Narrows Promotional

Camp simply doesn’t fly without promotional materials. Whether those be videos, films, mailers, or something else, camp Promotion is critical to making summer camp work. This is true today and it was true in 1930. Seen here are pages from the 1930 promotional mailing. This was first summer of Camp Boxwell at the Narrows of the Harpeth.

Page 2–the one with the campfire–reads: “NEW CAMP. The Council Camping Committee composed of E. E. Murrey, Justin Potter, and Gerald Gimre, were authorized last January to start a construction program towards a permanent camp for the Scouts of our Area. This year you will have the opportunity of using this new camp. We have a new mess hall and kitchen, permanently constructed with concrete floor, running water, lights, and sanitation facilities we have now a bath house and sanitary latrines. The tents will be floored. These and other improvements hould make camp sage, healthful, and enjoyable.”

Page 3–the one with the canoes–reads: “WATERFRONT ACTIVITIES. Swimming, Life-Saving, Canoeing are popular sports at Camp Boxwell. Talmadge Miller will again supervise the waterfront. Every precaution is taken to make swimming and boating safe. The Buddy System is used and a check-up is made every few minutes. Classes are held for beginners in Swimming, in Life-Saving, in Canoeing, and the Swimming Merit Badge.

“Each Sunday there is a Canoeing and Swimming Regatta, which closed the week’s sport competition. This is held in the afternoon so that the parents may witness it.

“EATS. One of the Favorite Sports of Scouts is the “Three-a-day.” Walter Whittaker is to make the rolls again at Camp this summer. He is already preparing the Summer Menu. The new Kitchen should be a real boost to him in preparing for you those delightful meals.”

Promotion Material for Camp Boxwell at the Narrows, 1930. Collection of O. E. Brandon

Rock Island Drone Photo

The third Boxwell was a happy accident. The Rock Island location was intended to be temporary. The Council would spend one summer there–1949–and then move to something more permanent. One year turned into eleven and eventually, Camp Boxwell became Parish Reservation, and then Camp Tubb at Parish Reservation.

Today, Camp Tubb is not wildly different from Camp Boxwell, 1949-1959. The general layout is the same. Virtually all of the campsites today are where the campsites were in the 1950s. The assembly area with the three flag poles is the same area where Scouts assembled in 1949. The roads have not changed. The Lodge sits on the same site the dining hall tents and kitchen once occupied. With a _little_ imagination, it is not hard to see the Rock Island Boxwell.

Seen here is an exceptional aerial photo of Camp Tubb. The road in the center leads to the Lodge where the original dining hall was located. The “black hole” to the right is the assembly area, both then and today. The Rock Island for which the area is named is in the upper right hand corner. If you were to continue up the river on the right, you would quickly arrive at the waterfront and its legendary swimming cribs.

Rock Island Drone Photo. Collection of Ben Whitehouse.

Final Goodbyes

A new era official begins today. This afternoon, the Middle Tennessee Council dedicates the Aubrey Harwell Leadership Center, the replacement to the Stahlman dining hall. A new age begins at Boxwell as the Harwell Leadership Center becomes the hub of future events and the anchor upon which the reservation relies.

So as we pass the baton to the new generation, let us take a minute to mourn the last moments of the Stahlman Dining Hall. Built in 1960, Stahlman Dining Hall was named after _Nashville Banner_ co-owner Edward Bushrod Stahlman, Jr. “EeeBee” chaired the 1959 Capital Development Campaign that built Boxwell Reservation on Old Hickory Lake. For almost 65 years, the dining hall that bore his name housed the only working Kitchen on the Reservation.

And then, the first dining hall to be built became the first dining hall to be demolished. While other dining halls have been renovated or repurposed, Stahlman dining hall was torn down in the last week of July 2024. Seen here is the start of that process. Ranger Wes Oakley walks through the opening that used to be the chimney of the dining hall.

As we embrace the new dining hall and prepare to build new memories there, let’s remember six and a half decades with the late, great Stahlman Dining Hall.

Ranger Wes Oakley walks through what used to be the chimney at Stahlman Dining Hall, July 2024. Photo by Grady Eades.