INTRODUCTION

The birth of Camp Eberhart came during what historians call America's "good years." The economy was good and mass production made life easier for the average American. The nation was emerging as a world power. And the country was not just hoping for the best, but expected it too. William Taft and Woodrow Wilson served as Presidents during these years and Americans saw such exciting inventions as the telephone, typewriter, sewing machines and automobiles. Former President Theodore Roosevelt was on safari for the Smithsonian Institution during Camp Eberhart's first summer of organized camping in 1909. Explorer Robert Peary reached the North Pole that year. Beef sold for 10 cents a pound, and the sleek Pierce-Arrow automobile -- the Eberhart's owned one -- sold for $4,500.

Camps were multiplying rapidly and were attracting national attention by 1910, the year Eberhart was officially dedicated. The Boy Scouts and the American Camping Association began at this time, with the establishment of the Girl Scout movement only two years behind. Although young women looked up to the beautiful Gibson girl illustrations in the popular magazines, 1910 saw the suffrage movement becoming fashionable. By 1919, Congress gave America's 26 million women the right to vote with passage of the 19th Amendment.

Through these years Americans read magazines such as Scribners, Outlook, Colliers, and The Ladies Home Journal; they read books by Gene Stratton Porter, Booth Tarkington, Zane Grey and Edgar Rice Burroughs (author of Tarzan of the Apes); attended movies for 5 cents; sang ragtime songs by Irving Berlin; and were awed by writer, producer and director George Cohen's many theater hits.

Although Eberhart finished the decade on a bright note, the country did not. Domestic trouble with violent strikes, suffrage unrest, and military intervention on foreign shores during World War I brought an end of innocence for the United States and matured the nation. Camp Eberhart grew from a 1909 camper's dream into an institution strong with sentimental tradition by 1919. It ended the decade with a loyal following of campers and leaders, with remarkable leadership provided by professionals such as Frank Cheley and George Cooper.