Whether it’s singing around the campfire, gathering for morning devotions or capturing a glimpse of the Hippogator, most of Virginia’s summer camps have established rituals that campers look forward to every year. In fact, many of the longer-standing camps — some of which date back to the 1920s — observe customs that generations of families have enjoyed and passed along. Here’s a sampling of camps that are keeping their traditions alive.
Camp Carysbrook
Camp Carysbrook in the '40s and today Photos courtesy Camp Carysbrook
As the oldest overnight camp for girls in the state, Camp Carysbrook prides itself on its tradition of encouraging its campers to be whomever they want to be.
“Our camp is founded on the belief that if you can see it, you can be it,” says Erika Schlichter, who assumes the role of camp director this summer after working for several years with the previous director.
“I was a camper here, and it was important for me to see women in different types of leadership positions, from CITs [counselors-in-training] to counselors and even the director,” she says. “I’m not sure I would be where I am today had I not seen that at camp.”
This camp in Riner, in Montgomery County, was founded in 1923 by Sarah Caperton Preston, who ran it for decades with her sister, Katherine Stuart Preston. In 1979, the camp was purchased by Toni Musso Baughman, whose three adult daughters now operate the camp. The goal is unchanged, Schlichter says: “to challenge young women to develop leadership skills they need in the world in a rustic, unplugged environment.”
To that end, campers select, individually, what they’ll do each day. Counselors announce their plans at breakfast and lunch, and whoever wishes to participate can do so. It’s not unusual for campers to select an activity with which they’re familiar initially, Schlichter says, but they are encouraged to try something new.
Ultimately, Schlichter says, what happens after camp is just as important as what happens at camp.
“We want girls to get a sense of their strengths and weaknesses,” she says. “We want them to know how to interact with different types of people, appreciate everybody and benefit from being in community with them.”
Nature Camp
Photo courtesy Nature Camp
Every night, participants in Nature Camp in Rockbridge County gather around the fire and sing a song written by two former campers. Each two-week session closes with another song, also written by one of their own.
The songs, says Nature Camp Inc. board President Katie Hoffman, embody the camp’s spirit.
“ ‘Thinking of Tomorrow,’ which was written by Lisa Rossbacher and Walter Mehring and which is sung every night, reminds us of what we’re supposed to do with what we learn at Nature Camp,” she says. “ ‘A Place in the Circle,’ which was written by Gerry Wass and which we sing at the closing ceremony, is so lovely because we always leave a space at the end of the circle for people who can’t be there.”
Founded by the Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs in 1942, Nature Camp is for kids who love to learn and be outdoors, she says.
“These ladies were way ahead of their time,” Hoffman says. “They wanted to educate young people about the natural world.”
She adds, “Nature Camp isn’t for everybody. … The classes are experiential learning. Botany class is out in the woods, identifying trees and plants.”
Hoffman, who has been connected with the camp since she was 13, says Nature Camp is a place for kids who might be labeled “nerds” in school. “Kids are encouraged to be good to everybody else," she says. “It’s kind of a refuge.”
The songs reinforce Nature Camp’s message.
“We try to be inclusive, and we also feel like we have this shared responsibility to the mission” of stewardship of the Earth, Hoffman says. “You don’t just go for two weeks and then go home and [reflect on] a nice vacation. You go home with things you’re going to think about and things you’re supposed to do.”
Camp Hanover
Photo courtesy Camp Hanover
Camp Hanover believes in families.
Camp families, that is.
Unlike camps where participants sleep in a communal cabin but participate in group activities with others, Camp Hanover organizes itself into “families” who live, serve and play together.
“Each group’s experience is really their own,” says Executive Director Doug Walters, explaining that a group meeting at the start of each week sets the course for what is to come. If the group decides to take a daily trip down the camp’s notorious mud slide — carved into the side of a clay hill — that’s okay.
Camp Hanover, with ties to the Presbyterian Church (USA), wants to be a “learning laboratory where kids get to practice what they hear in church or at Sunday school,” Walters says. The small-group experience fosters relationship building and encourages campers to think beyond themselves.
“It goes back to the Christian belief that God first loved us, and we’re called to love each other,” Walters says. “Every person is valuable. We’re teaching kids how to talk with one another, how to respect and get along with one another. That’s a skill you need in today’s world.”
Each group is also expected to engage in a service activity every day, which could mean cleaning the shared bathhouse or gathering wood for another “family’s” evening campfire. Whatever it is, Walters says, the goal is to show campers the value of doing something not for pay or some tangible reward.
“Being part of a community involves putting others before yourself and following Christ’s example of that,” Walters says. “By practicing those skills at camp, it makes it easier to do it outside of camp.”
He adds, “We believe we’ve been put on the planet for one reason, and that’s love.”
Camp Mont Shenandoah
“Be brave, be silent, and obey. Be clean, be strong, protect wild life always. Speak true, be reverent, play fair as you strive. Be kind, be helpful, glad you are alive.”
At Camp Mont Shenandoah, on the Cowpasture River in Bath County, the words of illustrator, naturalist and author Ernest Thompson Seton serve as the camp’s guiding ethos.
“We seek to develop and teach our girls that these are virtues for life,” says Director Ann Warner. “We want the girls to be attentive to them and make them daily practice.”
It’s believed that Nannie Crump West, the Richmonder who established Camp Mont Shenandoah in 1927, was familiar with the Twelve Laws of Woodcraft as set out by Seton in his 1922 book, “Woodland Tales.” The laws have an accompanying image — a circle with extending pillars to signify Beauty, Truth, Fortitude and Love —drawn in lime around the closing campfire.
“We have [a copy of ‘Woodland Tales’] with Nannie West’s name on the inside cover,” Warner says. “We extrapolate from this and other ‘loose’ evidence that [the book] guided her in the camp program.”
While Mont Shenandoah is one of three single-gender camps in the state that are more than 90 years old, Warner says, the lessons that campers learn remain relevant.
“Kids are always looking for an anchor,” she says. “In an increasingly crazy world, from technology to geopolitical issues, they need something that holds true to them that they can hold tightly onto. We hear time and again from parents that daughters come home and talk about how changed they are. They realize there’s more to life out there than just them.”
YMCA Camp Thunderbird
Photo courtesy YMCA Camp Thunderbird
One resident of the YMCA’s Camp Thunderbird in Chesterfield County returns year after year, keeping close watch on campers.
The Hippogator.
With an alligator head and a hippopotamus body, this famed creature has patrolled the camp’s Lake George since the early 1970s, says Jason Ching, camp operations director.
“The Hippogator was created by Len Phillips, one of the camp’s first directors, because he wanted to keep kids out of the lake” when staff weren’t present, Ching says.
Camp lore holds that the Hippogator first appeared when a counselor, seated in a canoe on the lake, was telling stories to campers gathered on the shore. Unhappy with this encroachment, the Hippogator flipped the canoe as a warning to keep away from the water.
Ching says the creature has softened over the years, and now will only flip canoes if campers aren’t wearing their life vests.
“Kids are always looking for the Hippogator,” he says, noting that campers regularly scan the lake for any bubbles that indicate the creature’s lurking presence.
In addition to reinforcing safety, Ching says, the Hippogator brings a “nostalgic factor” to the camp, which has been operated by the Y since 1966.
“People talk about the Hippogator when they’re registering their child,” Ching says. “We get stories all the time from parents who were campers here themselves.”
While the Hippogator might initially have been a fearsome creature, its persona is now more playful, in keeping with Camp Thunderbird’s overall vibe.
“We are super high-energy,” Ching says. “We do have a schedule, but within the schedule, we are able to have surprises … to provide a huge ‘wow’ factor that really gets campers motivated and going.”
… right past the Hippogator.
Camp Maxwelton/Camp Lachlan
Photo courtesy Camp Maxwelton/Camp Lachlan
The boys at Camp Maxwelton and the girls at Camp Lachlan may not be at camp at the same time — their camps run consecutively at the same location adjacent to Jump Mountain in Rockbridge County — but they have the same schedule. And every day, after breakfast and tidying up their cabins, the campers gather under two large sycamore trees for morning devotions.
Starting with Psalm 19:14, the devotions focus on one value or life lesson, says Lee M. McLaughlin III, grandson of camp founder Lee M. McLaughlin.
“It’s our way of starting the day,” he says. “We’re all down there together, and we’re taking time to focus on the best version of ourselves. The time gives us a theme, something to focus on for the day.”
Opened in 1949, the camp continues to be family-owned and -operated. For Camp Maxwelton, McLaughlin and his father lead the devotions. During Camp Lachlan, McLaughlin’s mother or his wife, Jess, takes the helm.
“We talk about camp as family, and that starts with us,” McLaughlin says. “The themes we talk about are universal. We find them to be important not only in setting the tone in how we want camp to be, but what we want kids to be taking away from camp.”
McLaughlin says he doesn’t know exactly when morning devotions began, but both he and his father, who has been involved with the camp for decades, can’t remember a time when they didn’t happen.
“They’re core lessons: attitude, leadership, honor, integrity,” he says. “We want them to be something [campers] can focus on throughout the year.”