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Sign the Sequoyah Guest Book

View the Sequoyah Guest Book

 

CONTACT

 



 

Other Sequoyah sites

The Walter Kuentzel Archive

Meet and Greet at the Old Sequoyan Club

 Sequoyah on Facebook

 



Sequoyah Anthem

Stouthearted Men



Come to Sequoyah



 

 

 

 

 

Latest News

"It's a beautiful day at Sequoyah!"

 

 

 

 

 

Winter at Sequoyah

 

 

 

 

Star Watch

Sequoyans of a certain age were privileged to attend camp at the dawn of the space age.  A group of Nature Lore campers met Michael "Uncle Mike" Hoffman after taps, when the moon was low and the stars stood out.  We had our flashlights and Field Guides, but tonight we needed no guide, just good eyesight, for Echo, a 100 foot silver balloon satellite sent into low earth orbit, was due to pass overhead.  And then it appeared, a star among the stars, moving silently across the sky, the first man-made object in space we had ever seen.

Today, Echo has been replaced in orbit by the Hubble Space Telescope, a platform for viewing the farthest reaches of space and the earliest reaches of time itself.  In a deep field of myriad Milky Ways, Hubble recently detected the earliest and most distant galaxies.

See the latest Hubble wonders.

 

 

 

 

Canoe Camp Saved

On the heels of the good news about the sale of the Main Camp property to dedicated preservationists, comes more good news.  Emory Crawford, owner of Sequoyah's Canoe Camp site on Lake Aquone, aka Nantahala Lake, has obtained a conservation easement, with The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee.

Read the backstory

 

 

 

 

Sequoyah property sold

As you may have heard, the Sequoyah property has been sold.  Unfortunately, the plan of the previous owners, to build a new camp, was unrealized.  The good news is that the new owners are a private party and dedicated preservationists.  They have also expressed kind feelings towards Sequoyans and will work with us in their preservation efforts.  The details have yet to be worked out, but as official news is released, you will see it here.

 

 

 

 

Sequoyah in wartime

Wilby Coleman has contributed a wonderful memoir of his time at Sequoyah, 1943-1945.

 

 

 

 

New, from the
Council Ring

Stouthearted Men is a venerable Sequoyah anthem.  For the stouthearted man, "there's nothing in the world can halt or mar a plan."  This precept is put to the ultimate test, in David Grann's true tale of the search for

The Lost City of Z

 

 

 

 

Instant classic . . .


Click on the book to go to the Website.

They're promoting the book for summer camps,
as well as back yards . . .

 

 

 

 

Update from Pop!

There have been a number of enquiries about how Sequoyah's living legend James "Pop" Hollandsworth has been faring.  Here's an update:

Pop spent his 93rd birthday in Quebec City, Canada, at the 2008 congress of the International Camping Fellowship, where he received an award, stating:  "Your contributions have enriched the International Camping Fellowship and advanced the cause of camping across the world".

Pop said, "I guess that suggests that I'm still active and involved...with some mobility help on a 'flame red' four-wheel walker."

As of November 19, Pop and his wife Marjie had just returned from a two-week stay in their mountain home near Black Mountain, "about 15 mile due south across the Craggy Range from Sequoyah."

 

 

 

 

New, from the
Council Ring

Now that we've had a chance to digest Thanksgiving and the aftermath, here's Sarah Vowell, the delightful raconteur who brought us her account of her travels along the Trail of Tears, talking about her book, Wordy Shipmates, about the Pilgrim Fathers.

 

 

 

"Membership has its rewards."

 

 

 

 

Every kid's big brother, he saw camping as part of the solution.

Paul Newman
1925 - 2008


(Click photo for a video treat.)

 

 

 

 

The Era of the Hero

What makes a hero?  Here's a fascinating essay from The New Yorker, which examines three men, Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott.  There seems to be no debate about Nansen as hero, but what about Amundsen and Scott, contenders for First to the South Pole?  Along the way, you'll encounter a cliffhanger on a mountain in Ethiopia and a list of more good reads.

Cold Comfort

 

 

 

 

A Death in the Forest?

Does that sound familiar?  It should -- it's the title of the story, featured below, about the hemlock blight.  Except, this "death in the forest" is a Sequoyah mystery, as related by Justin Coleman, Tsali '75, in his Guestbook entry.

Check it out.

 

 

 

 

Sequoyah in the 1970s


"The Screaming Wheels"
(Impersonating Sha Na Na's "Bowzer")
Tuscaroras, 1974

Walt Kuentzel has updated his Sequoyah Website
with hundreds of new photos and a cool new look.

Check it out!

 

 

 

 

Mike Miller gives us a look
inside the workings of a summer camp.

A Camp with a Purpose

and

Sequoyah as a Model for Today's Summer Camp

 

 

 

 

More Sequoyah Memories

by Jon Cooner

 

 

 

Sequoyah Memories

Hans Clausen's photo memoir,
with rare shots of Junior Camp

 

 

 

 

Sequoyah Elegy

by Jim Bonds

 

 

 

 

Letter from North Carolina
A Death in the Forest

We remember the hulks of American chestnuts we encountered on our hikes.  Now, the eastern hemlock is about to join them, thanks to a new blight called the hemlock woolly adelgid.  The New Yorker has an excellent article about the battle against this pest.  The setting is the Great Smokey Mountains.  Click the title above to view the PDF, exclusively for Sequoyans.  You might find the reading easier if you print out the article.

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Johnson
1928-2007

 

 

 

 

 

Lest there be any doubt about the continuing relevance of the
Spirit of Sequoyah . . .

Sequoyan Frank Tindall's Camp Falling Creek
is featured in a recent cover story of
TIME Magazine. 
Until recently Falling Creek was owned
by fellow Sequoyan Chuck McGrady.
Don't miss the photo essay.

 

 

 

 


Can there be any doubt that
C. Walton Johnson read these verses,
as his idea for Sequoyah took shapo?
 

"The Coming American"
by Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911)

Bring me men to match my mountains;
   Bring me men to match my plains, --
Men with empires in their purpose,
   And new eras in their brains.
Bring me men to match my prairies,
   Men to match my inland seas,
Men whose thought shall pave a highway
   Up to ampler destinies;
Pioneers to clear Thought's marshlands,
   And to cleanse old Error's fen;
Bring me men to match my mountains ---
   Bring me men!

Bring me men to match my forests,
   Strong to fight the storm and blast,
Branching toward the skyey future,
   Rooted in the fertile past.
Bring me men to match my valleys,
   Tolerant of sun and snow,
Men within whose fruitful purpose
   Time's consummate blooms shall grow.
Men to tame the tigerish instincts
   Of the lair and cave and den,
Cleans the dragon slime of Nature --
   Bring me men!

Bring me men to match my rivers,
   Continent cleavers, flowing free,
Drawn by the eternal madness
   To be mingled with the sea;
Men of oceanic impulse,
   Men whose moral currents sweep
Toward the wide-enfolding ocean
   Of an undiscovered deep;
Men who feel the strong pulsation
   Of the Central Sea, and then
Time their currents to its earth throb --
   Bring me men!

 

 

 

 

2007 Spring Reunion

 

 

 

 

From a recent message from an old Sequoyan . . .

I was so pleased and pleasantly surprised to find the Sequoyah web site today.  Sequoyah was such a unique and special place, the most fantastic setting, and the finest staff and campers there could have been.  Thank you so much for your efforts on behalf of all of us who were touched by this special place. I remember the camp nurse saying to me that "Our trails will cross again", and with this web site, that has come true.

Revere "Brud" Harbourt, 65, 67

 

 

 

 

 

One circumstance that helped our character development:  we were needed.  I often think today of what an impact could be made if children believed they were contributing to a family's essential survival and happiness.  In the transformation from a rural to an urban society, children are—though they might not agree—robbed of the opportunity to do genuinely responsible work.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

 

 

 

Nature Alert!

Are cell phones wiping out our bees?

 

 

 

 

New feature

Add a photo to your guestbook entry!

When you sign the guestbook, send a tribal or cabin photo, or just you at Sequoyah,
along with your info, and we'll make it a part of your entry. 
If you've slready signed the guestbook, send a favorite photo, and we'll add it to your entry.
Don't worry about the condition.  We'll fix it.
Sample

 

 

 

 

In the Council Ring

AWOL
It's about service

 

 

 

 

A moving Guestbook comment

Hello Sequoyans! I found the site a while back when I met David Brown on one of the tours I operate.

Since Sequoyah, I have not stopped paddling. I have made my living and supported my family doing what I love, and I owe that to Sequoyah. If it were still open, I have no doubt that I would still be there and in many ways I still am. Seqouyah's influence has been very meaningful to me. My kids are eager to hear stories as we look at this website together. I have had the good fortune to run into old Sequoyans. Their memories are usually as fond as mine. I have dreamed of creating a Seqouyah-type experience here in Costa Rica where I live.

On numerous occasions as I paddled Smokey Mountain streams I made the opportunity to walk through camp. To see my name still on the cabin plaques—to remember mud soccer, tying the bowline under the waterfall, Randolfs Route, and the people who influenced me—was a great thrill.

I owe my first paid paddling job to being on a list of honor campers from Sequoyah that was picked up after the closing. I only hope I can create the experience I had at Sequoyah for my kids. Thanks for the site, a real treasure.

Neil Kahn, '74-76

 

 

 

 

Kendall Bryan's

Songs of Sequoyah

Sequoyah campers, singing Sequoyah favorites,
From the original vinyl LPs recorded in 1961

 

 

 

 

Remember the Star Watch?

 

Halley's Comet

     Miss Murphy in first grade
      wrote its name in chalk
      across the board and told us
      it was roaring down the stormtracks
      of the Milky Way at frightful speed
      and if it wandered off its course
      and smashed into the earth
      there'd be no school tomorrow.
      A red-bearded preacher from the hills
      with a wild look in his eyes
      stood in the public square
      at the playground's edge
      proclaiming he was sent by God
      to save every one of us,
      even the little children.
      "Repent, ye sinners!" he shouted,
      waving his hand-lettered sign.
      At supper I felt sad to think
      that it was probably
      the last meal I'd share
      with my mother and my sisters;
      but I felt excited too
      and scarcely touched my plate.
      So mother scolded me
      and sent me early to my room.
      The whole family's asleep
      except for me. They never heard me steal
      into the stairwell hall and climb
      the ladder to the fresh night air.

      Look for me, Father, on the roof
      of the red brick building
      at the foot of Green Street—
      that's where we live, you know, on the top floor.
      I'm the boy in the white flannel gown
      sprawled on this coarse gravel bed
      searching the starry sky,
      waiting for the world to end.

—Stanley Kunitz

 

 

 

 

 

Updated!
Global Warming

 

 

 

 

Pop's Council Ring Photos
Rare photos from the 40s!

 

 

 

 

George Harrell, III, Sequoyah camper, Tsali boy, Pirate, Counselor, has a splendid collection of photos and memorabilia, which he is sharing with us.

The George Harrell Collection

 

 

 

 

Red Dawn

 

 

 

 


In and Around Sequoyah


 

 

Council Ring

 

Mementos from David Glasgow

 

Indian Lore

 

"The Lanyard"

 

Letter from an Old Sequoyan

 

Walton Conway's Tribute to Sequoyah

 

The Watershed Saga

 

 

A Summer Afternoon Beneath the Spreading Oak
Why aren't you there?
No, you're not too busy!
 

Take a short walk around Sequoyah Main Camp, as it was during its active years and as it is today.
 



The light ahead takes you to Sequoyah
(Find the link!)

 

. . . then, browse the picture archives. 

Thanks to Walt Kuentzel's Website we have an extensive archive from the Capps years, 1971-1978, as well as a splendid collection of Sequoyah brochures and pamphlets. 

We should like to build a comprehensive album of photos and printed matter, going all the way back to the beginning.  Do you have any of your camp pix?  Please contact Jack Rice.  If you don't have a scanner, we'll be happy to scan them for you.

More archives below.

 

Visiting Sequoyah

The status of the Sequoyah proprty is in a state of flux.
During this period, access through the main entrance is closed,
and the owners are not granting permission to camp.
Hopefully, this is not a permanent situation.  Stay tuned.
 

 

 


The Great Ones


 

 

 

Chief


(Photo courtesy Junior Taylor)

An Archive of Sequoyah Philosophy

The Fourth Dimension in Camping

The Art of Living Forever

26 January 2006
Commemorating Chief

 

 

 

 

Michael Hoffman

A Hymn for Sequoyah
By Michael Hoffman

Lord, round about us stand these hills,

Whose beauty all Sequoyah fills.

We praise Thee, Lord, for this Thy gift

Of beauty and our prayer we lift

That as our summer paths are trod,

All Beauty leads us towards God.

Through friendships true that seek all Good,

We learn to live as brothers should.

Help us to carry from this place

A broader love than creed or race,

And may our feet with peace be shod,

For Love and Goodness leads to God.

Teach us, O Lord, the Truth to seek

In thought, in deed, in words we speak,

Give courage to the Truth defend

Nor count the cost, And to this end

May Sequoyah's mark on her sons e'er be,

The Love of Truth that sets men free.

(Contributed by Barry Durand)
 

 From his tiny hut beside the Nature Cabin, Michael "Uncle Mike" Hoffman, with his white mane and weathered countenance, presided.  Uncle Mike had his own flagpole, flying the colors of the United Nations, which we still revered in those days, to remind us that we are stewards not only of our little corner of paradise but of the whole world.  In matters celestial and terrestrial, Uncle Mike was Sequoyah's go-to guy. 

Each of those who knew him has his own fond memory of Uncle Mike.  For those who came after, perhaps the best way of making the acquaintance of a Sequoyah legend and his love of nature is through these recent news items, a tribute we hope Uncle Mike would find fitting.

Are cell phones wiping out our bees?

Global Warming

Space Telescope

Restoring the American Chestnut

Saving the Elms

Proof that nature still has the upper hand . . .
Rodents 1 - Humans 0

A Death in the Forest

Cold Comfort

 

 

 

 

James G. "Pop" Hollandsworth

 

 

 

 

Paul Neal

 

 

 

 

Mike Miller

 

 

 

 


Photo Archives


 

 

 

The Capps Years

Sequoyah in the 70s

 

___________________________________________


 

2007 Spring Reunion

2005 Reunion

2004 Summer Reunion

Photo Survey of Main Camp 2002

Clean-up 2001

 

 

___________________________________________

 

 

The George Harrell Collection

 

Barry Durand's
Winter at Sequoyah
 

The Mike Miller Collection
 

Ed Bumann's
Tsali, the Beginnings
 

Ben Moore's
Tsali at Canoe Camp
 

Summer Mementos
 

David Glasgow's
Around Sequoyah, Summer 2002

Plus, more of David's photos at Snapfish.com (registration required)

April 2002 photo survey

Photos from the Summer 2002 get-together

 

The Thunderbird
 
"I am a Spirit"


 


 

Sign the Guest Book

Read the Guest Book Entries

 

Comments

 


 

 

 

Visit Eustace Conway's Turtle Island Preserve

Letter from Eustace