Weaving camp baskets is a traditional arts and crafts activity just about everyone enjoys at Rockbrook. Over near the fiber arts cabin we call “Curosty,” there’s a nice stream flowing by, and it’s there that girls often work on their baskets. It’s a really nice spot to sit and soak your feet on a summer afternoon, but also, the water is important for the basket weaving. To bend and weave the wicker (cane, reed, or grass) fibers, it helps to soak them in water for a while. This softens the fibers making them more flexible for weaving.
Basketry is a truly ancient art. Native people around the world have been making baskets for as long as anyone can remember. Near us at camp, the Cherokee split oak baskets come to mind as a good example. Our camp baskets may not be as elaborate as these, but the girls at Rockbrook are continuing this long tradition of basket making in the mountains of North Carolina.
Tally Singer, long-time Rockbrook girl and assistant director this past summer, lives and works in LA during the off-season. She’s worked on movies like The DaVinci Code, and other Ron Howard productions. Recently, she saw Daniel Radcliffe and friends. Here’s the poster they signed for all us girls at Rockbrook!
Aofnd memory of the horse show held at the end of a camp session in 1930. Yes, from the very beginning, horseback riding has been a core activity for the girls at Rockbrook.
The Horse Show
“At last, all the polishing and shining was over. There was not a boot left in camp that did not shine to the highest degree in preparation for the horse show. Every girl who had been down to the riding field at any time during the summer was to be in the show. The first to ride were those in the advanced horsemanship class for Seniors. Each rider was asked to walk, trot, and canter. Finally, everyone came to the center of the field and awaited the judges’ decision. After that long deliberation which makes the audience want to wring the neck of each judge, the blue ribbon was awarded to Louise Lykes. Next was the music ride. The participants were divided in pairs, and as the music was played, each couple came to the center and formed the figures of a square dance. When this was completed, Dr. Wheeler announced the musical stalls. This was done just as one plays musical chairs, except when the music stopped each person rushed for a stall. The horses seemed to enjoy it as much as the riders, and soon needed very little urging. The last person to stay in was Barbara Leovy and she received the prize. There was also tandem riding, in which each girl rode one horse and drove another in front of her. After that, Bet Martin jumped sidesaddle. As a climax to the show, Elizabeth Klinesmith, who received the blue ribbon in Junior, and Louise Lykes were each given a large horseshoe of flowers. They then rode from the field with it about the horse’s neck.”
What makes the best girls summer camp? It’s funny, but you see that claim now and then. “We’re the best girls camp ever!” or “Welcome to the best girls camp in North Carolina.” Most of this can be considered akin to team spirit, the folks from a camp expressing how much they love their particular camp, how proud they are of it, and how they know their camp really is excellent.
Of course, in reality, you can’t say objectively which girls camp is the best. Here in western North Carolina, there are so many great girls camps, each with dedicated and experienced directors, outstanding counselors, beautiful facilities and diverse fun activities. These camps also have very strong supporters, families who have found the camp perfect for their children. You will certainly find happy enthusiastic campers at all of these camps.
So is there really a best girls camp? Only to the extent that a camp is right for you. The subtle differences between camps, their particular strengths or emphases, will probably make you feel more at home at one girls camp or another. To put it differently, there are of course differences between camps but they do not distinguish which camp is “best.” That is something that follows from how much you love your camp, and that’s what makes it best.
So yes, for many reasons, generations of girls believe Rockbrook is the best girls summer camp. They believe it because they’ve experienced it and love it as their own.
At the end of each camp session, select counselors and campers speak about their camp experience. Here’s what Kara Morris, a 2009 first-time counselor of the Junior line and archery instructor, said about her summer at Rockbrook:
Hello, I’m Kara Morris and this is my first year at Rockbrook. Being from the west where sleepaway camps are uncommon, I expected Rockbrook to be your typical Parent Trap style camp, where you pierce your ears, cut your hair, learn complex handshakes, and of course, find your long-lost twin.
What I did not expect was this remarkable program enabling girls to constantly try new things, have endless amounts of fun, create life-long friendships, to grow, mature and learn life’s lessons with each passing day. I had no idea how intricate Rockbrook is, and how much work and effort goes into each and every single day. What’s remarkable is the resulting experience people receive by coming as a camper or a camp counselor.
What experience is that? It’s all of the chances we’ve had to enjoy ourselves, have our patience tested, a cold shower because you can’t get to Brad fast enough, it’s trial and error, attempting to catch-and-release a ginormous black widow instead of just killing him to be considered a “Bug Rescuer.” The personal thoughts you’ve collected while hiking miles or swimming that 440. Teaching someone how to make a cool design for a friendship bracelet. It’s the friendships you’ve made. It’s the laughs, the tears, the knowledge that you and a group of girls just got through a difficult situation, The battle scars from falling down the senior steps or the hill…Writing a handwritten letter. Watching the rain fall, listening to the thunder. Hauling trunk after trunk up the hill. Spending time in nature away from electronics and cares of the world. Finishing a great book. Encouraging another person. It’s Rockbrook camp. Young or Old, whether you know it or not, each of you have gained experience here over the past few weeks. You come as one person and leave a better person because of it.
I want S’more!
My experience at Rockbrook has not only been these thing, but more. Camp has taught me to be a better person, more patient with others and myself; it has helped me be more forgiving and less judgmental. It has enabled me to contemplate who I am and why I do the things I do. It has drawn me closer to my beliefs. It has been a growth-promoting experience…
To my fabulous juniors, I love you girls. No matter where you are, every time I eat pudding I will think of your bright smiling faces. And I will hear little voices in my mind saying, “What about my pudding??” Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn from you. As the Broadway Musical “Wicked” states, “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”
Are you ready for summer camp Charlotte girls? Judging from everyone’s enthusiasm at last weekend’s camp party at the Beltz’s home in Charlotte, the answer is “Yes!” With the new Rockbrook Camp movie and slideshow from last summer’s sessions all set to go, Sarah and Mandy met so many of our Charlotte NC campers and a bunch of their friends interested in learning more about RBC.
For returning campers and parents, it’s always fun at these parties to see the new camp movie, spot yourself and your friends in the photos, and just to recharge your Rockbrook spirit.
And for new campers, meeting all the people, talking with the families, having the camp directors answer your questions, these parties really are one of the best ways to see why so many girls love Rockbrook.
It’s wonderful to see that Rockbrook is the girls summer camp Charlotte families are buzzing about.
For many of the girls at Rockbrook, especially the older “seniors” (teens thirteen to fifteen years old), rock climbing is one of their favorite adventure activities. For these girls, RBC can be a girls rock camp. That’s because there are so many opportunities to climb. Not even counting the climbing wall in the gym (which has 6 different very cool routes on it: four face routes, a sweet corner for stemming, and a hand crack route) and the Alpine Tower (which easily has more than 100 different rock climbing challenges), the girls have plenty of rock right on the camp property.
Castle Rock is the huge granite rock towering above camp where girls have six different rock climbing routes to work on. It’s so nice to just hike up the hill behind the dining hall to our very own private rock climbing spot (no driving!). And the rock is excellent! There are nice deep hand cracks, a finger crack, delicate face routes with some serious exposure, and of course plenty of chances to work on your friction climbing. The rock provides a variety of climbing challenges that beginners and more experienced girls will find just right.
With all of this climbing right at Rockbrook, and then with the great rock nearby in the Pisgah National Forest, camp has the kind of adventure where girls can really rock!
Spotted this bumper sticker the other day in Asheville, NC. Isn’t it awesome!? It’s put out by the Buncombe county partnership of the Smart Start Program, an “early childhood initiative designed to ensure that young children enter school healthy and ready to succeed.” The sticker shows that, like we have claimed many times before, playing outside is really good for kids. Here are some of the benefits Buncombe County recognizes.
Kids are better able to play with other kids and work problems out with them.
Kids benefit from physical activity by experiencing healthier weights.
Kids have fewer problems with hyperactivity and are better able to pay attention.
Kids experience less stress than other kids their age.
Kids score higher on standardized tests.
It’s not too hard to see how “children will be smarter, better able to get along with others, healthier and happier when they have regular opportunities for free and unstructured play in the out of doors?” And it’s a simple step to realize how important summer vacation from school, and summer camps like Rockbrook, are for kids. All children really benefit from time outside, away from school, and certainly at camp.
Several attendees at our Alumnae Reunion this summer requested to go on a hike with the legendary counselor, Phyllis S. She worked at camp from ’59 to ’67.
Campers (that could keep up with her) still remember her spunkiness, funny stories – including one about the “rattlecat” – and her zest for the woods.
She’s an example of how much of an impact counselors can have on their campers. Counselors get to be that person who show campers new worlds and horizons – and if you’re lucky, the campers just might remember your name!
Today, Phyllis is a retired English professor. She loves William Wordsworth’s work, her cat and exploring every peak to be had.
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p.s. The title of this blog comes from the song sung when it’s a counselor’s birthday:
“Old counselors never die, never die, Old counselors never die, they just look that way!”
