Author Archives: rbc

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.

Our streak of amazingly perfect weather has continued. As other places are suffering from a heat wave, we are still enjoying low temperatures in the 60s in the morning and 80s in the afternoon. Just down the mountain in south Carolina, it’s more than 10 degrees warmer. It’s no wonder that camps were built here in the mountains. They were a welcome relief from the summer heat back when there was no air conditioning. It’s been particularly nice these past two weeks with sunny skies and low humidity. It’s made being outside extra delightful!

A month or so ago, I was interviewed by the editor of a local magazine about camp. Now, the article has just been published: “Multiple Benefits of Summer Camp,” by Randee Brown in WNC Business. If you’ve read the Rockbrook blog over the years, you know I have a lot to say on this topic! For example, this article is a good summary of the top ten benefits. In the interview, I tried to convey how camp can be understood as “fun that matters.” Camp is much more than just entertainment or diversion. It’s formative too. The parents with children who go to camp already know this because they see it in how much their kids grow from the experience. Here’s the article if you’d like to take a look.

This past weekend we held an all-camp dance in the gym for our evening activity. The counselors and campers put on fancy clothes and costumes, and with great dance-pop numbers blasting from the sound system, had a great time zooming around arm in arm, jumping up and down to the beat, and joining in more choreographed dance numbers. The counselors had just as much fun as the campers. When folks needed to take a break and cool off —all that dancing can make you sweaty! —there was a good crowd hanging out just outside. A few played gagaball and tetherball too. Everyone really enjoyed being together and celebrating like this.

As we enter the last week of camp, there’s still lots to do and to look forward to. A highlight will be the banquet, but before that, we’ll savor our time together and enjoy the activities. At this point in the session, that’s really what we matters most. It’s being with the people, not doing the specific things, that we are cherishing. This becomes even more true when it’s time for the closing campfire, the Spirit Fire. Again, it’s the friendships formed at camp that really matter because they strengthen each of individually at the same time. Such good stuff!

The arrival of cabin day is exciting for everyone because it means switching up our schedule for the afternoon and doing something special with our cabin groups. It can also mean an entire age group (Juniors, Middlers, or Seniors) playing a game together, or taking a trip together.

The Seniors gathered on the landsports field for a crazy event of relays and games they called “Splash.” Each cabin group played a series of mini-games like a spoon-and-egg (though with ping-pong balls) relay, a challenge to draw a counselor, a wacky “acting” walk relay, and a wild costume relay. You can see in the photos that the costumes were over the top, especially when one person from each group had to put on all of the costumes at once for a final fashion show. Good silly fun! The last event was a challenge to protect a water balloon from breaking by building a protective case of some sort. They were given simple materials like a piece of cardboard, a strip of tape, and a few rubber bands or string, and then told to “design something that will keep your water balloon from breaking.” Working together, the groups came up with very creative solutions.

Three cabins of Juniors took a trip down the road to visit a local flower and berry farm. For these kids, the fun began right away. Just riding on the bus, singing the songs along the way, is enough to get excited. When they arrived at the farm and saw the beautifully tended rows of flowers, they were thrilled to romp about exploring. The farm also has resident bunnies and chickens that the girls could pet and hug. You might think hugging a chicken would be unpleasant, or petting a bunny somehow worrisome, but these girls loved it. They also picked flowers and brought back beautiful bouquets to decorate their dining hall tables. The outing also included a detour over to Dolly’s Dairy Bar, everyone’s favorite ice cream stand. It’s great fun to step up to the window and order your favorite flavor in a cup or cone. Dolly’s has unique flavors named after many of the local area summer camps. A popular choice with the campers is the bright blue “Chosatonga Cheer,” but also the very rich “Rockbrook Chocolate Illusion.”

The Senior girls had another surprise for them after dinner— an evening trip to Sliding Rock! With all six buses and vans loaded, we arrived at the famous spot in the Pisgah National forest where Looking Glass Creek flows over a smooth rock dome. For decades, it’s been a thrill to sit down in the creek at the top and slide down for a “refreshing” dunk at the bottom. Rockbrook has been taking campers there for easily 50 years.

Tonight we arrived with our crew of lifeguards, and almost 90 people who were ready to slide. It can be a little shocking when you first sit down in the water, but the sound of loud rushing water mixed with the cheers of the other girls makes it all too exciting. Soon the water is pushing you down the rock accelerating to the splash pool below. We allow the campers to slide 2 at a time making it even more of a scream-inducing blast.

Then it was a stop at Dolly’s for the Seniors too! Since this ice cream stand is located at the entrance to the Forest, it’s just natural to stop on the way back to camp. So we plan for it! It’s also a nice way to warm up, in a way, after the chill of Sliding Rock. The ice cream acts like a recharge, soon inspiring everyone to sing camp songs… as loud as possible. It’s enthusiastic camp pride, mixed with a little zing from the sugary, creamy goodness of the ice cream. Altogether, it’s a perfect combination to end a wonderful night.