Morris Wiener, BS’53, recently sent the Peabody Reflector an article he wrote for Pathways: The Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education about a camping education class he took at Peabody in 1952 with R.T. DeWitt, associate professor of physical education. The experience served as a springboard for Wiener, who retired in 1994 from Northern Illinois University where he taught in the outdoor teacher education program for 31 years. Wiener is an honorary lifetime member of the Outdoor Educators of Ontario and will deliver an address this fall for the 40th anniversary of the organization.
According to Wiener, the highlight of the Peabody course was a 10-day camp leadership experience at the H.G. Hill Camp, a property owned by the college. The camp consisted of 150 acres on the Harpeth River, about 18 miles from campus. For several years, students in the Peabody course helped administer the camp for seventh graders from what was then known as the Demonstration School (now the University School of Nashville). By 1960, the camp had been sold. According to a diary of the experience by one of the seventh grade students, the photo above depicts the lighting of a bonfire on the first night of camp followed by one of the counselors telling a legend of how fire first came to be.