Mondamin was founded in 1922 by Frank Bell, Sr. (usually known as "Chief"). The idea first dawned in March of that year, and construction started on the dining room in April. Camp opened about the end of June with a very inexperienced director and an equally inexperienced staff of about six. There were 31 campers.

Activities were hiking, riding, swimming, and canoeing. There were no buildings except the simple dining room and a wood stove kitchen. Campers and staff lived in tents. The eight-week fee was $150.

During the depression of the '30s, survival hung by a thread. "Chief" taught school, acted as the local postmaster, ran a country store, and traded in land. Green Cove, our sister camp, started in 1945 at Camp Rockbrook in Brevard, and operated there under the direction of Frances Cake and then Pat Bell. In 1949, Green Cove moved to its present location, and in 1952 Calla Bell became director, a position which she held until 1979. The present director, Nancy Bell, took over in 1980. "Chief" directed Mondamin through 1972, when Frank Bell, Jr., became director.

Fourth generation campers are now attending Mondamin. The two camps have a capacity of 190 each. Every summer 35 to 40 states and seven to 12 foreign countries are represented among the campers at Mondamin and Green Cove.

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...but what is it? What is its goal? How is it achieved? Is it just to make a living, or to make living worth while?
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Some confuse education with graduation. One gets the required number of credits, graduates, and is educated. His diploma so attests. Some teachers teach text instead of people, facts instead of values, knowledge instead of wisdom. The student ingests, regurgitates, passes, graduates.

The wilderness can be a magnificent playground and a great university.

If education is instead a series of continuing experiences that build the knowledges, the skills, the habits, the appreciations, the attitudes, the values, and ultimately and hopefully the wisdom that enrich living, then we need to go far beyond the classroom.

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