Brunswick Pilot Article
Camp Fendig photo courtesy of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society.
For over a century, present-day Sea Island was known as Long Island. It was here amid the undeveloped coastal woodlands of Long Island that Camp Fendig, a summer camp for Boy Scouts, operated in the 1920s and 1930s.
The land for Camp Fendig was provided through the efforts of Albert Fendig (1870-1926), a local businessman and loyal supporter of the Boy Scouts, and the Brunswick Rotary Club.
The Camp made it possible for scouts from Brunswick and nearby counties to enjoy “surf bathing” in the ocean, as well as swimming in a “fresh water lake” and other outdoor activities. Boys from troops in seven counties, all part of the Okefenokee Council, enjoyed access to Camp Fendig.
Although Howard Coffin purchased the island in 1926, changed the name to Sea Island and established Sea Island Company and The Cloister in 1928, Camp Fendig continued to operate during the 1930s. It was eventually replaced by Camp Tolochee on Blythe Island. An early building at Camp Tolochee was named “Camp Fendig” in honor of the former camp and its benefactor. Tolochee continues to provide camping experiences for Boy Scouts.
This month’s images are from the archives of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. The newspaper article, relaying news about Camp Fendig, is from the inaugural July 23, 1926 edition of The Brunswick Pilot, a weekly newspaper that published local and national news until ceasing publication in October of 1937. The other photograph shows a group of local scouts in front of Camp Fendig’s log structure on Sea Island during the summer of 1932.
