07/30/2026
Earlier this week an amazing find was made by one of our Museum Committee members Javier and a small group of Wolverine staff on their off night! While near Owasippe lake Javi was showing staff the area where the "Lower Lake" camps were when they came across the last surviving structure of Camp Dan Beard, a KYBO!
Camp Dan Beard was one of Owasippe Scout Camp's original sub-camps and operated on the North side of Owasippe Lake till 1970. The last of the lower lake camps to close was Stuart in 1978, and since then most of the lake has been developed. This parcel of land has been the last section of property undeveloped till quite recently. It was believed with the residential development of the lake, nothing was left of Beard, but this structure has been sitting silently in the woods for the last 48 years. After examining our Maps we determined this KYBO was one of 8, with this one originally between sites 6 & 8. Beard KYBOs were named after capital cities in Europe such as "London" and "Warsaw". This one is named "ROME". We also located a second KYBO slab closer to the lake near where the Beard Dining Hall would have been.
We would like to extend a big thank you to the new property owner Mr. Jeff Gustafson who graciously allowed us to disassemble portions of the KYBO and recover the door and "ROME" sign. Museum members Javier, Mike Pavlik, Mike Mieszczak, along with Lodge Chief Chris Kenny and Evan Sarasin also were able to document the building and land before removing items for the museum. Mr. Gustafson also let us tour his section of the waterfront which is directly next to where the Beard waterfront once was. Before leaving, the Owasippe Hymn was sung one last time on the shore before the land's future development.
B-E-A-R-D!
B-E-A-R-D!
B-E-A-R-D!
HAAAIL BEARD!
