Camp Drake Boy Scout Camp
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Joe Wheeler State Park Negro Area

Camp Drake Boy Scout Camp, also, Joe Wheeler State Park Negro Area. . , Camp Drake Boy Scout Camp. Camp Drake was located within the current Joe Wheeler State Park Day Use Area. Camp Drake Reservation hosted Black Boy Scouts of the Tennessee Valley Council (TV) for annual summer camps and other events. A primitive camp was held nearby for two years prior to establishment of the permanent site in 1942. A dining lodge, headquarters and wash-up house were constructed in 1947. The campground was accessible from Lovers Lane, one mile south of Rogersville off Lamb's Ferry Road. Camp Drake was named for its benefactor, the fourth president of Alabama A&M University, Dr. Joseph F. Drake. Camp attendance typically included Scouts, Scoutmasters and staff members from multiple North Alabama counties. White TVC Scouts attended Camp Westmoreland near Florence. In 1965 Scouting in the TVC was fully integrated., Joe Wheeler State Park Negro Area. Joe Wheeler State Park Negro Area was Alabama's only State Park specifically designed for African-Americans. Picnicking, swimming, fishing, play fields, and a refreshment stand were provided for families and visitors from throughout the state. Howard Fuqua was the first African-American Park Ranger in the State of Alabama. He held this position from 1952 until 1956. Samuel Harden, Sr., hired to replace Fuqua, lived with his family in a caretaker's residence located inside the Park. The Park was renamed Joe Wheeler State Park in 1965. Additional property was acquired, and the Park was expanded with the opening of a lodge and other resort features in April 1974. The former caretaker residence was used as the main Park Office. The entry road to the African-American section is now the main Park entrance from Highway 72.