Camp Agawam was formed in 1918 and remains in operation today. It was formed as Camp Pontiac, and renamed in 1933 as Camp Agawam, following the establishment of the new Oakland Area Council in 1928 which replaced the Pontiac Council. The names of some of those involved in the early years of the camp are known. They include Haas, Peterson, and Oliver, who were certainly all key players. But what were the conditions at that time? How was the property chosen? What circumstances existed to make possible the formation of the camp?  If a set of compiled documentation that provides answers to these questions exists, it is not known about at this time.



In 1918 the Boy Scout movement in the United States was itself just getting started. Basic history sets the scene for the formation of the camp. The volunteers of that time would have been born during the Industrial Revolution before 1900, having never heard of Scouting in their youth because it did not exist. Around then, immigration to the United States from Europe was taking place on a massive scale. Neither the boom times of the “Roaring 20’s” nor the misery of the Great Depression had occurred. The prosperity of the automotive industry had not even begun to reach its peak in Pontiac and the surrounding towns. It also happens to be that Camp Agawam was founded in the same year as the armistice which ended the brutal First World War. There were, of course, a great many less national and thus unfamiliar details of local and state significance on the minds of those who formed this camp so many years ago.



Service projects are important to the success of the camp, and help to involve more of the council membership, both youth and adult, in the stewardship process. Camp Agawam has survived for many years because of these efforts. Review the example projects below, or suggest a needed project to us.