Owners Want to Sell Camp Where 27 Died

The owners of Camp Mystic have proposed selling off the riverfront property in bankruptcy with hopes that a buyer will preserve the camp's "historic mission" after the deaths of 27 campers and counselors swept away by a 2025 flood. The century-old private Christian girls' camp filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan on Sept. 25 that would auction off the 749 acres it owns and other assets, the AP reports. The sprawling campus, nestled among rolling wooded hills on the banks of the Guadalupe River, had several single-story cabins that housed some of the youngest campers and a recreation hall near the riverfront. A second campus on elevated ground was not flooded.

The Eastland family has owned the camp for decades and initially sought to reopen this summer but faced fierce opposition from victims' families and some state lawmakers, lawsuits, and legislative investigations into what went wrong. A buyer would likely get a portion of the camp frozen in time. Families of the victims have fought to stop demolition of damaged cabins and buildings and stop repairs as part of their lawsuits. The bankruptcy plan said the owners expect a purchaser would be backed by a group of families that support the camp. "Nothing in the plan requires any buyer to operate the property as a camp, but the plan states an express preference, in determining the highest or otherwise best bid, for a buyer that will maintain the historic mission of the camp," the filing states.