Camp Beaverbrook

Camp Beaverbrook (CBB) was a co-educational overnight summer camp near Cobb Mountain, in Lake County, California from 1961 - 1985. It was founded in 1961 by Bob and Marian Brown of Orinda, California, who were known as Amee and Niha, Pomo language for "Father" and "Mother," in honor of the native Pomo People. CBB took campers from age 7 - 17. 15-17-year-olds were given helper roles through a "Campers in Leadership Training Program" (CILT, pronounced "silt").

Camp activities included riflery, archery, horseback riding, hiking, nature walks, backpacking, arts and crafts projects, drama (the camp regularly produced several musicals each summer), swimming, water skiing at nearby Clear Lake, music, volleyball, boating and overnight canoe trips on the Russian River.

Campers, known as "Beaverbods", were mainly from the San Francisco Bay Area, though some came from as far away as Europe, Mexico, Canada and Japan. A unique feature of the camp was a relative lack of competitiveness. Campers were rarely put into direct competition with one another, rather, a supportive and mutually nurturing environment was cultivated. Thousands of youngsters attended the camp, and a Yahoo! interest group exists for them to stay in touch with one another as well as a dedicated Facebook group.

Like most sleep away summer camps, Camp Beaverbrook lived and thrived as an isolated community, cut off from the outside world. Campers were deprived of television, radio, candy, hair dryers, and many other creature comforts. While a rigid daily structure was in place, there was also an abundance of choice and each day included several unsructured "free time" periods. Each camper could select his or her own activities for the day at the beginning of each activity period with as many as seven or eight choices.

The staff used nicknames like Jasmine, Trooper, Stage, Opus, Truckee, Spring, Strider, Slim, Sparky, Lucky, Poozle, Flash, Kelsey, Fritz, Lupin, Buckwheat and Bedaz. Campers never knew their counselors real names, and even if they learned them, they would scarcely dare to utter them aloud, not only because it was strictly forbidden, but because the campers, even the youngest campers, on some level understood that the magical isolated environment would be jeopardized.

A large contingent of campers came back year after year and some stayed for several sessions each summer. Many campers came for three or four or even five summers in a row. A few campers returned for more than ten summers, many went on to become counselors.

In June 2010, Matthew C. "Flash" Callahan, who attended Camp Beaverbrook from 1977-1985, completed a 68 minute documentary film about Camp Beaverbrook entitled "Beaverbrook". Through interviews, archival footage and stills, the film characterizes Camp Beaverbrook as a place where "kids could just be kids".

In 2011 "Beaverbrook" screened at three film festivals; the Black Hills Film Festival in Hill City, South Dakota; DocUtah in St. George, Utah; and San Francisco IndieFest's DocFest 2011. The film won awards at each festival. "Beaverbrook" was broadcast in the San Francisco bay area on public television's KQED in the summer of 2012. The film continues to be broadcast on local stations throughout the western United States.