Back in 1933, a 97-acre camp for girls was opened on the banks of Shoal Creek near the village of Pioneer in north Barry County, west of Purdy, and named Camp Sylvania. 

Owned and operated by Elizabeth Allen, of Pierce City, originally, the property was intended to be used as a boy’s camp, but after the death of her father L.L. Allen in 1931, Elizabeth changed the plans for the camp to accommodate girls instead. 

Lewis Lucious Allen was born in St. Louis but had lived in Pierce City since 1870, where he was cashier at the Lawrence County Bank for 40 years. Mr. Allen’s father, L.L.L. Allen, served as bank president. Incidentally, his father was named Barnabas Allen and his grandmother was Amy Camp. 

After retiring from banking in 1912, he formed the L.L. Allen Insurance company, evidently garnering enough income to envision a children’s camp. Work began on 10 cabins with a dining hall a year earlier in 1932, along with rec room and tennis court. 

Other activities included swimming, boating, and horseback riding. Along with Elizabeth Allen, who had spent three years as secretary of the Valley Young Women’s Christian Association, the camp was administered by her friend Amy Lou Holmes, a graduate of Brownsville Junior College in Texas, having previous experience at Campo del Arroyo at Rio Hondo near Brownsville, Texas. 

Later during World War II Amy Lou Holmes completed a welding course in Dallas in a record five days and was given a factory job to aid in the war effort. However, Miss Allen did not live long enough to enjoy her family’s dream, dying in 1935 of tuberculosis while residing in Colorado Springs for her health. 

Tragedy struck the camp again on March 22, 1936, when two trucks loads equipment were stolen from the camp, including lights, silverware, rugs, blankets and anything else the thieves could get their hands on in this era of depression.  

Gene Richardson was arrested in Joplin for the crime and transferred to Barry County, where he was charged with the robbery. He escaped the Barry County Jail in May of 1936 after sawing through a steel door, along with a Monett carnival worker named Robert Burns accused of shoplifting. 

Richardson was apprehended in Phoenix, Ariz., and brought back to Cassville by Sheriff Evan Shore that December, where he was sentence to 10 years in the state penitentiary by Judge E.E. Smith after pleading guilty.  

In 1937, the girls camp was opened to the general public by Mary Lou Holmes, who now owned the camp, and her partner Mrs. Pearl Nuckols, as a family resort, catering to the local residence of Monett when not being used by the girls during eight weeks in summer.

In 1947, the Camp Sylvania property was acquired by the Christian Church for $15,000 and renamed Camp Yo-Co-Mo, also referred to as Yo-Ko-Mo, or YoCoMo Bluff. The church was able to pay off the mortgage on the property by 1952. Events such as the Christian Endeavor Conference of 1948 and Presbyterian Youth Conference of 1949 were held at the camp. The camp was also popular with 4-H clubs of various counties such as Barry, Lawrence, Newton, Dade, McDonald, Stone, Barton and Jasper. 

According to a 1949 newspaper article “Facilities at the camp are larger than those a Roaring River, making it possible for Jasper County 4-H’ers to attend all at one time.”  

I imagine Roaring River State Park was in constant competition with the campground for attendees and the accompanying revenue generated. Other camp attendees in the 1950s included Boy Scouts, Methodist MYF conferences and Y.M.C.A groups. 

In 1972, the camp owners, Ninth District of Christian Churches of Disciples of Christ, sold the property to Henry O. Head of Mississippi, known as Heno. The camp was subsequently renamed Camp Soaring Hawk. The camp was enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s by the children of the Barry County Youth Camp, a camp supported through donations for children who would not otherwise be financially able to attend a summer camp. 

In 1996, Camp Soaring Hawk was purchased by the Barnabas Foundation led by Paul and Cindy Teas. The camp was then repurposed to serve disabled youth and renamed Camp Barnabas. The Teas journey of faith is chronicled in the book “Camp Barnabas: Campion for the Challenged” by Heno Head, Jr. 

Camp Barnabas continues to operate, occasionally receiving national attention, as when the television series “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” visited the camp back in 2005, the episode even winning an Emmy.

For over 90 years, children have benefited from enduring dreams brought by faith through the changing ownership of the campground, each vision serving its time and place. Hopefully the story of helping children never ends, even though the summer inevitably must.

Jeremiah Buntin is a historian at the Barry County Museum. He may be reached at [email protected].