A History of the Land and Our Founding
The founding of Camp Niwana is a testament to the strength and determination of a diverse group of people who overcame immense challenges to create a place of joy, growth, and community.
Various Native American tribes and people groups inhabited the land where Camp Niwana is located. The Caddo people were one of the earliest groups, inhabiting the land from around 800 CE to the 18th century. The Caddo were known for their elaborate pottery and were skilled farmers who grew crops such as corn, beans, and squash. The Atakapa people also inhabited the area and were known for their distinctive tattoos and scalp locks. In addition to the Caddo and Atakapa, the region was home to the Karankawa people and many other smaller groups.
In the early 1800s, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, forcibly relocating the Native American tribes living in the southeastern United States. One of the tribes, the Alabama-Coushatta, originally from the Alabama area, settled in East Texas. However, the tribe's peace was short-lived. In the 1820s, the Mexican government of Coahuila began to expand its territory into Texas. In doing so, they took over the land that the Alabama-Coushatta had settled, as well as the lands of the many other native people groups in the area, and began to distribute that land to settlers. This was part of a broader trend of land acquisition and colonization that was happening across the Americas at the time.
These Native American communities had complex cultures and social structures, and their legacies continue to be felt in East Texas to this day.
In 1835, George A. Nixon, Governor of the Mexican State of Coahuila, granted land in the area that would later become Tyler County, to American settlers. One of those settlers was a widow and mother of seven children, Jane Taylor. She was granted 4,000 acres of land on which to make her home. Jane Taylor arrived in a covered wagon with all her worldly possessions and settled near the site of what would later become Camp Niwana.
As a pioneer and settler, Jane's first order of business was to get a roof over her family's head. Neighbors pitched in and held a log rolling, a big party that sometimes lasted several days with food and dancing every night. Jane persevered on the land for six years but later sold it to a man named A.B. Wildman. Jane Taylor's story reflects the experience of many pioneers and settlers who had to rely on their own resourcefulness and the help of their neighbors to survive in a new and unfamiliar land.
Ownership of the property changed hands several times over the next century, as the East Texas region became a center of cotton cultivation. In the1850’s, James Wrigley acquired the land and started raising cotton with slave labor. Befallen by financial troubles, Wrigley declared bankruptcy in 1859, owing money to a merchant firm in Pennsylvania. In response, he conveyed the firm the land to settle his debt. The slaves remained and worked the property to feed their families. In the years that followed, timber became a valuable resource, and lumber companies began buying up large areas of land in the region.
In 1920, 320 acres of the property were purchased by the W.T. Carter & Brothers Lumber Company. When the Carter Brothers arrived to survey their recently purchased land they found the families of the now-emancipated Black slaves living there. They had been living on and working the land for more than 30 years. The Carter Brothers sued to have the families removed from the property.
At the trial, representatives of the Black families, Vernie Brown, Tom Coleman, and Grover Lowe, requested the court allow them the 160 acres of the property the Black families had lived on, citing the Texas 10-year statute of limitations. In Texas, the 10-year statute of limitations grants the occupants of a specific property ownership of that property if they have occupied the land for at least 10 years and the owner of the land has made no attempt to reclaim it. The judge ruled in favor of Brown, Coleman, and Lowe and the court awarded the Black families property of their land—the very land on which Camp Niwana stands today. This was a significant victory in a time when the legal system was predominantly white and often favored landowners over those who worked the land.
The Brown family continued to live on the land until the 1930s, when they sold it. Over the next decade, the land changed hands several more times before being purchased by J.C. Means in 1951. That same year, J.C. Means sold the land to Camp Fire, which established Camp Niwana and created a legacy of learning, growth, and community that has endured for more than 70 years.
The story of Camp Niwana is one of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity. From Jane Taylor's early struggles as a pioneer and widow, to the enslaved people who worked the land, to the legal battle won by Brown, Coleman, and Lowe. The land on which Camp Niwana was founded has a rich and complex history. By acknowledging and honoring this history, Camp Niwana can continue to be a place of growth and community for generations to come.