Of course, we have been researching this book on Buffalo Bayou for nearly two years, but...Camp Hudson?

Mark went on to tell us about his participation in boy scout campouts at this Camp Hudson. We looked on an old Houston street map of the 1950's, and there it was. Camp Hudson on Buffalo Bayou.

Subsequent street maps from the 1970's and 1980's did not show the camp. Instead, Briarforest Drive cut diagonally through the property from Memorial Drive on the north side of the bayou to the Briarforest Drive extension on the south side.

Camp Hudson was given to the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts in 1925 by E. A. Hudson, who owned the Hudson Furniture Company located at 711 Travis St. Hudson was president of the council for 10 years, and he was elected President Emeritus in 1932.

The camp property comprised about 100 acres in the heavily wooded area along the banks of Buffalo Bayou. By 1957, the camp had been developed with a training center and other scouting facilities.

By the 1970's, the suburbs had encroached on the Memorial area. The camp no longer seemed remote and in the country. Civilization and housing built up around the site. In 1973, the boy scouts sold the property that was Camp Hudson.

As a reminder of its past, the name of Camp Hudson remains in the names of the residential developments along Briarforest Drive in the area of the former camp. Two of these are Hudson Forest and Hudson Courts.

We are grateful to Mark for his information on Camp Hudson. He has promised to provide us with stories and photos of his camp days on the bayou for inclusion in our book on Buffalo Bayou. If any of you have similar knowledge and experiences along Buffalo Bayou, please share them with us. We would love to include your stories and photos of this unique resource.

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Photos:

1. Hudson Courts, a gated residential community on Briarforest Drive on the site of the former Camp Hudson.

2. Hudson Forest emblem on the gates of the community on the north side of Buffalo Bayou at the Briarforest Drive bridge.