2025 Winter Zoom Series: Bringing Pinewoods History to Life

December 14, 2024

Helen Storrow, Pinewoods Camp, and the First Girl Scout Training School

Ruth (Walsh) Wright Collection, Girl Scout National Leader Training School, 1919, Pinewoods Camp, Long Pond, Plymouth, MA. A large group of feminine people stand in uniform around an American flag outside of a large log-cabin building.

Ruth (Walsh) Wright Collection Girl Scout National Leader Training School, 1919, Pinewoods Camp, Long Pond, Plymouth, MA. Compliments of: Girl Scout Museum at Cedar Hill

With Francine Edwards, Co-founder of the Girl Scout Museum at Cedar Hill, Waltham, MA
View the presentation HERE

Explore the complex connections between Boston philanthropist Helen Storrow, Pinewoods Camp, and the First Girl Scout Training School in the early 20th century. Mrs. Storrow was a progressive-minded woman with a vigorous interest in the benefits of all health-giving activities, especially camping, folk dancing, singing, swimming, gardening, and hiking. With help from the archival treasures of the Girl Scout Museum at Cedar Hill in Waltham, MA, we will journey into the past to learn more about Mrs. Storrow and her amazing legacy to Pinewoods Camp and the Girl Scouts.

Francine Edwards, 2017. A mature white woman with short white hair in a blue polo shirt stands behind a podium with a girls scouts of eastern Massachusetts sign affixed to the front of the podium, and a blue flag and trees in the background.

Francine Edwards

Bio

Francine Edwards, one of the co-founders of the Girl Scout Museum at Cedar Hill, spent eight glorious summers during the late 1940s and early 1950s at Camp Four Winds on Long Pond.  She was a camper, kitchen worker, and eventually waterfront counselor teaching swimming, boating, and canoeing.  A current museum volunteer, Francine has special interest in Helen Storrow and the early history of Girl Scouting in Massachusetts.

 

The Conant Family and Pinewoods

Four Generations of Conant Family. Two pictures collaged over a transparent background of trees, with the words Four Generations across the upper left corner. The upper right picture is a black and white photo from the early 1900s of a man, woman, and two young girls. Lower left photo is faded color photo from the 1980s of men, women, and children in front of a log cabin structure.

Family photos from the Conant Family Archives. Compliments of: David Conant

With David Conant
View the presentation HERE

David shares stories about his family’s long relationships with Helen Storrow, Pinewoods, and the Long Pond community. See pictures and movies from the family archives spanning from the beginnings of camp and the Girl Scout Leadership era, to the current era.

 

David Conant Summer '24. Headshot of a white man with glasses, gray moustache, and gray curly hair, wearing a blue with white stripes collared button down shirt, sitting in front of a window with sun and trees in the background.

David Conant

Bio

As a member of the Conant family, David has spent time at or next to Pinewoods his entire life. He is involved in both the Camp and Pond communities. He was a member of the grounds crew in the 1970s, a PCI board member for 15 years, and has attended many sessions of Campers Week. He is an active Morris dancer, following in the footsteps of his father and grandmother.

 

Becoming Pinewoods Camp, Inc.

Black and White image of tall spindly pine trees, a logo for PCI

PCI’s tree logo, drawn in 1975 by Frank Edwards for the first Pinewoods Post.

With original board members and Bill Abbott,
attorney for the Conants and PCI. Moderated by Gillian Stewart
View the conversation HERE

Jeff Warner and Genny Shimer, members of the first PCI Board, in Ampleforth c. 1972. Photo credit: Suzanne Szasz

In the sale of the century, the Conant family sold Pinewoods Camp to a newly created non-profit: Pinewoods Camp, Inc. (PCI). As Pinewoods celebrated our Centennial, we also celebrated our 50th anniversary as an independent non-profit. We put together a panel of special guests – major players in the forming of PCI. Join us for stories and anecdotes, and maybe the chance to ask your burning questions, with 50 years of perspective.
Participants:
Gillian Stewart, Moderator, and Panelists Bill Abbott, Bob Erenburg, Jeff Warner, Jim Morrison, and Tom Kruskal.

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