Tunnel Mill Scout Reservation
3913 Tunnel Mill Road, Charlestown
Breaking Camp
For decades, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts have enjoyed camping, hiking, fishing, and learning leadership and life skills at the Tunnel Mill Scout Reservation, a 142-acre camp in Charlestown in Clark County. The future of that legacy and the camp’s extensive collection of historic buildings is uncertain, as its owner, the Lincoln Heritage Council, announced earlier this year that it intended to sell the property, citing a declining number of campers and financial challenges in maintaining the expansive site.
Tunnel Mill’s history dates to 1804, when John Work purchased 100 acres along Fourteen Mile Creek. Around 1811, he built his home and later established a grist mill nearby. To increase water flow necessary to power the operation, Work blasted a tunnel through a nearby limestone bluff and constructed a dam, leaving a lasting imprint on the landscape. Today, his house, the tunnel, mill remnants, and a family cemetery remain as reminders of the site’s history.
Following a fire that destroyed the mill, the property was sold in 1928 for use as a Boy Scout camp, a purpose that has shaped it for nearly a century. Tunnel Mill Scout Reservation retains a collection of historic buildings constructed from the 1930s to 1950s, including rustic log cabins built in 1933 through the vision of local scout leader H.A. Meyer, who proposed a “Pioneer Village” as the camp’s centerpiece.
Concerned that potential residential development could erase the property’s history, Friends of Tunnel Mill Scouting Heritage Society launched a fundraising effort to acquire the camp, but the Lincoln Heritage Council turned down their initial offer to purchase Tunnel Mill for $850,000. The friends group continues to raise money in hopes of acquiring the site, aiming to preserve and share its story while broadening the camp’s availability for all youth, as well as making it available for public events and as a rental venue. It’s an ambitious financial and operational undertaking for the nonprofit, all-volunteer group, but one that supporters believe is essential to ensure Tunnel Mill’s legacy endures for generations to come.
Greg Sekula
Director
Indiana Landmarks Southern Regional Office
812-284-4534
gsekula@indianalandmarks.org
Dennis James
President
Friends of Tunnel Mill
502-640-9216
dljames12@att.net
Saving threatened buildings takes teamwork. You can be a part of that team. Reach out to local leaders. Let them know these buildings are important to you. And support state and local preservation groups.