Memories and Tales
Memories and stories of Camp Crowell/Hilaka submitted by our members (and anybody else who wants to)
Shorter anecdotes will be here. Longer stories will have their own pages.
Gretchen Knapp grew up in Berea, and was a Girl Scout for thirteen years before graduating from high school in 1998. During her years in Scouting, she grew to love Camp Crowell/Hilaka. She wrote this memoir of the camp.
Annelise Gorensek was a member of Lynn Richardson's Troop 131, and camped several times at Camp Crowell/Hilaka. She moved away when she was 12, in 2002, but still has fond memories of the camp.
A letter from Emily Smith, a camper at Crowell/Hilaka in 1996:
Dear Staff:
When I got home yesterday, my family asked what camp was like. Sure I could tell them the songs I learned and what the weather was like. But I couldn't tell them the feeling I had when I learned to canoe. I could tell them the counselor's names, but not how nice they were to me or how I felt about them.
I couldn't tell them what camp really means to me because it can't be put into words. Even though I could tell them about the food, I can't make them understand how fun the meals were. I couldn't tell them how touching closing campfire was, or how I felt when I passed the deep-end test.
These things can only be experienced, not told about. I can't tell them how clear the stars can be seen at night, or about how quiet it was without cars or trucks close by. These things must be experienced by someone because they can't be put into words.
Well, I have nothing else to say. Bye.
Rachel Oppenheimer's sad tale about the closing of the horse barn. Don't let this be repeated for the entire camp!
A true story of crime, a cross-country chase and Lost Treasure!
The meaning of a campfire
How Deer Leap Trail got its name
Kathleen Bradley's memories of the value of camping
"Once a Girl Scout, Always a Girl Scout", an article from the Wellesley Townsman, Wellesley, MA
Lynn Richardson told girls staying in Kirby House about the house and the Kirbys.