Camp St. Mary

Students sitting in an outdoor church at Camp St. Mary during Mass, 1933

Camp St. Mary, a catechetical summer camp for Catholic children, was founded near the Okatee River in Beaufort by Bishop Walsh in 1928. Father James Linehan organized the religious vocation camp for children of Beaufort missions who were in need of catechetical instruction. The priests of the diocese and the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy provided religious teaching to the area children. In 1931, Bishop Walsh chose to prioritize the camp as a diocesan project. After obtaining funds, he purchased property across the river from the original campsite in Okatie, for an enlarged camp with permanent buildings. Two barracks for sleeping, a dining hall and kitchen, a sisters’ convent, and a chapel were erected, as well as a boat dock with a diving platform on the river. Once the permanent buildings were erected, Walsh officially designated the site as Camp St. Mary. The camp operated into the early 1980s. In the late 1990s the property was sold to Beaufort County to create a park.