Our History
Nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Camp Ba Yo Ca provides exciting outdoor adventure activities to nearly two thousand children in the Knox, Blount, and Sevier county regions.
While our mission to minister to children’s lives through evangelism, discipleship, and mentoring has remained steady for over fifty years, so much else has changed. Camp Ba Yo Ca began as an outreach program to underprivileged children in the Knox county area.
In the summer of 1952, the Brotherhood provided a camping experience to fifty boys, and the following year they expanded to include a camp for girls as well. By the third year of the program, the Brotherhood was convinced of the power the camping program held to positively influence the lives of the community’s children and began to search for a permanent location for the Knox County Baptist summer camp.
It wasn’t until 1958 that the Knox County Association of Baptists bought 150 acres in Wears Valley which became the permanent location of what is still Camp Ba Yo Ca today. In the last 50 years, Camp Ba Yo Ca has grown from 150 acres of land, six small cabins and one bathhouse with a four week camp season to 350 acres with twelve cabins and three retreat facilities and a ten week camp season.
While our mission to minister to children’s lives through evangelism, discipleship, and mentoring has remained steady for over fifty years, so much else has changed. Camp Ba Yo Ca began as an outreach program to underprivileged children in the Knox county area.
In the summer of 1952, the Brotherhood provided a camping experience to fifty boys, and the following year they expanded to include a camp for girls as well. By the third year of the program, the Brotherhood was convinced of the power the camping program held to positively influence the lives of the community’s children and began to search for a permanent location for the Knox County Baptist summer camp.
It wasn’t until 1958 that the Knox County Association of Baptists bought 150 acres in Wears Valley which became the permanent location of what is still Camp Ba Yo Ca today. In the last 50 years, Camp Ba Yo Ca has grown from 150 acres of land, six small cabins and one bathhouse with a four week camp season to 350 acres with twelve cabins and three retreat facilities and a ten week camp season.