In January of 1957, the Conservative Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (now known as Rosedale Mennonite Missions) purchased what we now call Bethel Camp. The property was purchased for $30,000 from the Bethel Children’s Home and consisted of approximately 300 acres and a number of buildings.
The property was purchased upon request and recommendation of a number of mission personnel located in the eastern Kentucky area and representing the Conservative, Ohio, Virginia, and Indiana-Michigan Conferences. Reasons given for the purchase were:
To provide for Kentucky youth a camp where they “could associate with other young people and receive periods of instruction under qualified supervision.”
To provide a winter Bible School for Kentucky young people.
To provide a location for mission personnel being forced to move because of construction of Buckhorn Lake. Later consideration was also given to beginning a high school, an idea that never materialized.