VirtualBoxwell: 25 Years

The Big Announcement

Since the first version of the website went live in 2001, VirtualBoxwell has been the place to go for history on Boxwell and even the Reservation.  Over the years, this site has been keeping staff connected even before “staff alumni” was a national push, sharing stories and photos and planning reunions.  We’ve shared losses and we’ve shared successes.  We’ve shared more little bits and pieces of Boxwell history than people probably wanted to know. And we’ve been doing it for 25 years!

To celebrate this milestone, we are proud to announce Boxwell: A Pictorial History.  This is a coffee table book full of the very best photos in the VirtualBoxwell Archives, many of which have never been published publicly before.  Organized by decades, A Pictorial History walks through the history of Boxwell from the Linton camp in 1921 all the way up the construction of the Aubrey Harwell Leadership Center in 2025.  If you want something light on history, but heavy on photos, something you can lay out in your living room when guests come over, this is for you.

Boxwell: A Pictorial History comes in five formats.  The “full” version covers the entire story, 1921-2026.  Running almost 200 pages, it comes in both hardback, paperback, and ebook.  Then, there are two smaller paperback editions, each approximately 100 pages in length. One covers just 1921-1979 and the other 1980-2026.  All the books utilize a print-on-demand service known as Lulu.com.  Thus, pricing is based in large part on the printing costs of this service.  You’ll follow the link below, choose your edition, and place your order.  Lulu will print the order and ship it to you, arriving in 2-3 weeks (hopefully less!).

It has been a pleasure serving this community for the last 25 years.  I have met people I never would have crossed paths with and become friends with people I never would have known except for VirtualBoxwell.  This work has been immensely satisfying and I thank you for your support, o’ these many years.

Find Boxwell: A Pictorial History at Lulu.com.

Full Edition Cover

The Full Edition comes in both hardback, paperback, and ebook

Part 1 Cover

The 1921-1979 edition is available only in paperback

Part 2 Edition

The 1980-2026 edition is only available in paperback

Remembering the Staff

Boxwell Reservation, 2016

10 years ago was Carl Adkins’ thirteenth year as Reservation Director!  A lot had changed by 2016.  A new council executive, Larry Brown, had arrived and brought with him new ideas, specifically repurposing Parnell as a STEM Center.  Adkins himself had also adopted a strategy of a new program for summer camp every summer, just to keep camp interesting.  The newest program addition for 2016 was the Pfeffer Aquatics Boating Area a CubWorld, the brainchild of DE Jason Flannery.

At CubWorld, Amelia Berle and Melissa Paris were co-program directors with Jason Flannery as camp director.  At Stahlman, Max Briscoe was Program Director and Steve Eubank was his Camp Director (now a volunteer position).  At Craig, Sean Patten was program director and Tony Turner was his Camp Director.  A variety of programs now dotted the Reservation with Michael Allen at the Boat Harbor, Jessica Pewitt & Tanner Waller at the pool, Craig Carpenter at the NRA Range, and Sean Alcorn running STEM (we don’t know who ran COPE that summer). Cindy Sentell was head cook and Rob Ward was Head Ranger.

Seen here are all the 2016 staff photos.

Stahlman Staff, 2016

Stahlman Staff, 2016. Photo by John Kasper.

Craig Staff, 2016

Craig Staff, 2016. Photo by Meredith MaGuirk

CubWorld Staff, 2016

CubWorld Staff, 2016. Collection of Jason Flannery.

Reservation Admin Staff, 2016

Reservation Administrative Staff, 2016. Photo by John Kasper.