Camp Shawondasse in 1948, 9300 Shawonodasee Road, Chesterfield, Virginia
The Heart of Virginia Council, Boy Scouts of America (“BSA”) has provided camping facilities from the very beginning when it acquired a 92-acre campsite on Swift Creek near Chesterfield Courthouse one year after the Council was formed in 1912. That site, Camp Shawondasee, was utilized for 54 years before the needs of thousands of young people outgrew the capacity of the land
The land was sold in 1966 to the YMCA, Camp Thunderbird and replaced with a much larger tract in Goochland County, near Maidens, a gift from T. Brady Saunders. Around 1963, Brady Saunders gave 200 acres of his Mount Bernard property to the Boy Scouts with the promise of willing all his Goochland estate to the Scouts when he passed on. Opening season of Camp T. Brady Saunders of the Boy Scouts of America was in the summer of 1965. The Camp not only featured the 35-acre lake, but a partially man-made pool and lake had also been created just north of Saunders Lake (now referred to as Lake Olga). However, as stated earlier, Saunders ended up bequeathing most of the northern Mount Bernard acreage to Lynchburg College after his death instead of to the Scouts as originally planned. The Scout Camp has managed to amass surrounding acreage and now holds a 720-acre site which includes much of the earlier portions of the Mount Bernard estate. The entire facility is known as the Heart of Virginia’s Scout Reservation, with the central 200 acres still being referred to as Camp T. Brady Saunders.
Dates over the years:
- 1940: Earliest known artifacts identifying this, Camp Shawondasee, as established by the Boy Scouts of America
- 1943: Lake View Cabin, the oldest cabin on the camp property was built overlooking Lake George. Lake View has been identified as an activity area, camp store, boat house, cabin, and many other purposes throughout the years.
- 1947: Shawondassee Hall was built as a longhouse that slept dozens of campers. Once camp was purchased from the Boy Scout of America, it was the main dining hall for Camp Thunderbird.
- 1966: The YMCA purchased Camp Shawondassee from the Boy Scouts of America and changed its name to Camp Thunderbird in 1966.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Camp T. Brady Saunders Website
HOVC History – Boy Scouts of Richmond Headquarters
SOURCES:
Facebook. Coleman, Christopher B. “Camp Shawondasee 1948, 9300 Shawondasee Road, Chesterfield, Virginia,” 10 March 2023, Old Images of Richmond Facebook Group
New Boy Scout Camp is Opened,” p. 17, and Conversation with William Givler, Program Director of Heart of Virginia’s Scout Reservation (July 2004).