Jane and Stephanie

Sometimes when you make friends at camp, you’ll see each other long after the summer is over. That’s exactly what happened when Jane from North Carolina took a trip with her family to Washington DC. While there, she took some time to visit her cabin mate and best camp friend Stephanie.

Stephanie’s dog Dottie (there is the photo) got in on the fun too.

What camp friends have you seen lately?

Summer Camp Film Announced

Back in 2007 Josh Wolk, a writer for the magazine Entertainment Weekly, published a book about life at summer camp entitled, Cabin Pressure: One Man’s Desperate Attempt to Recapture His Youth as a Camp Counselor. To write the book, Wolk decided to go back to the same summer camp he attended as kid and be a cabin counselor, to spend a summer living with the kids, teaching activities, and eating in the dining hall. Part nostalgia trip and part a return to innocence (reliving boyhood memories before getting married and becoming “an adult”), the book is well written and is really funny. By introducing you to the campers in his cabin and the other staff members, the book helps readers understand camp from the inside. It shows the complex human relationships at play there, the funny and poignant moments happening all the time, and ultimately why so many people absolutely love camp.

Now, word is out that Derick Martini (best known for directing the 2008 film “Lymelife”) is going to film a movie based on Wolk’s book.  We’re not sure about the production schedule or the cast at this point, but we know that the film will be a comedy about summer camp.  Cool!

We’ll keep you posted and, meanwhile, look forward to seeing the film!

Activities for Everyone

The first day of activities this session is full speed ahead with all of the activities ready for action. As we all enjoyed perfect summer weather (warm during the day and cool at night), campers were making pottery, designing weaving projects, and decorating their first pillow case. A few girls also went rock climbing with Clyde, our adventure director. Girls shot arrows and guns, did flips at gymnastics and cannonballs at the lake. Down at the equestrian center, Cara had girls up and riding.

Halfway through the morning at our “Muffin Break,” everyone ran for a treat freshly baked by Liz. We look forward to seeing what flavor she makes for us everyday. Today, lemon.

After rest hour, Jerry, Jessi, Tara and Michelle took a big group of campers on a hike to Kilroy’s Cabin. This is a special hike to a remote part of the Rockbrook property that first takes you to Castle Rock where you can rest and enjoy the amazing view of the French Broad river valley. From there, the hike is a bushwhack through the forest with no trail as a guide. Jerry knows the way, but few others can find the old abandoned cabin. Kilroy’s Cabin is the center of an elaborate, and maybe a little bit spooky, story told at camp. I’ll save the details for later, but it involves a nurse with red hair, love, jealousy and a car crash late one stormy night on a slippery bridge. Ooooooooo. (cue eery music!).

For dinner, a classic camp favorite was served— spaghetti with red sauce. In addition to the salad bar, each table had a bowl of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and basil, and warm bread. It really hit the spot after our action-packed day. But that’s pretty normal for Rockbrook. Camp is action!

Camp Cabin Life

Occasionally we are asked if Rockbrook provides a day camp in addition to its overnight residential summer camps. Unfortunately, the answer is no; we run only our residential (overnight, sleepaway) programs, which means all of our girls spend the night when they come to camp. In fact, that’s a big part of the overall Rockbrook experience— being away from home, getting to know the other girls in your cabin, doing your share of the cabin chores, and hearing the night sounds of the forest from your bunk. Life in the cabin is for some girls their favorite part of going to a residential camp.

Spending those nights in the cabin with your friends somehow makes everything else at camp more exciting and fun.

Dog Trot Summer Camp Cabin

Where do you stay when you to come to camp?

Rockbrook is a summer residential camp where campers stay in simple wooden cabins. Set with wooden-framed bunk beds, and divided into two sides, most hold 8 campers and 2 counselors. Between the two sides is an area called the “dog trot.” This comes from an early domestic architectural style common in the south where a simple one-room cabin is joined to another small cabin with open space between them, a place for the dogs to trot through. Later this space between the two cabins could be enclosed, given a wooden floor, and an adjoining roof, essentially making one big cabin with two rooms, one to the left and right of a center door. Here’s an article (and photos) describing a dog trot cabin.

The cabins at Rockbrook are enclosed like this. The dog trot area is a place for the campers to hang wet clothes and store things. You’ll always find the cabin broom there for example. It’s neat to think that since the earliest days, Rockbrook girls have been experiencing this little bit of southern tradition.

NC Snow at Rockbrook Camp

You may have heard that here in Brevard we’ve been getting some wonderful winter weather lately. Since it’s so different from the summer, we thought you’d get a kick out of seeing some snow at camp. Recognize this cabin? Yep, it’s Goodwill.

Girl Summer Camps

We thought you’d enjoy seeing how girl summer camps like Rockbrook can be just as beautiful in the fall as in the summer. When the weather turns colder here in the mountains, the lush green of the camp forest comes alive with color, as the leaves change, fall, and decorate the camp in spectacular ways. For example, we took this photo of “Curosty,” one of the camp’s craft activity cabins the other day. Isn’t it amazing!? All those big, old Maples, Oaks and Poplars really serve up something special.

Camp Cabin Photos Taken

Today we took our cabin photos for this third session of camp. Each cabin decides where they would like their photo taken, for example at the lake, on a lodge porch, or on the hill. Some are pretty creative, like this outtake of a cabin who took theirs at the senior line showers.