The story of Camp Weed…
The first summer camp in the Diocese was held near St. Augustine Beach in June 1924, attended by 40 children from the Jacksonville young people’s service leagues. The following year, camp was moved to a location near Panama City on St. Andrew’s Bay. The camp was successful and was given the name Camp Weed to honor the late Right Reverend Edwin Garner Weed, Third Bishop of Florida. The camp remained in Bay County and the Diocese purchased 10 acres (40,000 m2) of land that included four screened cottages and a former hotel in 1929. The next year, the Diocese began holding multiple camp sessions with Church school teachers and leaders conducting their own programs for 130 children. Attendance had risen to nearly 400 by the start of World War II.
The US Army commandeered Camp Weed for training during the war. The St. Joe Paper Company graciously offered property near St. Teresa, on St. James Bay, but this property was also claimed by the Army for the war effort. During the war years, the camp was temporarily moved to Hibernia, home of the historic St. Margaret's Episcopal Church and Cemetery on the St. John’s River. After the war, the camp was resumed at St. Teresa. The army buildings were transformed into dorms, a dining hall, a chapel, recreation and craft centers. The 1950s ushered in the Post-World War II baby boom and growth.
In 1971, the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast was formed and the Diocese of Florida lost 9 parishes and 13 missions in the panhandle. Camp Weed was no longer at the center of the diocese; it was on the western border. The Diocesan convention authorized the search for and purchase of a "centrally located site of adequate size" in 1976. Property near Live Oak was selected in 1978 and 500-acre (2.0 km2) on White Lake was purchased. The St. Teresa property was sold that same year.
The first few years were spent in tents, with primitive conditions more typical for Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. The first permanent facilities were built in 1981, and the following year, 7 cabins were completed, roads were cleared, and the swimming and recreation areas were built, all with campers' help. A kitchen and dining hall were constructed in 1983. Throughout the eighties, each year, a new project was completed.
Amenities now include the Cerveny Conference Center, "motel" rooms, and a swimming pool. A beautiful worship facility, Mandi’s Chapel, was dedicated in 1995, and many weddings are held there. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter ranked Mandi's Chapel second on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places. The Ravine building, with guest rooms and a conference room, was opened in 2004, as was the Varn Dining Hall, which seats 300. The Snell/McCarty Youth Pavilion was dedicated in 2006, providing a gymnasium and meeting space year-round with a capacity of 500.
What is Camp Weed?
Camp Weed is sand and sandspurs, blue waters and a cool breeze, bricks and wood and screen wire, permeated by devotion and sprinkled liberally with joy. It is an oasis of refreshment and a crossroads for travelers on the Christian highway.
It can be identified early in the summer by the sound of mighty busses, followed by a herd of noise filled cars. From these, spill out a seemingly never-ending line of eager faces and squirming bodies, all carrying suitcases filled with anticipation.
Camp Weed is confusion with a purpose. It is energy with a halo. It is a case of homesickness with a built-in cure. It is a ship of humanity gathered by the star of divinity. No stranger comes within the gates, for, upon entering, there is donned the apparel of friend.
Those who have been there will tell you that Camp Weed is knowledge in shorts and worship in T-shirts. It is learning with laughter and prayer with pleasant piety. It provides play that is testing, work that is wearying, and rewards that have never been fully counted.
Camp Weed is character around a campfire. It is holiness in a wet bathing suit. It is going to church by way of first base and meeting God in sacrament and sports.
No age is beyond the reach of its influence. Its meaning must be experienced in person to be fully understood. Camp Weed lives for a few months but its life is everywhere, evident at all times.
Camp Weed is yours. Camp Weed is you.
-Rev. Alvin S. Bullen