Evening Program Writing

We found this great old photo in the Rockbrook archives the other day. It’s not exactly clear when it was taken, but we’re guessing that it was sometime in the 1950s. It looks like the girls are all writing for the camp yearbook, “The Carrier Pigeon” during an evening program in the upper Lakeview Lodge. It’s when all the girls in an age group take time to jot down a favorite memory (sometimes as a poem or drawing) from their time at camp that summer. We later compile them all and publish the “Carrier Pigeon” each year.

From the photo, you might think it’s a sleepover, since the girls are in their pajamas, but that’s just life at an all girls camp. Nice and relaxed.

Rockbrook Camp from the Air

Our friend Carroll Parker dug this photo out of his files and emailed it to us the other day. Carroll grew up around Rockbrook because his father helped Mr. Carrier build the camp back in 1921. This aerial view of the camp shows western North Carolina and all it offered back then— the thick forests, streams, the “ever-bearing raspberries,” the French Broad River horseback riding ring, tennis courts, chicken coop, horse barn, gardens, and an apple orchard.

It’s fascinating to see what western North Carolina and Rockbrook Camp looked like back 1920s and 30s. Stay tuned, we’ll be posting more archival photos soon.

Remembering Camp in the 1930s

Here’s something cool. Back in the early 1900s, the Albertype Company of Brooklyn, NY produced a number of postcards documenting scenes all around the country. Rockbrook Camp was apparently a favorite subject because we’ve found several cards from the 1930s highlighting scenes of camp. They are just excellent archival documents showing what camp was like in the early years.

Here we see a scene of the old horseback riding barn and paddling canoes on the French Broad River as it passes by camp.  Don’t you just love them?!

Traditional Camp Photo

Since Rockbrook is 87 years old (It was founded in 1921), you can imagine that its got loads of traditions… traditional activities, traditional songs, traditional ceremonies, and so much more. Well, it does! One the most meaningful ceremonies is pictured here in the photo: the final campfire of the session called the “spirit fire.” Since the very beginning of camp, it’s been a tradition held to close each camp session. The Spirit Fire represents “the spirit of Rockbrook” by bringing all the girls together and giving everyone a chance to think about their camp experience, the good friends they’ve made, and how much camp means to them. It’s really special and magical every time.

New Orleans Girls Summer Camp Party

McKain and Shelby

Lots of summer camp excitement down in New Orleans! Last week Sarah traveled down to visit with our New Orleans girls, show the new Rockbrook movie and slides from this past summer, and meet some new girls interested in finding out more about camp. Since these parties are both mini reunions and information sessions, they are great ways to recharge your Rockbrook Spirit and learn what makes RBC so special. Of course, they’re bound to be a little silly and guaranteed to be plenty of fun too!  Thanks again to Shelby and her family for hosting the party.  Everyone had a wonderful time.

P.S. Recognize that shirt Shelby’s wearing?

Old Summer Camp Map

We’ve been going through some of the old summer camp catalogs around here and we found this cool old map. It was mailed with the 1941 catalog and is really 14 inches square. Click on the map to see a bigger version, and you’ll be surprised to find song lyrics, buildings with long-forgotten names, the old water wheel (!), and even a little boater. Take a look!

Ready for Summer

It’s really starting to look like summer around camp! The leaves are fully out on the trees, the grass is really growing, and the mountain laurels are blooming (like in this photo of the Rockbrook lake taken from “canoers rock”). This part of North Carolina is just busting with amazing plants, trees and flowers. It’s almost like a jungle! The mountain laurel is just one of the more prominent examples.

Hey, have you seen the camp countdown (over on the sidebar)? There are less than 2 weeks to the first session of camp! Yea!

Camp Girls

Long-time Rockbrook counselor Beth Dobson sent us this great old photo of some Rockbrook Girls.

“I was going through some old family photos yesterday and found a picture of my grandmother at RBC. I edited the photo to point out which girl is actually my grandmother. Beth Davies Allee Gruen was born in 1921, so this picture was taken sometime in the 1930s and my great-great-aunt, Irving Murphy, was a counselor back then as well. Also, my grandmother grew-up in New Orleans, so there has always been some campers from NOLA!”

It looks like this picture was taken up on Vesper Rock overlooking the lake, and more than likely was a cabin group. Very cool to see it. Thanks Beth!

P.S. Beth will be at camp this summer too, continuing the tradition.