WASHINGTON, D.C. -- What looked like a simple, one-story beige cabin near the banks of the Guadalupe River held the stories of generations of young girls marking a rite of passage.

It’s where shy, homesick 8-year-olds entered as strangers and emerged as confident young ladies equipped with new skills from the great outdoors and lifelong friends – bonds that would one day prove vital in the face of unfathomable tragedy.

Bubble Inn housed many of the youngest girls at Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old haven tucked in the foothills of Texas’ Hill Country.

“You get into those gates, and the whole world disappears,” said Lauren Lindley, who spent six summers as a Camp Mystic counselor – several of them at Bubble Inn. “When you grow up as a Camp Mystic camper, that legacy and the feeling that camp gives you sticks with you for life because it is such a unique and special place.”

On July 4, a new group of young girls were just a week into their formative journey at Bubble Inn when the beloved cabin turned into an epicenter of grief.

Torrential rainfall and catastrophic flooding ripped through Central Texas, killing at least 120 people and leaving at least 160 missing. Camp Mystic, which largely sits in a flood-prone area, lost 27 campers and counselors in the disaster.

No cabin suffered more than Bubble Inn. Most of its 15 campers and counselors were killed. The rest are still missing one week later.

It’s not clear whether the girls were overcome by floodwater inside their cabin or outside while trying to escape.

Camp Mystic’s longtime co-director, Dick Eastland, reportedly died while trying to rescue girls from Bubble Inn.

“I really, truly think he went there because they’re the youngest,” said Alex Loyd, the mother of two Camp Mystic girls who are close to Eastland’s grandchildren. “These are first-time campers … you’re going to run to the babies, absolutely.”

A cabin unlike any other

For decades, Bubble Inn welcomed young girls from across the country and even overseas. Some of those girls later became mothers and sent their own daughters to Bubble Inn.

“I have watched my former campers grow into adults with families of their own,” said Lindley, who’s now a professional photographer. “I have photographed their weddings.”

There was nothing particularly special about the building itself. Rather, it was the lessons learned and the relationships fostered between the walls that made Bubble Inn so unique.

“The cabins are all very basic. They’re just one big open room,” Lindley said. “You have metal camp beds in a row. The girls would all pack a trunk and bring their trunk, and then at the back of every cabin is a community bathroom with two to three showers, two to three bathroom stalls and two to three sinks … depending on the size of the cabin.”

Realizing Bubble Inn housed some of the youngest children, the directors of Camp Mystic – Eastland and his wife, Tweety – had a plan to help any girls who were particularly homesick.

“We were really taught to focus on all of the kids and keep an eye out for the ones that were seeming to have a hard time or were a little quieter,” Lindley said.

“There was a rest hour every day, and the girls were writing letters back and forth. And if a mom or dad was getting a bunch of letters where a camper was talking about being homesick, they were instructed to call and let Tweety know. And Tweety would let (counselors) know,” Lindley said.

“We were just trained to make sure to watch out for the littlest souls.”

The cabin also gave children a crash course in teamwork and responsibility.

“There’s a cabin inspection every day. Whoever wins cabin inspection from The Flats and from the Upper Hill both get to go to the commissary after rest hour first – which is a very big deal,” Lindley said, recalling her time as a counselor from 1999 to 2005.

In the scorching Texas heat, being first in line to get dibs on ice cream at the commissary was a major incentive. But whenever a young camper fell short of her duties – perhaps by leaving dirty clothes on the floor – Lindley would hold her accountable by displaying the evidence on the cabin’s front porch.

“Clothes were supposed to be hanging on the clothesline. Your bed was supposed to be made. Trash was supposed to be in trash bins. There’s not supposed to be stuff on the floor,” she said. “We were teaching the girls discipline, I guess, and pride for and care for your home. It was a hard sell in the little cabin.”

Lindley said she’s still in touch with her “first little loves” from when she started as a counselor in 1999. “And there’s probably six or eight of them in that little cohort that to this day are still very, very close,” she said.

Part of the reason: After girls “graduate” from Bubble Inn, they often return to camp year after year and progress to more senior cabins together. So many of the lifelong friendships forged at Camp Mystic start at Bubble Inn.

The youngest children slept closest to the river

Bubble Inn was nestled among a cluster of cabins housing the camp’s youngest girls, and each of the cabins had a charming, age-appropriate name. The Bubble Inn was flanked by the Giggle Box and Twins I & II, which sat next to the Wiggle Inn.

Those junior cabins were called The Flats because the cottages were on low-lying, flat land near the Guadalupe River. Older campers stayed farther from the river up on Senior Hill, and the girls from Bubble Inn looked up to them – literally and figuratively.

There were also practical reasons for why the youngest girls were down closest to the water, Lindley said.

In the blazing Texas heat, “an older camper is better equipped to go up and down the hill constantly all day, in between classes,” she said. “Little girls, most of the activities are going to be down in the main valley” near The Flats.

The Guadalupe River provided boundless fun for the girls by hosting snorkeling, kayaking, canoeing, diving and many other activities in the tranquil green water.

But the same river that gave decades of joy turned into a cataclysmic force in the predawn hours of July 4.

Torrential rainfall caused the Guadalupe River to rise more than 20 feet in less than two hours. And Bubble Inn, near the confluence of Cypress Creek and Guadalupe River, suffered catastrophic losses.

Many of the grieving families who lost daughters from Bubble Inn have asked for privacy and declined to speak with the media.

But Dr. Patricia Bellows, whose 8-year-old daughter Margaret perished in the flooding, wanted to thank the many counselors who tried to get campers to safety – including the two Bubble Inn counselors.

“The main thing I have to say is unending gratitude for the brave camp counselors who safely evacuated so many campers, and to the two camp counselors who gave their lives trying to protect my baby,” Bellows told CNN affiliate KTRK.

One of the Bubble Inn counselors, Chloe Childress, died in the flood. The other, Katherine Ferruzzo, remains missing.

Virginia Wynne Naylor, an 8-year-old Bubble Inn camper, also perished in the flood. Her family channeled their grief into action by launching a foundation in her memory.

“The More Like Wynne Fund was established to honor the legacy of Wynne Naylor by inspiring limitless passion for adventure,” her father, Cole Naylor, said in an email to CNN.

The foundation will “support Wynne’s local education system, youth wildlife conservation efforts, and select Christian ministries,” her father said.

“Replace grief with hope. Replace stress with servitude. Replace tears of despair with joyful recollection.”

It’s not clear what will happen to Camp Mystic or if any of the cabins will be refurbished or rebuilt elsewhere. But the destruction can’t break the family traditions, friendships and life lessons cultivated at the camp, Lindley said.

“The memories transport you in a way that transcends nostalgia,” she said. “And the relationships that you forge in this special place are just so incredibly unique that it’s like a knot that can’t be untied.”

CNN’s Caroll Alvarado and Lily Hautau contributed to this report.

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