The Willowwacks

I came across the word “willowwacks” recently and immediately thought of Rockbrook. Pronounced “WILL-oh-wacks,” it’s a noun of uncertain origin meaning a wooded, uninhabited place, a remote and wild stretch of country. It’s separate from civilization, from human-made environments. A willowwacks is a place defined by the forces of nature, alive in fascinating ways.

I thought of Rockbrook because it is, deliberately, a willowwacks. When Nancy Carrier founded the camp more than 100 years ago, she knew its location was special. She wanted campers to fully experience these mountains of western North Carolina, to know them closely, personally. She thought it important for camp to be embedded in the forest, for the activities to grow out of it, for its many gifts to be a daily delight.

That’s why at Rockbrook, even these 100 years later, we all love the chill of the mountain water feeding our lake. That’s why we can hear pileated woodpeckers, spring peeper frogs, and rain chattering on the metal roof of our cabins. That’s the reason we’re surrounded by ancient trees, massive boulders and sparkling waterfalls. At camp we’re greeted by fog in the morning and glowing sunsets at twilight, by twisting roots and vines, pads of moss and clusters of ferns. Every breath fills us with a freshness you can sense immediately. Being this close to nature, face to face with a rich sample of its power and beauty, is at the core of our camp experience.

Of course, camp also includes modern conveniences and comfortable facilities we can name (for example, really nice bathrooms), but our aim over the years has been to keep the wild world close, unmanicured, and alive. We’re careful not to straighten every curve and remove every stone in the path. We prune the rhododendron bushes gently, and respect the many forest creatures we live among.

girl living in the forest

Living for a time in the willowwacks is important because it both takes away and gives back.

When a girl arrives at Rockbrook, one of the first things that happens is a kind of subtraction from her ordinary world. Here she finds a haven. No ambient hum of air conditioning, no social media feed hijacking her attention, no social pressures demanding a performance. At home we’re protected from nature, even completely removed from it most of the time in the name of convenience. At camp, we’re immersed in it. A manicured park might offer beauty, and Disneyland might promise wonder, but neither delivers the real thing. This is what we mean when we say camp provides a break. The willowwacks strips away the hectic pace of modern life, the algorithms curating our sense of reality, and the abstractions that stand between us and the richness of the world.

camp girls playing in a creek

Just as quickly, the willowwacks fills this space with direct experience, unmediated, embodied encounters. It gives back. It continually inspires with breathtaking beauty, layer upon layer of fascinating detail, ancient things, living things. A quick glance in any direction at camp is sure to surprise you with something cool— an orange newt dashing through the leaf litter, a spider building a web, the morning dew on the hill, the rolling of thunder off in the distance, the warm sunshine on your face. The willowwacks brings you closer, connecting you to the real world around you, and to the people likewise enjoying its gifts. Living like this expands your awareness, proving that the world we know is merely a sample of what’s out there. We need merely pay more attention to discover it more fully.

Many children today grow up in spaces that have been carefully developed and maintained, built with pre-defined outcomes. There is nothing wrong with those spaces, but they do diminish access to the willowwacks and its gifts.

Camp thankfully preserves that access. It seems to me, we humans need the willowwacks, and perhaps always have. We need to spend time somewhere that’s immediate and real, not manufactured, somewhere that is simply there, alive, rich and mysterious.

Mostly I just feel grateful. Grateful that this place exists, that girls get to wander through it, and that something as old and unhurried as a forest can still stop them in their tracks with an “oh wow!” How lucky is that.

rockbrook forest camp

Learning to Lean In

We were chatting the other day in the red rockers on the dining hall porch, a CIT and I, about how camp opens up a space for girls to try new things, and not only to try them, but to lean in to things that otherwise seem a little scary. New encounters and experiences that might feel uncomfortable, beyond what they think they can do, or even just plain “awkward.” Between us we could think of countless examples: girls who, despite being wary of something new, despite worrying they might not be “good” at it, despite all the uncertainty, find themselves meeting a challenge and surprising themselves in the process.

camp girls weaving

We decided that camp girls know how to lean in. Or better, that camp life teaches girls they can lean in. And better still, that being at camp proves something to all of us— that leaning in to an experience, rather than shrinking away from it, is rewarding, enriching, and fun. In fact, we thought, maybe having fun requires us to lean in. If fun means fully embracing the moment, immersing yourself in the game, the conversation, the feeling of it all, then guarding yourself against it is clearly un-fun. That’s why a sure way to ruin an experience is to stand outside it, distracted by thoughts of what might happen, or what “people might think,” or even what it all might “mean.”

Instead, at camp we sing as loud as we can no matter how it sounds. We put on silly costumes and dance wildly. We paint and weave even though we’re certain we’re not artistic. We climb onto a horse having never touched one before. We flip our kayaks upside down and learn to “wet exit” without panicking. We meet all sorts of new people, try strange new foods (Gumbo!), and take care of a hundred small things without our parents there to smooth out the bumps in the road.

camp girl climbing tower

Eventually we landed on a neat little phrase: “If you’re not leaning in, you’re not doing anything.” Hold back, and you’re certainly not getting all you can from an experience— you’re watering it down, skimming the surface, settling for a weak sample of something that could be wonderfully more full. To truly get it, to feel its impact, you have to go beyond what you already know. You have to venture out, to lean in to whatever lies past the edge of your “comfort zone.” And once you drop that “boulder from your shoulder,” you just might find— as Bruce reminded us long ago— that “that’s where the fun is.”

I should add that leaning in is not the same as jumping in. Jumping in throws all caution to the wind; leaning in understands potential risks and takes them into account. It isn’t reckless; it’s prepared and measured. That’s exactly why our adventure activities, like climbing the Alpine tower, depend for their thrill (and their fun) on specialized safety equipment and careful training. To climb without a solid belay would be terrifying, not fun. We should always consider risks and manage them as best we can. But since we can never fully erase the chance that something will feel awkward, or end in embarrassment or even failure, learning to lean in despite the uncertainty turns out to be essential to doing much of anything at all.

silly camp rafting kids

Fortunately, no camp girl has to find that courage by herself. Rockbrook is built to help everyone lean in— to notice the camper who’s shrinking back from something new, and to stand beside her until she’s ready to try. So much here is unfamiliar, and that’s just the point: a place where nearly everything is new is a place where leaning in becomes the ordinary thing to do. What makes that possible is the culture of kindness and non-judgment underneath it all, the quiet assurance that nobody is keeping score of who looked silly at dinner, struggled climbing the Alpine tower, or sang off-key at the campfire. Cheered on like that, a girl tends to discover she is stronger than she thinks, more capable than she knows, and braver every day. In ways large and small, Rockbrook en-courages courage.

One more thing I’ve been meaning to pass along: back in March, Rockbrook was selected by Cliffs Living Magazine as a featured camp in their article “Camp Summer.” The piece celebrates how, for more than a hundred years, the camps in this corner of North Carolina have prized “exploration, independence, and time outdoors.” It’s true— there really is a “formative power of place” that summer camps enjoy, and Rockbrook is a wonderful example of it.

bold rafting girls

More than one Jersey

There’s a particular pleasure in a Sunday morning at Rockbrook, and it begins with the wake-up bell ringing a little later than usual. After a week this full of action— all the swimming, tennis, horseback riding, climbing and so forth— a slow start feels great. The girls drifted into breakfast still wearing their pajamas, another long Rockbrook tradition, and a nice nod to taking things easy once in a while. For breakfast, we added fresh Krispy Kreme donuts, also a regular Sunday morning treat at camp. PJs and donuts, a double treat. Afterwards, back at the cabins, everyone changed into their red and white uniforms for two more Sunday morning Rockbrook traditions, flag raising and Chapel.

summer camp flag raising ceremony

Our Hi-Up campers, the seasoned tenth graders, serve as the color guard, and they led us in a flag raising ceremony, as the whole camp gathered in a wide circle around them. They raised the American flag and our own Rockbrook flag. We recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang “In the Heart of a Wooded Mountain” together in the bright morning sun, all of us in red and white against the green grass. Then, quietly, in a single line, we made our way down into the woods to the amphitheater for Chapel.

Chapel on Being Yourself

“Chapel” at Rockbrook isn’t a religious service. It’s a weekly gathering where we slow down and reflect together on a shared idea or value. Over the years it’s grown into an acronym we’re fond of— a Celebration of Happiness, Adventure, Peace, Earth, and Love.

girls hiding under crazy creek in the rain

This week the theme was “Be Yourself.” The focal point was Sarah reading aloud from Daniel Pinkwater’s 1977 classic, The Big Orange Splot. It’s the story of a man whose plain house, identical to every other house on the street, gets splashed one day by a runaway can of orange paint, and who then decides, rather than cover it up, to paint it with even more colors, bringing his dreams to life. Initially, his neat-loving neighbors disapprove of his individuality, but one by one they paint their houses too, until the whole street is fantastically different. The girls seemed to really understand how being yourself, despite your differences, can take some courage, but leads to greater happiness. It turns out camp is a wonderful place to see that in action. An odd burst of rain forced us to relocate to the Lakeview Lodge, but that made songs like “Free to Be You and Me” and a few others sound even better.

Two Kinds of Jersey

After rest hour, it was time for an all-camp event: Jersey Day. The girls knew to pack a jersey, and the Landsports field filled up with bright team colors and numbers— a friendly festival of basketball, soccer, and football players in jerseys, foam fingers waving, temporary tattoos and face painting.

Of course we had music bumping, and a few decorations like a yellow giraffe sprinkler, helping the whole thing take on the loud, happy, slightly chaotic energy of a real game day. There was a sub-relay where you stepped through hoops and zigzagged the cones, a station for churning “Jersey-cow butter,” a giant Connect 4 game, a massive nine square in the air game, disc golf, a water balloon toss, and a whole row of inflatable targets for tossing a football or frisbee, kicking a soccer ball, or sinking a basket. Plenty of nachos to keep everyone going. The baseball toss turned out to be the afternoon’s great humbling— ball after ball sailed wide of the hole, and by the end only three girls, Scotty, Dylan, and Effie, could claim they’d actually made one. The rest of us just cheered louder.

And then there were our meals today, a showcase of Rick’s idea of “Jersey Day”. While the girls thought “team jerseys,” Rick thought New Jersey, and he turned the whole menu into a love letter to the Garden State. Lunch was the famous “fat sandwich” born at Rutgers— chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, and french fries all tucked into one sub roll with honey mustard— alongside giant bowls of blueberries. Dinner took us to the Jersey shore: a fried fish sandwich with homemade tartar sauce, coleslaw, and hush puppies. And for dessert, of course, saltwater taffy, which New Jersey gave the world. Another Jersey to celebrate.

We capped this busy day with a showing of Zootopia 2 in the gym, a recent animated film that, among other things, shows how differences can be worked through with a little communication and empathy. With sleeping bags and crazy creek chairs spread across the floor, the girls settled in to sing and clap along to its songs, happily ready to relax from the day.

A day of jerseys— and proof again that being a little different can be part of what brings us together, and makes the day more fun.

Aimed Outward

One of the quietest campers caught my attention last night. She’s a girl who tends to hang back a bit, who thinks about things before jumping right in. And yet there she was at our twilight event, a can of shaving cream in her fist, zooming across the landsports field and cackling as she fired her foam. A little later I saw her grinning as she sculpted a mohawk into her friend’s hair. Something about the whole ridiculous scene had swept her up completely. This was more than ordinary fun. This was exuberant fun, contagious, high-voltage joy spilling out everywhere.

kids at shaving cream fight

If you’ve never seen one, the setup for a shaving cream fight is super simple. We ring the bell, the girls come pouring down to the landsports field in their swimsuits, and we hand out about a hundred and fifty cans of plain white foam. The music starts pumping. And then, with no instruction whatsoever, everyone knows exactly what to do. Spray it, smear it, plop a full handful right on top of someone’s head. Chase and be chased. Within five minutes there’s foam in everyone’s hair, on every back and shoulder, and the whole field is one big tangle of slippery, shrieking, laughing girls. It is loud, it is messy, and it is about as happy as a group of children can possibly be.

What makes a shaving cream fight so wonderful, though, is that it’s exuberance aimed outward. It’s not so much about covering yourself as it is about covering someone else. You sneak up behind a friend with a fat handful of foam, plant it squarely on her back, and tear off grinning, already bracing for the same in return. You spray, and get sprayed, and both halves are a delight. This is why a shaving cream fight requires other people. It requires pursuit and ambush, shrieks and retaliation, mischief mixed with generosity.

And when the whole group throws itself in at once, something special happens. The exuberance multiplies. Each girl’s silliness gives the next one a little more nerve, and the energy loops around the field, pulling in even the campers who arrived unsure. Nobody is keeping score, nobody is performing, nobody is left out. They are simply, completely, joyfully together. As a parent, this is exactly the kind of fun you hope your child gets to have— unguarded, generous, and shared with good friends.

It’s amazing what these girls can do together— even the quietest ones. All it took was one foamy evening at Rockbrook.

girls shaving cream

First Session Video Snapshot

The summer is off and running, and we have our first highlights video to show you. Once again, we’re so glad to have Robbie Francis of FrancisFilmworks here with us— his eye seeming to find exactly the right moment, every time. Robbie has been a part of our summers since 2015, and by now he understands Rockbrook far beyond just knowing where to point his lens.

His videos are always special. Rockbrook is not easy to describe— there’s simply too much happening in too many corners of camp at once —but Robbie has a gift for distilling it into something you can actually feel. A glimpse of girls giggling, playing, and smiling. Sweet moments that make up our days.

We hope it brings you a little closer to what your daughter is living right now. Enjoy.

The Real Me

It happens predictably, and I’ve already seen it these first few days of camp. A camper or staff member arrives at Rockbrook not knowing anyone, and in a very short time, finds themselves making friends. What’s remarkable is how fast it happens. Ordinarily making a true friend is slow work, something that takes many weeks of testing the waters of a relationship, but at camp it often takes just a day. Especially for older campers and staff members, this is a pleasant surprise. There’s something special about camp that makes this possible and expected. I’ve seen some version of this “fast friends at camp” phenomenon so many times at Rockbrook, it’s worth wondering why.

After all, the wider world seems to be moving in the other direction entirely. Certainly, we’re more “connected,” digitally, to more people than ever before: hundreds, even thousands, of contacts saved in our phones. Multiple “social” media accounts feed us an unending stream of “updates” on the lives of the people and advertising corporations we might “follow.” Any time of day, a scroll of faces awaits. Yet in the middle of all this so-called connection, a great many of us feel more alone than ever. There’s lots of chatter, but how much real conversation are we having? And I think our children aren’t immune. Their days, too, are fast-paced, screen-lit, and only superficially textured by the real world. Camp runs against this current, and that’s why it feels so different here.

So why is making real friends easier at camp? I believe there’s a simple reason. True friendship requires authenticity. We are most able to make friends when we are most fully ourselves.

camp sliding rock pose

That sounds almost too tidy until you watch it happen, until you see a shy 12-year-old who arrived behind a careful shell decide that she doesn’t need that protection here. The culture of Rockbrook is what makes that decision easy. Experiencing genuine kindness, along with the smiles and caring that accompany it, lays the groundwork. No phones here means no audience to perform for. The regular dose of silliness, the shared experiences in the real world, the spirit of curiosity and adventure for trying new things, fuel the courage. In a place stripped of social judgment, girls can drop the assumptions they’ve been carrying about who they’re supposed to be and find the freedom to be, as the girls themselves put it, “the real me.” What they find, to their genuine surprise, is that the people around them still care about them, quirks and all. We’re all quirky in some way or another, and camp is one of the few places that treats this as good news.

That, I think, is why camp friendships are so strong. They form between people who have stopped performing. With no posing, no nervous angling, no strategy about which version of yourself to reveal, the real you can actually be known. And, because you aren’t busy managing your own image, it’s actually easier to take a real interest in someone else. Moving past constructed personas is the trick. What we find is a sturdier thing, a mutual affection that comes from genuinely understanding each other. It forms fast because there’s nothing in the way. It lasts because it was real from the start.

One lesson in all of this is that the trait of “being friendly” is not really about having a “sunny disposition,” or being attractive in some way. It’s not about charm; it’s about nerve. It’s being willing to let yourself be seen without the armor, and the kindness to make room for someone else doing the same. It’s two acts of courage meeting in the middle.

It can take a lifetime to figure this out. Fortunately, for the campers at Rockbrook, we practice this every day. Through countless real-world conversations and interactions, we discover how the “real me” matters, how everything is better in the company of genuine people, and the world is rich with possibility when we truly engage. Beyond all the action—the hiking, swimming, dining hall songs—camp is about the people, which is to say it’s about the friends.

New and Wonderful

We might call it a “regular” day around here, but for the girls who just arrived, today’s first full day of Rockbrook activities was anything but ordinary. Today was the first day to jump feet first into camp life and all that it offers. And compared with life at home, this meant jumping into all sorts of new experiences.

New places to wake up— in a rustic wooden cabin, cooled by mountain air, and filled with the sounds of forest birds and drowsy cabinmates stirring. New things to eat— the warm bowl of secret-recipe oatmeal with fresh berries, nuts, granola and brown sugar for breakfast, and the surprise mid-morning snack, a freshly baked cookies and cream muffin. New creatures to find on your walk down to the lake, like the tiny ring-neck snake dashing off to hide under some leaves. New smells— the earthy leather saddles on horses, the smoky campfire ready for marshmallows, and fresh mint growing in the garden. And so many points of natural beauty all around us— the bright granite face of Castle Rock high above camp, the sparkling creek tumbling behind the weaving cabin, the massive trees, delicate ferns, and blooming wildflowers popping up, just to name a few. Camp life is new and wonderful.

It’s also packed with action, with nearly 30 different activity options. After making their selections, every corner of camp seemed to hum with the energy of girls flipping in gymnastics, climbing the alpine tower, and zipping through the trees on the zipline. They were smacking tennis balls, bouncing basketballs, and swinging tetherballs. They were swimming and paddling kayaks in the lake. They were weaving on looms and stringing colorful beads onto necklaces. They were shooting arrows and aiming rifles. They were painting, gluing, and collaging paper, exploring what they might make with simple materials. They were hugging horses and chickens, jumping off the diving board and gliding down the waterslide during the free swim period. At other times, they were simply relaxing and soaking it all in.

young kid archery bullseye

Most remarkable, and wonderful, is all the laughter of the day. Being surrounded by all these new experiences and activities, and being joined by so many easy friends, we can’t help but laugh and smile. We’re chatting all the time, telling stories, and whooping at every success (nice cartwheel!). We’re enthusiastic about wearing a costume whether it’s diamonds or denim. When kindness sets the tone— and it does at Rockbrook —it’s easy to be silly and find yourself having fun in the moment, laughing and singing, clapping along to whatever the group is doing. Meals in the dining hall are a daily example of this with hilarious cheers, dance numbers, and songs with hand motions. Yes, we’re eating, but it’s also a party, three times a day.

By the end of the day, camp life is already feeling good, less new and more familiar. The girls seem to understand better that this place is different. It’s beautiful and relaxing, thrilling and silly, playful and friendly, here for them to explore.

It’s very different from home. But that’s entirely the point.

The Story of Summer Camps in WNC

Western North Carolina has always been a place of beauty, with its small-town communities, pleasant climate, and rolling Blue Ridge Mountains. By the 1920s, this area had become a genuine center of the youth camping movement, quickly becoming home to the largest concentration of summer camps in the southeastern United States. With so many camps, there’s an interesting story to be told, and now a new digital exhibit tells us that story, and a great deal more.

Embers of Youth Exhibit

The Cashiers Historical Society has just published a wonderful, carefully curated online exhibit called “Campfires & the Embers of Youth.” It sets out to explain how summer camps in western North Carolina shaped young people in America, educational trends, and regional NC culture for more than a hundred years.

Gathering an incredible collection of documents, photographs, audio and video clips, and artifacts, it paints a detailed picture of why the mountains here became central to the growing summer camp movement in America. The exhibit traces the origin of organized youth camping to 19th-century social changes: urbanization, evolving ideas about childhood and development, a growing distrust of formal schooling, the rise of child psychology, and generally as a response to the anxieties of modern life.

Where Rockbrook Fits In

The exhibit moves from origins through evolutions, culture, and daily life. It’s very informative and fun to see how Rockbrook appears throughout all of it. For example, Rockbrook’s archive of original song recordings is one of the exhibit’s richest resources. On the Camp Culture and Camp Life pages, you’ll hear “Way Down in Brevard,” the “Rockbrook Pep Song,” “Hiking Song,” “Canoeing Song,” “Are You a Camel,” and others. There is also a 1960 camper’s quote about the Spirit Fire, photographs from the 1930s and 1950s, and a 1920s camping magazine describing horseback rides through Toxaway and Sapphire.

Nancy B. C. Carrier
Rockbrook Camp founder Nancy Carrier

Rockbrook’s founder, Nancy Carrier, is featured. In the women’s movement section, a photograph shows her proudly gathered with a sign reading “Votes for Women,” and another from the 1930 edition of Camps and Camping Magazine shows her listed as Vice President of the national Camp Directors Association. In the WWII section, the exhibit notes that Nancy closed Rockbrook during the war to support the war effort, and opened her home to a Brevard community group sewing bandages for troops.

The exhibit is honest about camping’s complexities, too. It acknowledges that early camps mainly served middle- and upper-class white Protestant boys, and traces the long, uneven expansion toward girls, immigrants, religious and ethnic minorities. It describes camps as insular “small worlds” with their own rules and traditions, with both positive and challenging consequences.

The exhibit received a 2025 GDUSA American In-house Design Award, and the care in its production shows. The American Association of State and Local History (AASLH) has also recognized the exhibit with a Leadership in History Award of Excellence. The overall exhibit is organized around five main sections: Camp Origins, Camp Evolutions, Camp Culture, Camp Life, and a Museum Gallery. It’s beautifully rich, and you can spend a few minutes or easily an hour following threads or just listening to the songs.

I hope you’ll take some time and visit “Campfires & the Embers of Youth.” What you’ll find is the broader history of Rockbrook, and how it and other camps in western NC have made a difference in so many lives.

Summer camps in the NC mountains

The Spirit Deepens

relaxed friends at summer camp

It can take some time after camp ends to reflect on the experience. Camp life is so completely absorbing, it helps to have a little distance from it to really understand what it meant. Back home, we can see our time at camp differently, perhaps see more clearly how it was special, how it was more than just fun.

My first thought is to be incredibly thankful for the summer, for the joy of being together at Rockbrook. It’s hard to imagine a more incredible community of friendly caring people, all contributing to the lovely spirit that defines Rockbrook. From the cabin counselors and activity instructors to the kitchen, nursing, and maintenance staff, I’m so grateful for everyone’s kind attention to making camp this summer great. I also want to celebrate our amazing campers, the bright enthusiastic kiddos that enliven everything we do. Every day, I was impressed by their love of camp, their full embrace of the many adventures to be found here. We always say it; it’s the people that make Rockbrook. Thank you everyone!

Carrying Camp Into Ordinary Life

Next, I’d say it was remarkable how both the campers and counselors grew personally from their Rockbrook experience this summer. Camp provides exactly the kind of refuge (It’s a haven!) young people need to relax and be themselves, explore new experiences, and develop all kinds of real-world skills. We watched shy campers find their voices during evening programs, saw new friendships form through simple face-to-face conversations, and newfound confidence and independence blossom beautifully. Along with all the laughter, alongside all the muffins, and dressed in the silliest costumes, girls discovered their own resilience, creativity, and capacity for kindness. Camp life simply fosters our best selves each and every day.

Now back at home, as the rhythms of regular life return, my hope is that our best selves can still shine. Let’s be the sort of friend we were at camp— caring and curious. Let’s look past what’s obvious and find the magic in even the simplest things. Let’s remember that who we are is strengthened through our relationships with others. We all know that being at camp feels really good, and we can certainly look forward to returning next summer. But in the meantime, our camp experience can inspire and guide us to connect and enjoy life more.

Thank you again to everyone who made this summer such an unforgettable success. Every summer the Spirit of Rockbrook deepens. Thank you for being a part of that.

summer camp candle ceremony