Bohemian Grove

The Bohemian Grove's annual gathering has hosted every Republican U.S. president from 1923 to 2005, along with numerous Democratic politicians and corporate leaders, making it one of the most exclusive networking events in American history. The Bohemian Club founded the retreat in 1878 in San Francisco as a private gentlemen's club for journalists and artists. In 1893, the club purchased a permanent 2,700-acre campground in Monte Rio, California, along the Russian River. Each July, the Grove hosts a mid-summer encampment lasting more than two weeks, drawing invited members and guests from politics, business, and the arts. Membership has historically been limited to men, and the Bohemian Club has never admitted women as full members, though women work as staff and performers at the Grove.

The encampment opens with a theatrical ceremony called the Cremation of Care, a mock sacrifice performed before a 40-foot owl statue. Documented by the early 20th century, the ritual's precise origin remains uncertain. The Grove's reputation as a networking hub extends far beyond pageantry. In September 1942, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Lawrence and others held informal discussions at the campground that reportedly contributed to early planning of the Manhattan Project. Richard Nixon attended Grove encampments before and during his political career, and Ronald Reagan participated as a member. The secrecy surrounding these gatherings fueled decades of conspiracy theories, and in 2000, Alex Jones secretly filmed the Cremation of Care ceremony, bringing widespread public attention to the Grove's rituals.

The Bohemian Club continues to hold its annual encampment at the Monte Rio campground, maintaining its all-male membership policy and strict privacy. The gathering remains a destination for sitting presidents, corporate executives, and cultural figures seeking off-the-record conversations away from press scrutiny. The club has never released attendance rosters or meeting minutes to the public.