White Rock Rocks

Today is Emma's 6th birthday. She's up at Girl Scout camp at Camp White Rock in West Virginia. I took a birthday balloon to her and got a chance to walk around White Rock again. It hasn't changed much - it's still relatively quiet. Her Daisy/Brownie troop camped overnight with other troops from Shawnee Council.

In the 50s, there were several cabins for younger girls, but by the 80s, they were all gone - replaced by platform tents. I never got to stay at the regular summer camp. I'm not sure I would have stayed overnight anyway. I was a homebody. I didn't even like to spend the night at my grandmother's house just two blocks away. I did get to go for one weekend camping trip with my troop. We didn't sleep in the tents or the cabins. We slept in our bedrolls (no sleeping bags, then) on the concrete floor of Chinkapin. I've always loved that name. It's now been renamed Cooper Hall or something like that. Chinkapin is more fun to say. Cooper Hall sounds like a military school building.

Anyway, the platform tents in Emma's and Maggie's campsite have all (except for one) been replaced with cabins! The only problem is, they forgot to install the shutters over the screened-in windows. Cold wind blew in on them all night long. They would have been better off in the platform tent. That way they could have lowered the canvas sides and tied the flaps shut to keep the wind out. Next time.

I have lots of memories of camping at White Rock as a Girl Scout leader with our troop when Kara was a Scout. I don't think I would have enjoyed it when I was a girl, but I sure did enjoy it when I was grown. We went up for leaders' weekends and for troop camping for about 10 years. I think we've camped at each of the sites. My favorite was Bluff. Pioneer was too far from the pool and Dudley Hall (the dining hall).

When Brenda was a camper in the 50s, the bathrooms were latrines. Yuck! That might have been one of the reasons I wasn't in a rush to go camping. By the time Kara was a camper, the bathrooms had been added. So much nicer!

I remember coming to see Brenda when she was a camper and going down to the swimming hole in the river. It was marked off with ropes so the girls had a safe place to swim. Again, Yuck! By the time Kara was going, the pool had been built with a really nice bath house with HOT showers! Nice!

I watched my granddaughters having a good time at White Rock. Some things change but remain the same.