Camp Checagau

Camp Checagau was founded in 1926 on the south end of Lake Big Blue, east of where Old Blackhawk is today, not as is often stated, on the Checagau hill. However, unlike many of the other camps that were purpose-built for the scouts, Checagau was built using the buildings and structures of an old resort. In addition to this it is also one of the least-known about camps only existing for 7 seasons almost a century ago. Because of the extremely old nature,  I intend to be as exhaustive as possible with my This resort was called the Old Pointe Comfort Hotel. It was built in 1922, and consisted of a building, about 40’ by 80’, and ten surrounding cottages, roughly 12’ by 20’. It also likely had Tennis Courts and several other miscellaneous buildings on the property, as later maps of the camp show such features. It had initial success in its 1922 season, but it appears that it slowly lost popularity. 

By 1925, the land was bought by the scouts, and the hotel was repurposed into a camp. It’s interesting to note that the name “Camp Checagau” was also used for camp previously used Northwest District of the Chicago Boy Scouts. This camp was located in the Cook County Forest Preserve, near Palatine, Illinois, and its founding date is disputed, either having been founded in 1922 or 1914 (whole other story). By 1926, however, Northwest District scouts were invited to camp at Owasippe, and opened reopened Checagau on land on the southeastern corner of Big Blue Lake, even further east than Old Blackhawk. Its first director was Alan Bryan. The dining hall was located where a house is currently, and land butted up against the County Park. Keep in mind, that park wouldnt open until 1928, and it was just forest until the 1960s. West of the dining hall was the Barrett Wendell Lodge. It was built in 1926,  with a granite fireplace stone being placed there in 1928, currently possessed by the E. Urner Goodman Museum. It also had electricity, at a time when it was relatively rare at camp. This lodge appeared to later be used by a family camp that operated at the time, which will be explored in depth later. One remaining piece of physical history is a small foundation of crude, filled cinder blocks. This was at one point, a building called The Hospital. This was also there during the family camp, also using the name of The Hospital, and was a house for the Old Blackhawk camp director. East of the dining hall, there was also a small building which appeared to be the icehouse, and down the hill from the bluff, there is a stone foundation submerged in the lake. This was a ice harvesting operation, operated by the former owners of the land before Checagau was built, and continued into the 1960s.  

Following the 1933 season, Camp Checagau closed, and the scouts of the Northwest District begun camping at Camp Beard. It had always held less campers than other Owasippe camps, only being open two periods in its first operating year, with the Crystal Lake camps being open 5 and when Checagau’s dining hall burned down in 1936, much of its infrastructure was also lost. As a result, it became clear that the camp would never reopen. However, the land was later used as a family camp which I talk about in another section.