Author Archives: rbc

Just ask any of the Senior campers at Rockbrook to tell you about the first camp banquet they attended, and you’ll hear about an incredible, all-out, all-camp celebration that takes place at the end of each session. You’ll also learn that banquets are always a surprise, with a unique theme chosen by our CA (9th grade) campers. These girls take on the challenge of designing, planning, and executing every detail of the party with its elaborate decorations, themed treats, performers in costume (our CA girls and their counselors), skits, music, and dancing. Their secret theme brings all of this together into an unforgettable event. I bet every camper can tell you the theme of every RBC banquet they’ve ever attended.

Banquets are memorable for several reasons. First, the element of surprise combines with the awe that washes over the girls as they step into the dining hall and witness its complete transformation. Virtually every inch of the room is decorated to fit the theme: painted posters cover the walls, tablecloths and decorations fill the tables, and lights, streamers, and other props hang from the ceiling. With characters in full costume dancing around, the music and decorations combine to create an entirely new world. For the younger campers, this first glimpse can be nothing short of mind-blowing. And then, as the CAs perform skits and choreographed dances, the excitement builds into a lively, high-energy dance party for everyone.

Last night’s banquet, for our 2024 third session, was called “Rockbrook in Orbit,” and brought us into outer space. The theme included planets, sparkly stars, familiar constellations, colorful comets, glowing moons floating above, and all sorts of aliens and a few astronauts. Ms. Frizzle appeared too! With twinkling lights strung above and the tables decorated with space tablecloths, souvenir cups, temporary tattoos, and fun stickers for everyone, plus candy treats, the party was set.

For the menu, the CAs served fruit kabobs as an appetizer and then cheese pizzas as the main course. But the main event was the “dance battle” between the CAs dressed as aliens and the astronauts. First, there was a battle, but then another dance when they made peace. The counselors, dressed as astronauts strapped to rockets blasting off, performed their own dance number too. The famous dessert “Rockbrookies” rounded out the meal.

For the campers, who came dressed in this year’s RBC t-shirt, the banquet was an exciting mix of party treats, popular foods, the CAs’ performances, and a massive dance party. With great upbeat music pumping throughout, the girls would dance with their friends, eat a little something, dance some more, pause to enjoy the next performance, and then repeat. You can imagine the fun of this. Sure it’s a little hot and sweaty, but together with your camp friends, there’s nothing quite like it.

The final part of the banquet is a tradition where the CAs, and afterwards the Hi-Ups, sing a song to their counselors thanking them and expressing their connection with each other. The counselors likewise sing a song back to the campers. It’s a sweet moment of reminiscing about the session and a beautiful expression of just how close these campers and counselors have become. Now, in front of everyone, they’re crying and laughing at the same time, hugging and leaning on each other. The whole camp then comes together to sing “Rockbrook Camp Forever,” a song that’s been sung at every RBC banquet for as long as we can remember. It’s a perfect way to end the celebration and express our appreciation of camp and each other. As the song aptly reminds us, “Friends, true and faithful” …that sums it up nicely.

A little change of pace feels good on a Sunday morning. With this much action, all this chatting, singing, and playing throughout or regular days, sleeping in for a little extra rest is great. Our day today began with a later wakeup bell and the girls drifting into breakfast, still in their pajamas if they wished. For an extra breakfast treat added to our sausage, eggs and bagels, the girls found freshly delivered Krispy Kreme donuts on their tables. Back at their cabins afterwards, the campers changed into their red and white uniforms, ready for the flag-raising ceremony and Chapel gathering.

The Hi-Up campers, our seasoned 10th graders, serve as the color guard for the flag raising. With the whole camp circling the flagpole on the hill, they raised both the American flag and a special Rockbrook flag commemorating the camp’s Centennial in 2021. We sang “The Streams and the Mountains,” which is a sweet traditional Rockbrook song, and then made our way to a special amphitheater in the woods for our Chapel program.

At Rockbrook, what we fondly call “Chapel” isn’t a religious ceremony but a communal gathering where we pause and reflect on some of our core values. Each chapel revolves around a theme, featuring songs, poems, and often a story read by Sarah. It’s a time for everyone, regardless of their family’s religious/secular background, to feel comfortable and connected. The campers themselves select the readings and songs, and Sarah invites them to share what the theme means to them. Past themes have included community, generosity, friendship, and Nature. Recently, “Chapel” has become an acronym: Celebration of Happiness, Adventure, Peace, Earth, and Love.

Today’s theme was “Connection.” A few campers shared their thoughts on what “Connection” means to them during their time at camp— “We’re all connected,” “I feel so connected to nature here at camp.” “Connection is friendship,” for example. Sarah read the children’s book, My Thoughts Have Wings by Maggie Smith. She talked about building a “nest of connections” that can hold our thoughts safely. The girls seemed to nod in agreement when said that camp helps us build that nest.

The afternoon was devoted to an all-camp activity down on the grassy Carrier House lawn— a lively Renaissance fair! The event buzzed with excitement, offering a variety of activities that allowed campers to bop from one to the next as they pleased. They could do something active, something creative, have a little snack, dance and frolic with each other. Like Barbie day, the girls knew before camp to bring costumes, so there were some great ones. Lots of maidens, a few jesters and knights, a elf or two, and even a dragon were seen.

Campers could weave intricate flower crowns, try their hand at juggling, ribbon dancing, and hula hooping. We played games like a burlap sack race (“The Burlap Bounce”), cornhole (“The King’s Kernels”), and a hidden table shuffle game with goblets (“Bamboozled”). Campers worked on calligraphy and painting portraits of each other. For another game, they scoured a mysterious path searching for golden doubloons, which they could trade in for prizes. Elsewhere, an intriguing gypsy was telling fortunes, and the “Wench’s Tavern” served kettle corn. Throughout the event, we played Medieval-infused musical remakes of popular tunes to keep things lively.

Be sure to visit the photo gallery to see more of our fun Ren Fair afternoon.

It’s common for Alumnae of Rockbrook to return to camp. They’ll tell you fondly about their childhood experience being a camper here, and how they feel drawn to relive bits of it by coming for a visit. They might be dropping off their own daughters as campers, or working as a “camp mom” one session, or just stopping by while traveling in the area. We love having alumnae back at camp!

One Rockbrook alum who returned to camp this week is Lauren Bonner. She was a camper for 10 years starting when she was in 1st grade, following her mother, who was also a camper in 1980s. She was also a CIT one summer. Lauren now attends the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, where she is a senior majoring in Painting. She is also an award-winning independent artist. She focuses on realism in her work with pop art being a favorite subject. You can learn more about Lauren at her website, and she has a fascinating Instagram page. Watch some of her Reels to see her painting in action.

Why was Lauren back at Rockbrook? She was here for a few days for a landscape painting demonstration and to teach a painting workshop for our campers. Lauren set up a blank canvas on the hill, and began to capture the view up toward the Junior Lodge. One brush stroke at a time, she spent hours adding careful shades of green, brown and grey, bringing all the details of the scene into view on the canvas. The texture of the walnut tree, the shadow it cast on the ground, and the canopy of leaves embracing the lodge at the center are focal points of the piece. The little red chairs on the lodge porch also draw your eye.

While painting throughout the day, two days actually, campers were invited to paint their own landscape. Lauren helped the girls pick a subject (using a cardboard cutout “viewfinder”), understand the importance of composition, and learn to create a color palette by blending just a few earth tone colors. She demonstrated how to blend colors and the meticulous brush work and patience required to fill out the painting. She coached them not to worry about making a mistake because, she said, “Every ‘mistake’ is a new creation.” You can see from these photos that the girls had a great time painting and learning from Lauren.

At dinner tonight we announced a surprise evening program, a dance with Camp Carolina. This promised to be a fun night to dress up a bit —silly, of course —and show off a few dance moves. Our Juniors and Middlers stayed here to welcome the younger boys from CCB, and our Seniors and Hi-Ups made the trip across town for their dance in the CCB gym. Two dances at once! With the counselors leading the way, the girls jumped and grooved to popular hits (“Party in the USA” and “Shake it Off,” for example) along with well-known line dances like “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and the “Cha-Cha Slide.”

Both camps served homemade cookies to keep the crowd going, and had plenty of water available to rehydrate. When folks wanted a break from the dancing at Rockbrook, or simply as an alternative, they could go outside and play gaga ball, tetherball, corn hole, or connect four. The girls outnumbered the boys a bit at the senior dance, but they still had a great time goofing around on the dance floor. Silly and exciting stuff like this makes great camp fun.

Over the last few days we’ve found ourselves in a weather pattern that’s common to this area in the summer. The days begin cool with temperatures in the upper 60s, far enough below the dew point for the whole camp to be blanketed by fog. It’ll be so thick that all the lush green of camp becomes more grey and mysterious. There’s also dew on everything exposed, all that humidity moistening our world. By about 10:30am, though, as the sun peaks out over the mountain behind camp, things begin to warm up and all that condensed moisture evaporates. The fog lifts and we can see the distant mountains again with a blue cloudless sky and bright sun. It’s a glorious display each morning.

Later in the day, that rising moisture makes a dramatic return in the form of a thunderstorm. As it rises and encounters cooler air, water vapor condenses forming clouds and even ice crystals that collide creating static electricity. This accumulating moisture and electrical charge eventually becomes unstable and the cloud releases lightning and rain. For us, we see a thunderstorm in the area around 3 or 4pm most days, and ordinarily lasting less than an hour.

Sometimes, these thunderstorms miss us; they pop up nearby, but not right over camp. Other times, however, we want to move everyone inside, protected from the threat of lightning, while the storm passes through. We have an automatic lightning warning system that sounds an alarm when there is a threat of lightning nearby. We all know that when we hear the alarm, even if it’s not raining or thundering, we should immediately seek shelter. The system works great. It continuously monitors the area and will sound an “all clear” alert when it’s safe to go outside again. We’ve heard that system about everyday lately!

On Wednesday afternoon, as groups of campers scattered about for their cabin day activities, we enjoyed a clear afternoon without a storm. One cabin of girls wore their swimsuits for a hike to the “Mermaid Cove.” This is a wonderful spot on the camp property where Dunns creek drops into a protected pool of water. There’s a rock face on one side, a smooth rocky “beach” on the other, and nice waterfall in between. The pool also has a sandy bottom, making it an excellent little swimming spot. A game of “Marco Polo” turned into a wild splashing time.

Another cabin group went in the opposite direction and hiked up the trail toward Castle Rock and to the “Nest.” This is another unique natural feature on the Rockbrook property where a cave has formed in the rock. Generations of Rockbrook girls have visited this cave, and now when we do, we bring hammocks. We’ve added anchor points in the rock where the girls can string the hammocks and enjoy hanging out in that unique setting. There’s a great view of the forest from up there!

Meanwhile, 4 cabins of Juniors took a trip out of camp to Dolly’s for an afternoon ice cream treat, but also to the Puckerup Berry Farm. The farm is a place to explore, to see rows and rows of carefully tended flowers and vegetable plants, and to marvel at its chickens and resident bunny. The girls had a great time cutting and arranging flowers, holding the bunny (so soft!), and getting to play with the chickens. Interacting with animals like this never fails to make the girls smile.

Finally, the needlecraft activity has been working on small sewing projects. Using cut swatches of fabric, yarns, buttons and beads, the girls have been sewing small purses, making stuffed pillows, and really getting into embroidery. The embroidery hoops make it easy for the girls to carry around their projects in a ziplock bag, and adding a few stitches whenever they have a minute of free time. One camper told me she was sewing a pillow for her brother. I said that was nice of her, and she replied, “Yeah, he’s 5 years old.”

Overall, the girls this session are relaxing more and more into the special feeling of camp life. They’re busy with activities while also enjoying the blocks of free time each day. They’re getting to know each other more and finding friends everywhere. Conversations are deepening, laughter is more frequent, and simple acts of kindness are feeling natural. What makes us a community— shared experiences and caring relationships built on kindness —is working its true magic. Each day this all grows stronger, building the Rockbrook experience we all love.

Here are a few highlights from today at Rockbrook, from the perspective of a Rockbrook alum, occasional camp mom and substitute camp photographer. I was reflecting on Sunday’s chapel where the theme was ‘small gifts’ we receive every day such as friendship, a rainbow, a sweet note, a happy memory, a helping hand or a hug. I was given the gift of being a photographer on this gorgeous day at Rockbrook camp.

When you are carrying a camera around RBC looking for special moments to capture on a memory card, it turns out they’re pretty easy to find. Every time I looked, I found something that made my heart light up with joy. There were so many moments I’ll mention just a few highlights. 

As I was getting my steps in on the way to the barn, I got sidetracked by all of the action that was happening at Garden Art! Garden Art is located literally in the Rockbrook garden, so the campers enjoying this activity are surrounded by all types of gorgeous growing flowers, some fresh fruit and a small flock of chickens just clucking away. One of the chickens was laying an egg in its coop. Several girls were feeding the chickens that were wandering around their fenced yard. So many nature crafts were in progress. I just couldn’t help but stop and take note. The activity leaders were guiding the campers through their choice of a myriad of crafts. One group was making natural dye by smushing bugs and flowers then creating a canvas using their dye, flowers, leaves and more. Others were doing macramé with cotton cord and sticks they had gathered, carefully tying knots to make wall art. Also, the girls had collected rocks of all shapes and sizes and summoned their imagination to paint creative designs in bright colors! I felt so fortunate to wander upon such a peaceful scene!

At horseback riding, a group of Junior Line campers were pampering the miniature horse named Jolene. Jolene lives down by the barn in her own little house. She was sunning in her outdoor enclosure and the girls were having the time of their lives giving that horse a fun ‘hair do”, petting, brushing and pouring all their love into that sweet animal. Not only were the girls enjoying themselves, but that mini horse was spoiled rotten. What a memorable experience for everyone involved. 

I also visited with a group of girls whose needle craft projects were taking shape. It was so refreshing to enjoy the moment while learning a new activity and engage with campers who came to RBC from Massachusetts to Paris, France! I never cease to be impressed by the kindness, confidence, creativity and character these Rockbrook girls radiate. Parents and guardians, you deserve kudos for this generation of young women you are guiding into adulthood. I’ve enjoyed meeting many of them in the past couple of days!

—Betsy Appleby
   Camp Mom, photographer and former camper

Thinking about tonight’s evening activity, I realized it’s been years since this session has had a chance to experience it. Other sessions have been luckier in the past couple of years, but not our full second session girls. I’m referring to the dance with Camp Carolina. There’s a long history of these camp dances where the boys from CCB and the girls from RBC get together for the evening for dances, but since the 2020 pandemic closures, we’ve been fighting contagious diseases off and on. We’ve scheduled camp dances since then, but things keep popping up that force us to cancel. It might have been pink eye, or strep throat, or some other virus, but it’s been a while when both camps were healthy enough to mix and mingle. For these second session girls, the last camp dance they had was in 2019!

Needless to say, the screams of excitement where deafening when we announced that we’d be having a dance tonight. We surprised everyone with the news at dinner and explained that we’d be loading up the buses in 20 minutes. Waiting until the last minute like this cuts down on the time we might spend getting ready. Still, it was funny to see the Senior girls sprinting across the hill toward their cabins to try and sneak in a quick shower. The counselors did a great job keeping things silly by dressing in costumes instead of “dressing up.” These camp dances are far from being serious. Even so, the girls had their hair brushed and were somehow able to find clean clothes to wear. The boys looked sharp too.

Long ago we realized that splitting the girls and boys into two simultaneous dances, one for the younger and another for the older children, was a good idea. This way only half of each camp needs to be transported. We drove the older girls over to Camp Carolina and they drove their young boys to Rockbrook. Both dances happened in the gyms at each camp.

The music at both dances was a mix of familiar pop songs and well-known group dances. Some of these are so popular you can count on them being played, like the “Cha Cha Slide,” and “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” for example. Also, for some reason the techno song “Sandstorm,” from 2001 seems to always appear. We also heard Taylor Swift and ABBA, which isn’t too surprising, as well as “Party Rock” and “Party in the USA.”

The dancing for the younger kids was impressively varied compared to the older girls who mostly jumped up and down with a hand raised in the air. Clustered together, the whole crowd would jump to match the beat of the music. We saw a long conga line at the Rockbrook dance, and plenty of chatting and laughing as each new song came on.

With coolers of water and cookies available to recharge everyone, both dances kept up an impressive pace for more than hour of excited bopping about. Everyone seemed a little surprised how fast the time flew by when we announced it was time for the girls to head back to RBC and the boys back to CCB. We were all a little sweaty by the end, but I think most agreed that the dance was “really fun.” A classic camp evening out.

The daily Rockbrook photo gallery available to parents in their online account is always great fun to see. Long ago we realized that even though camp is inherently an experience for the campers, parents want to be a part of it too. They at least want to see what’s going on. In fact, many parents “live” for the photo gallery, they tell us, checking for newly uploaded photos throughout the day. Most days we upload a batch of photos just before lunch and another just before dinner. Some days, when a special event of some sort has happened, we’ll have other batches uploaded as well.

That’s great! We’re happy to provide all the photos, and while we can’t possibly show everything going on at camp, or take a photo of every camper every day, we try our best to cover things. On most days we have two photographers roaming about the camp trying to capture the action. We prefer two because there is so much going on at camp simultaneously. If we’re down at the barn taking pictures of riding, we’re missing the zipline kids, and so forth. So we need to divide and conquer! Still, we’re bound to miss a few things.

We use a 3rd-party photo display system that’s part of CampMinder, the camp registration service that handles our online registration, forms, and payment processing. This company creates the display grid and handles the photo prints and downloads, setting the prices for this service. Unfortunately, we can’t control all of that.

Sometimes, the photos can be confusing to parents. Not knowing the background of what’s happening at camp, you won’t know what’s going on in a particular shot. You might see a couple of girls running, but not know they are jogging by as part of a group, “The Rockbrook Runners,” that covers a 2-mile loop before lunch most days. You might see a girl standing next to a horse smiling, but not realize she is leading her horse from the barn to the riding ring to begin her mounted lesson. Likewise, you’ll see three girls wearing helmets and PFDs and not understand that they are listening to the safety talk just before going rafting on the Nantahala River. If every “picture is worth a thousand words,” there are some days on the photo gallery where almost a million words are there to be read!

Here’s another example, a photo taken one sunny afternoon at the tennis courts. The instructor is just out of view, but you can see girls with an empty ball basket after practicing forehand and backhand volleys. The court is nice and shaded, a definite plus on a warm afternoon, and you can see the clay playing surface that also helps keep things cool. The courts need to be brushed every so often and the taped lines hammered into the clay need to be cleared off as well. With a rock wall on one side and the trees lining the other side of the lower court, playing on these courts feels very old fashioned and campy.

The same can be said for all the weaving going on in the Curosty cabin just up the hill from tennis. This is one of the historic log cabins on the Rockbrook property. It’s full of all sorts of looms, full-sized floor looms, smaller tabletop looms, and even smaller frame looms. Any time of the day, you’ll find campers busy on these looms, running some sort of weft back and forth through some pattern of warp held tightly on the looms. In this photo, the camper is pressing the keys with her hand to change which strings in the warp move up and down allowing the weft to be passed through horizontally. It only takes a few passes to begin seeing the design in the woven cloth. In this photo, you can also see hanging on the wall some of the colorful woven projects created, and in the background, a cabinet of weaving supplies.

Well, we could go on and on like this, but I hope you can see how it will be fun to revisit the photo gallery with your camper after she returns home. Take some time to sit together and have her explain what’s going on in the photos. I think you’ll enjoy learning more about camp, and love hearing her enthusiasm and excitement for all the little details you probably missed on your own. You’ll be able to ask questions and hear even more stories about her experience at Rockbrook. Highly recommended!

Sundays are different at camp. Our regular in-camp activities and out of camp trips pause so that we can focus on all-camp events. Instead of campers and staff moving in all directions, we come together. It’s a nice reset and an opportunity to celebrate our sense of community, usually dress up in some way, and enjoy a big afternoon event.

It begins with sleeping in an extra hour, a welcome change of pace right from the start. After a full week of big adventure and the go-go-go of activities, everyone seems to really enjoy the extra shut-eye. The wakeup bell then brings everyone to breakfast in their pajamas (and often a cozy sweatshirt) to enjoy our breakfast of eggs and sausage, cereal, fruit and yogurt with fresh Krispy Kreme donuts as an added treat.

After breakfast, everyone changes into their red and white camp uniforms for the main morning events— flag raising and chapel. The hi-ups lead the flag raising ceremony. The entire camp lines up around the flagpole, watches as the flag is raised, and then sings “The Streams and the Mountains,” one of the oldest Rockbrook songs. Single file, everyone then walks down to the end of the lower line and finds a seat in the Chapel area of camp.

What we call “chapel” at Rockbrook is not a religious ceremony. We want everyone at at camp, no matter what their family religious background, to feel comfortable at our “chapel,” so lately it has been understood as an acronym for “Celebration of Happiness, Adventure, Peace, Earth and Love.” The idea is that we benefit from the chance to slow down a bit and think about what’s important at Rockbrook, the positive aspects that we value. Each chapel has a theme, chosen by the campers, that focuses the short program of songs and camper reflections on what the theme means to them. Past themes have been happiness, honesty and friendship, for example.

Today’s theme was “Peace and Love” and was led by the Juniors. Girls took turns talking about peace (“You can find it anywhere and doing almost anything.”) and love (“Every one of you is loved by people here.”). The whole Junior line sang “Peace Like a River,” complete with hand motions. A group of campers played ukuleles and sang “This Little Light of Mine.” Sarah read the classic (1936) children’s book, The Story of Ferdinand. You probably recall it’s the story of a peace-loving bull who enjoyed smelling flowers, and who refused to fight when brought to the bullfighting ring. Being surrounded by the forest and sitting so closely with all of our camp friends, it wasn’t hard to feel that camp is a place of peace and love.

Our afternoon plans —two different all-camp events —had to be postponed because we were hit by an afternoon thunderstorm right when the events were to start. We held off for a bit, hoping the storm would pass quickly, but it was big enough that we decided to switch gears and move into the gym. Gathering this many excited, enthusiastic people (who were ready to burn some energy) is really all you need to create a fun event. Add some dance music, and a few small snacks, and you have an impromptu dance party. That’s what we did! While the rain tapered off outside, the girls jumped and sang, twirled and flicked all around the gym. Spontaneous and fun, it was a great way for all of us to spend the afternoon.

Sunday night is “Movie Night” at camp. After signing up for a new set of activities that will begin Monday morning, all of the campers come down to the gym to watch a movie projected on a big screen. The whole gym floor becomes covered with sleeping bags, pillows and blankets, crazy creek chairs, and a mob of girls eager to watch. The Hi-Ups and a director are there to assist while all of the counselors and other directors have an all-staff meeting in the dining hall or one of the lodges. We love showing musicals at movie night, especially ones where the girls know the songs, because that turns the movie into a singalong, making it even more fun and a real treat to hear.