Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 29, 1993 TAG: 9309240357
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KERRY DOUGHERTY LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE|
DATELINE: LEWISBURG, W. VA. LENGTH: Long
That's what Eleanor Cunningham of Roanoke and Carroll Huger Griffin of Charlottesville have been ever since they shared a tent at Camp Alleghany 21 years ago.
Back then Cunningham lived in Knoxville, Tenn., and Huger lived in Virginia Beach.
But they corresponded during the winter, and their friendship blossomed each summer at the girls' camp.
They went on to be college roommates at the University of Georgia. They shared an apartment in Washington, D.C., after graduation. They were members of each other's wedding parties.
Now, at age 30, the two women are back at Alleghany with their husbands in tow.
They've discovered Family Camp.
Looking around at the neat canvas tents mounted over wooden platforms, the green camp buildings and the tennis courts, Cunningham, the mother of two girls, nods approvingly.
Had it changed much?
``Are you kidding?'' she asks. ``Camp Alleghany hasn't changed since my mother was a camper here, and she's 65.
``That's the beauty of it.''
\ A traditional summer girls' camp for seven weeks, Camp Alleghany opens its tents to families on the same day the girls' camp closes.
The family camp tradition is more than 20 years old at Camp Alleghany. A spokesman for the American Camping Association says it is an increasingly popular trend across the country.
``It seems like people are remembering how much fun they had at camp, and they want to go back as adults,'' says Elaine Crabtree of the association. ``Lots of children's camps are beginning to take families. We receive inquiries about family camps almost everyday.''
At Alleghany the families begin arriving Wednesday afternoon. They wait on the riverbank until a barge is poled across and their luggage is loaded aboard.
Camp counselors check a roster and deliver the family's belongings to their assigned tent, which is actually a roomy canvas tent mounted on a wooden platform.
Family Camp at Alleghany lasts 11/2 weeks, but families may stay for just a few days or a long weekend.
The atmosphere at Family Camp is decidedly casual. Casual clothes, a take-it-or-leave-it list of camp activities and orders from the camp director to be careful and have fun.
``It's great. You can do as much or as little as you want,'' enthuses Lee Snyder of Norfolk. ``We get lots of people who just come to flop.''
Snyder should know. She was a camper and counselor at Alleghany from 1956 through 1963. She has four daughters 19, 18, 14 and 9. All spend their summers at Camp Alleghany, in the Alleghany Mountains.
The Snyder family has been coming to family camp since 1985.
``When I come to camp I feel like I renew my spirit,'' says Snyder, who works as a floral designer. ``It's one of the only places I can come to truly relax.''
Morning at Camp Alleghany is ushered in with a smartly executed rendition of reveille played on the camp bugle.
Tent flaps open, and campers dressed in everything from khaki shorts and T-shirts to terry cloth robes and fluffy slippers, shuffle out in the morning mist toward the communal bathrooms.
Following morning ablutions the campers climb the steep hill to the dining hall where a hearty country breakfast is served buffet style.
Announcements are made by either camp director or by one of the campers.
On this morning the list of announcements is short:
``Adults,'' called out one man. ``Please be sure than there is no drinking before going on the rifle range.''
Guffaws erupt around the room.
While drinking is a popular pastime during family camp (there is an official happy hour each evening while the children are served an early supper) the shooters confine cocktails to after their target shooting.
Many of the adults tend to linger over their morning coffee, while the children bolt from the dining hall and congregate outside.
``I'm going to do riflery,'' yells Justin Thatcher, 8, of Virginia Beach.
``I'm going to arts and crafts,'' answers his sister, Courtney, 10.
Other children are headed for the river where they can canoe, kayak or swim. Still others are planning to horseback ride, play tennis, brush up their archery skills or go for a hike.
``Elizabeth and Ridgely love it because they're free as birds up here,'' says Tina Minter of Virginia Beach, of her daughters. ``The kids can just take off and you don't have to worry about them.''
\ The notion of a family camp was developed by Alleghany owner S. Cooper Dawson Jr., a Virginia native who has spent most of his 83 years administering or owning camps or coaching sports.
``It's a great promotion,'' he confesses, his blue eyes twinkling. ``I started it back when I owned Camp Greenbrier [a boys camp upriver from Alleghany]. It gives the parents and the girls a chance to get a good look at the camp.''
The cost is minimal: $35 a day for each adult and $15 a day for each child. Children under 2 are free. The fee includes three meals a day.
Greenbrier continues the family camp tradition with an annual program they call House Party (see box). You won't see family camp mentioned in any of the slick brochures promoting Camp Alleghany. The tents swell with about 200 family campers without any help from the owners.
``Our best advertisement is word of mouth,'' says Sam Dawson, son of Cooper and one of Alleghany's owners. ``We get many of the same families coming summer after summer, and they bring their friends who next year bring their friends and so on.''
\ Special activities are planned for every day.
Hikes, canoe races, caving, softball games, movies, even a pig roast and fireworks.
But campers are welcome to sit it out.
The Wallers, who live at the North End in Virginia Beach, love sitting it out.
Or, rather, lying it out.
Mid-morning finds Smiley Waller, a retired teacher, lying on her bunk, head propped on a pillow, reading a paperback. Her husband, Tom, is in an identical pose on his cot, which is nudging hers.
The Wallers are not your typical family campers. They have no family with them.
But Smiley Waller was a 'Ghany girl - a nickname for the girls who attend summer camp - in 1948. Her daughter, Taylor Miller, was a camper here in 1978.
Last summer the Wallers were persuaded to return to camp by Smiley's sister, Sally Moore, who has been attending family camp with her husband and daughter for three years.
``Last year we were the only people here without kids,'' Smiley Waller says, smiling broadly. ``This year I notice a few other couples are here.''
``It's fun, though, watching all the children. And of course our niece, Emily Moore, was a camper here this summer.''
Tom Waller admits he was a reluctant camper during the summer of '92. He vowed after leaving the Army that never again would he sleep in a tent.
Camp Alleghany changed his mind.
``We're coming back next year,'' he says, smiling. ``No doubt about it.''
Smiley Waller says she loves the atmosphere - an atmosphere that has changed little since her girlhood.
\ Saturday night is pig roast and fireworks night. Children mingle with adults as the smell of barbecue scents the brisk mountain air.
Over cold beers a couple of adults are discussing their excursion to visit the exclusive Greenbrier Hotel located nearby.
``You know the Greenbrier is beautiful,'' says Owen Moore, of Virginia Beach. ``But I'd take Family Camp any time.''
After sunset the adults don sweatshirts and sit around a campfire. The children push forward to the waters' edge for the fireworks.
Former State Senator Moody E. ``Sonny'' Stallings Jr., - at family camp with his wife and two daughters for the first time - has the seemingly impossible task of urging the children out of the danger zone.
As he leans forward, about to light the fuse of a bottle rocket with a cigar he turns to the eager young crowd.
``If any of y'all catch on fire just jump in the river,'' he instructs as he holds the burning stub to the fuse.
The children scramble out of harm's way and the fireworks begin.
After the fireworks and sparklers, tired children and their parents use flashlights to find their tents.
Suddenly, over the nighttime sounds of crickets and cicadas, a bugle blows ``Taps,'' and people close their tent flaps for the night.
by CNB