From the Zuni language, Kia Kimatranslates as "eagles' nest" and has been in use since the camp first opened in 1916.
The camp originally was going to be Camp Chickasaw, but it was named by the first Camp Director, Edward Everett, while on a trip to the property in 1916 to prepare for the summer camp season.
Kiakima was an ancestral Zuni village or pueblo at the southwest base of Dowa Yalanne, a mesa outside of Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, on the Zuni Indian Reservation.
Many of the structures at Old Kia Kima feature stonework architecture, which is distinctive of the Hardy, Arkansas region. The Arkansas Register of Historic Places lists Old Kia Kima for “its use of Rustic Style architecture with local significance.” Built in the 1920s, many of the structures were designed and built by Scouts.
Originally written for the Old Kia Kima Preservation Association.
"Well, let me think. It was either late May or early June of 1960. I was 19. Turned 20 in July. I had planned to ride my old Schwinn Black Phantom to Kamp Kia Kima from Memphis."
Built in 1928, theThunderbird Lodge is a two-story building of native Arkansas fieldstone that served as the historic headquarters of Kia Kima. It is located at Old Kia Kima.
Originally written in February 2006 for the Old Kia Kima Preservation Association.
"Through all ages man has had his triumphant returns. This thought brings to mind Kia Kima’s triumphant returns of the many treks led by their fearless trek masters. Starting with the first trek masters, Jim McWhorter and Dorris Goodman in 1951 and the last trek master Steve Horne in 1958. Many a tale has been told of their strength and stamina such as McWhorter taking a 30 pound cast iron grill strapped to his back pack and Horne hiking 50 miles in one day, leaving his crew of marines far behind eating his dust."
