By a cursory glance, Camp Harry Daniels is in an ideal, quaint spot on the shores of Lake Marion.

But there is another side to the 300-acre camp west of Elloree in Calhoun County.

A number of cabins have seen better days as evidenced by peeling paint. Others are all but inhabitable.

But a South Carolina State University 1890 Research and Extension program official says there are big plans for the long-vacant property. "We are in the process of redeveloping Camp Daniels from the infrastructure on up," Delbert Foster, S.C. State 1890 Research and Extension Program administrator said. "We started with the infrastructure and the first one was water."

S.C. State's 1890 program owns and operates the camp.

The camp's main buildings now have water, thanks to a $320,000 state and federally funded grant project, which saw the placement of water lines connecting the camp to the Elloree water system. The monies came through the Department of Agriculture.

Foster said the water lines were laid about two months ago, with the only significant work to be done related to final minor connections.

With the infrastructure phase of the project near completion, Foster said the university is now entering into the process of searching for a project manager to oversee the drawing and compilation of a master plan and proposal for the camp's future.

"We will work with the facility management crew and determine what can be salvaged and which renovation costs would outweigh building construction," Foster said.

Foster said consultation will be held with all stakeholders in the formulation of a master plan.

"The first thing is the master plan, so we know where we want to go," Foster said. "We are really in the genesis (of the project). We want to do our due diligence."

Foster said even though the site has water, the university does not plan to open it up until renovations are complete.

He declined to speculate as to when operations at the camp will begin, but said he hopes the master plan will be completed by January, with hopes to begin the project in about a year.

Camp Daniels currently includes a conference center, a 30-room, motel-type facility, an auditorium and an assortment of mostly dilapidated cabins.

The camp was created in the 1940s to provide a camping experience for young black 4-H Club members.

It has fallen into disrepair to the extent that youth camps had to be discontinued at least seven years ago, and the university's trustee board last held its annual retreat there about six years ago.

There were some hopes among university officials that water from Elloree would reach the site in 2006.

But that never materialized.

In June 2004, the trustee board was told the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control had closed the camp because of water problems.

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