The Scout Hut is not just a meeting place. It’s Troop 19's home, our clubhouse in the woods.
John Hinkel was a civic-minded business leader who welcomed Boy Scouts to camp on his land. He donated the property, comprising 4.9 acres, to the City of Berkeley in 1918 on condition that the Scouts could continue to use it. The park was reported to be the largest gift the city had ever received.
John Hinkel Park is located on a wooded hillside off Arlington Avenue in north Berkeley. A small creek runs through it, and a network of pathways meander under native oak, bay, and buckeye trees. The park was conceived by Hinkel to be a natural space where the native plants would be retained and enhanced. Read more about the park here.
The Scout Hut was moved from what is now Martin Luther King Middle School in 1938 to John Hinkel Park to provide a meeting space for the Boy Scouts. It is a single room structure with a stone fireplace. An adjoining room was later added for equipment storage. The hut has also been used by other local Boy Scout Troops, the Camp Fire Girls organization for ceremonies, and by the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival as a dressing room for productions in the park's amphitheater.
Troop 19 has been meeting at the Scout Hut since September 2004 and serves as its caretaker through an arrangement with the City of Berkeley. Join us at a weekly meeting and experience it for yourself.
