Camp Mystic, the storied summer retreat for girls in Texas Hill Country where 27 children and counselors died in catastrophic flooding in July, will reopen next summer for its 100th anniversary — a decision that has outraged grieving families and divided a once-loyal community, The New York Times reported.
The camp’s owners, members of the Eastland family, announced the reopening in two emails on Monday: one to the families who lost daughters and another to a broader network of alumni and supporters. While the messages promised new safety measures and a memorial to honor the dead, they landed with anger and disbelief among many of the bereaved.
“The families of deceased Camp Mystic campers and counselors were not consulted about and did not approve this memorial,” said Blake Bonner, whose 9-year-old daughter, Lila, died in the flood.
For parents still waiting for closure, the announcement felt premature. One girl, 8-year-old Cile Steward, remains missing. “The truth is, Camp Mystic failed our daughters,” her mother, Cici, said in a statement Tuesday. “Camp Mystic is pressing ahead with reopening, even if it means inviting girls to swim in the same river that may potentially still hold my daughter’s body.”
The Eastlands, who have owned Camp Mystic since the 1930s, said in a statement they had “received no negative comments from any of the bereaved families regarding plans to build a memorial.”
But relatives of the dead, who call themselves “Heaven’s 27,” say their focus should remain on recovering Cile and ensuring accountability.
Camp Mystic has long been a fixture for families from Houston, Austin, and Dallas, with alumni forming a network across Texas. Many of those ties, however, have frayed since the deadly July 4 floods that ravaged Central Texas and killed more than 130 people along the Guadalupe River.
Camp Mystic was the only overnight camp where children died.
In response to the losses, the Texas Legislature, with strong backing from parents of the dead, passed sweeping new safety laws requiring camps to relocate cabins out of flood plains and improve detection and warning systems. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the legislation in August, declaring, “Camp safety is now law in the great state of Texas.”
The Eastlands publicly supported the reforms, calling early warning systems essential. Still, some counselors who worked at Mystic over the summer objected, writing to Abbott that the bills were “rushed” and could threaten the camp’s future. Members of the family said on Tuesday that they were unaware of the letter before it had been sent.
The reopening plan applies to Mystic’s newer campus, opened in 2020, while the original riverside grounds remain closed. Next year’s centennial session is already being prepared, though the camp acknowledged in its email to parents of the deceased: “We have not been perfect at communicating. The distance that has grown between some of us saddens us all.”
For many, the wounds remain raw.
“Recovery teams are still out there, scouring the river,” Cici Steward said. “Camp Mystic, however, has only added to our grief.”?
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