Gypsy Camp

Gypsy Camp near Siloam Springs (Benton County) was founded by Weesie McAllister (spelled Weezie in some sources), an artist who taught at the University of Tulsa and local schools in the Siloam Springs area. Originally founded as an artist colony, it was converted into a summer camp for girls and was one of four camps in Arkansas during the 1910s–1920s. It remained in operation as a girls’ summer camp from 1922 to 1978 and then was abandoned. Gypsy Camp was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 1988. The abandoned camp was purchased in 2017 and began operating the following year under the name Gypsy Camp & Canoe.

In 1921, the land that Gypsy Camp is located upon was bought by J. H. McAllister and his wife, Weesie, after their children recounted the beauty of the area they had experienced while on a fishing trip down the Illinois River. As the McAllisters had a dream of starting a summer camp specifically for girls, when they heard of the land in Arkansas along the Illinois River, they bought a sixty-five-acre parcel, which included about a mile of riverfront on the Illinois River. Weesie McAllister was the mastermind behind the camp, taking inspiration for it from the “Gypsy” (Romani) camps she observed traveling across Europe. J. H. McAllister, a lumberman by trade, built a sawmill on the property, allowing him to cut lumber to designs he wanted for the cabins.

The first building that was completed for the camp was three stories, with the ground level as housing for the McAllister family, which doubled as a camp office; the second level as as lodging for up to eighteen people (sixteen campers and two counselors); and the top level as a kitchen and dining room for the McAllister family and those who stayed on the second level. Between 1921 and 1928, J. H. McAllister built the three-level dining and recreation hall along with cabin structures that could house approximately 120 campers.

Each of the cabins in Gypsy Camp had formal names, adding to the unique personality of the camp. The first building that the McAllisters constructed had three named floors: Angel’s Alley (first story), Devil’s Den (second story), and Tree-Top Inn (third story). In 1928, the Coe House—a two-story, private, year-round residence—was built to replace a two-story log building that had been known as the Pole House (built in 1925 but burned down in 1927). Another cabin, named the Royal Hut, began construction in 1925 as a large one-story, one-room log cabin and, in 1928, was extended to make it a large, two-story cabin. The Royal Hut served as a year-round residence for the camp founders.

There were six campers’ cabins that were constructed between 1921 and 1928: Romany Inn, the Vagabond Villa, the Upper Gypsy, the Lower Gypsy, the Upper Rover’s Rest, and the Lower Rover’s Rest. The Queen’s Tavern was a two-story building constructed in 1925 that served as a dining and recreation hall and contained a nurse’s quarters.

When Gypsy Camp was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it consisted of eleven contributing buildings, one contemporary non-contributing residence, a contributing structure later lost, and multiple contributing landscape features. The Indian House, the oldest structure at Gypsy Camp, was built around 1910, and served as a gate house and residence. It was razed in 2011 after falling into disrepair. The Well House and Canteen building was one of the earliest built in Gypsy Camp, being constructed around 1921. It no longer stands.

The materials for all of the buildings originally constructed for Gypsy Camp consisted of a mixture of local limestone, concrete, pine logs, pine clapboard siding, and wood framing. Most of the wood used in construction was harvested and milled on site at the mill built by J. H. McAllister. Repairs beginning in the 1960s added plywood, prefabricated pine siding, and corrugated sheet metal.

With Weesie McAllister as the director of the camp, the girls spent their time enjoying arts and crafts, swimming and canoeing the Illinois River, horseback riding, hiking along the bluffs, and playing sports. Gypsy Camp continued to run under the direction of Weesie and J. H. McAllister until the McAllister children took charge of the camp at some point between 1921 and 1955. In 1955, Bob Coe, a grandson of the McAllisters, and his wife inherited Gypsy Camp. They were able to keep the camp in operation, inviting girls back to camp every summer, until 1978, when the camp ceased to offer summer sessions. While the camp still had visitors—most of whom had spent their childhood summers at Gypsy Camp and gathered for reunions each summer—the camp did not hold yearly summer camp. In 2006, Preserve Arkansas listed the camp as one of the state’s most endangered places.

While the camp remained abandoned from 1978 until 2017, it was listed as a National Register Historic District in 1988 in efforts to preserve the camp. In 2017, it was purchased by Jerrid and Tracie Gelinas, preservation advocates who wished to see Gypsy Camp returned to its past glory. It was renamed Gypsy Camp & Canoe, opening as a canoe rental in 2018. The new owners of Gypsy Camp restored the original cabins that J. H. McAllister built and added additional campsites.

For additional information:
Gypsy Camp & Canoe. https://www.gypsycampcanoe.com (accessed January 22, 2025).

“Gypsy Camp for Girls.” Preserve Arkansas. https://preservearkansas.org/gypsy-camp-for-girls/ (accessed January 22, 2025).

“Gypsy Camp for Girls, Arkansas Route 59, Siloam Springs, Benton County, AR.” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/ar1149/ (accessed January 22, 2025).

“Gypsy Camp for Girls Passes the Torch.” Siloam Springs Museum, July 6, 2018. https://www.siloamspringsmuseum.com/found-in-the-archives/gypsy-camp-for-girls-passes-the-torch (accessed January 22, 2025).

“Gypsy Camp Historic District.” National Register of Historic Places registration form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at https://www.arkansasheritage.com/arkansas-historic-preservation-program (accessed January 22, 2025).

Mikaela Bailey
UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture