In celebration of the arrival of winter in Middle Tennessee, From the Archives this week presents a rare photo of a snow covered Boxwell. This photo was taken by former Ranger Willie Claude sometime in the 1980s and gives a nice shot of the Cripple Crab and the area around it covered in snow.
Our next post will be in 2013. Have a happy New Year!
The Cripple Crab in the snow, 1980s. Photo by Willie Claude.
From the Archives this week focuses on a seminal moment in Boxwell history: the opening of the camp. While Boxwell was open for camporees in 1959, the summer resident camp did not open officially until July 1960. According to Pearl Schleicher, the reservation cook from 1962 to 1994, the first summer that Boxwell was open, the cooking was done in “a fire out in the yard. [Elizabeth Carver, the first cook] cooked over it. [Everyone was] wading around in the mud. And then they had a tent out there to eat in. That’s when it first started” (Interview with Pearl Schleicher, April 1996).
Thus, notice in the photo that there is a tent behind the dining hall, showing how operations were still in flux. Also notice that none of the roads are yet paved. The roads at Boxwell were all still dirt. This photo shows us a lot about how Boxwell first looked when the reservation opened in 1960. Boxwell’s first summers were definitely a different world!
One of the truly remarkable gems in the collection. This is an aerial photograph of the Opening Ceremonies at Boxwell, specifically Camp Stahlman, in July of 1960.