Private camps for children have been operating on Pyramid Point at the end of Port Oneida Road in Glen Arbor Township since long before the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was established in 1970.

In the 1920s, Camp Leelanau for Boys and Camp Kohahna for Girls was established in the area by William “Skipper” Beals and his sister Maude Beals Turner, both members of the First Church of Christ, Scientist.

For many years, Camp Leelanau operated on what is now the campus of the nearby Leelanau School while Camp Kohahna operated on Pyramid Point. Although both properties are surrounded by National Park Service land, neither has ever become a part of the park.

In 1971 Camp Kohahna moved to join Camp Leelanau on the facility it shared with the Leelanau School. Meanwhile, the Pyramid Point property was purchased by Gus and Paula Leinbach, who established Camp Innisfree there.

From 1981 to 1988, Camp Leelanau and Camp Kohahna operated near Northport until the non-profit Camp Leelanau and Kohahna Foundation, Inc. was formed. In 1988, the non-profit corporation reacquired the Pyramid Point Property from the Leinbachs and Camp Innisfree was replaced by Leelanau/Kohahna.

In the fall of 1993, the camp foundation established the Leelanau Outdoor Center (LOC) in an effort to keep Leelanau/Kohahna’s facilities in operation year-round. Since 1993, LOC has been offering 3-4 day secular “outdoor education” programs to public and private schools throughout Michigan each fall, winter and spring.