A Brief History of Camp Cachalot:
The Early Years
During its first few years of operation, the Camp saw a flurry of activity, moving or constructing buildings, and otherwise preparing the property for use as a year-round Boy Scout camping facility. The 21 Club was moved to Cachalot from its original site by Drift Road in Westport in 1946, and one of its earliest uses in camp was as the trading post. An administration building (the current Phillips House [1]) and a Quonset hut (serving as a maintenance building and storage) were constructed, along with an open waterfront tower (in 1950) and swimming docks.
The first large building to open in Camp was the Dining Hall, which was completed and first used during summer camp in 1951. Prior to the construction of a permanent dining hall, meals were prepared and served under a large military-style tent with a floor platform sitting on the same site as the Dining Hall (early camp reports mention having to coat the wooden floor with creosote at the start of each season!) The Dining Hall at this point was a simpler structure, and consisted only of most what is now the dining room area. The kitchen occupied the end of the building nearest to what is now the parking area.
The summer camp reports that still exist from the late '40s and early '50s clearly show a summer camp "getting its sea legs" — figuring out what kind of a staff needs to be hired, what programs to run, even what foods to prepare. Despite that, the program serves hundreds of boys from the area each summer. Unlike today, troops did not attend summer camp as units; rather, boys attended individually, and there were members of the staff whose job was to be "unit leader" for those boys from week to week.
Construction at Camp continued into the early 1960s, seeing a small Ranger's Cabin (there were no resident rangers just yet) built; a fireplace added to the 21 Club; the "Tom Cullen Memorial Archway" erected, all in the early 50s; and a Cook's Cabin, the old showerhouse, a rifle range [2], and the Boat House built in 1960.
The last bit of planned construction for the early 1960s was for a new Trading Post, the foundation of which was completed in early May, 1964, with framing to commence on May 22nd, 1964. Unfortunately, fate had something else in mind for that weekend.
< Previous: Intro Next: Fire >[1] Named for Al Phillips, who was a Wareham Scouter who visited Camp periodically, acting as a caretaker or part-time volunteer Ranger.
[2] Dedicated in 1961 to the memory of George Gibson, an early volunteer ranger at Cachalot.
All content copyright ©2004- by the Camp Cachalot Alumni Association, except where otherwise noted.
This page was last modified on Wed Feb 24th 2021.
Site look odd? Your browser may not be up to date. See the note on the main page.