When you attended Camp Alleghany for Girls, you left your name on washstands, beds, shelves, chairs – all with the intent of making your mark. Just like Kilroy, you were there! You wanted future ‘Ghany girls to know that you were a part of this special place, so you left your own form of graffiti, tagging your name, years, and Blue or Gray affiliation.
Starting this summer, ‘Ghany Girls will have a new place to mark your connection to and affection for Alleghany: The Camp ROCKS Garden. This new rock garden will showcase custom-inscribed river rocks. The ROCKS Garden will be installed this summer next to the new Junior Camp Event Deck overlooking the Greenbrier River.
The program works very much like a memorial bricks program, but with some important distinctions.
Naturally beautiful and inspiring
With brick programs there’s less space, limiting your inscription options. But with the Camp ROCKS program, you can choose from three (3) sizes, offering more flexibility for your inscription.
Brick programs use man-made materials, manufactured for uniformity. All bricks look the same. Once it’s placed, it’s difficult to find your brick amid all the other same-shaped, same-sized, same-colored bricks.
But the Camp ROCKS program uses natural materials, shaped by the fully imperceptible forces of earth and water movement. Each rock is completely distinct in shape and size and color, as distinct as the people who support and participate in this program.
Brick programs celebrate and support built institutions. But the Camp ROCKS program also celebrates and supports a nonphysical institution; the spirit of ‘Ghany is an institution of our hearts and souls.
We are the Spirit of ‘Ghany
It’s not the benches and the stage and the roofing that give meaning to the Play Hall. Its meaning comes from all the people who have used it for the last 95 summers and what they did between its timbered walls. So it’s impossible to stand inside the Play Hall, without feeling the presence, even hear the singing, of campers from long ago. High above, the block letters of the earliest camp rosters keep their presence near and, at least for several generations that followed, their memories alive.
The Camp ROCKS program is a way to perpetuate the spirit of ‘Ghany through the campers and counselors that have more recently thrived on the banks of the Greenbrier River. A rock garden filled with alumni (current and future) names and dates, memorials, camp lyrics and other custom inscriptions creates a beautiful display for all to enjoy. Yet, like the Play Hall, its meaning will come from people.
For all in tents today and tomorrow, Camp ROCKS keeps the memories of grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters and friends of our generations present and makes us relevant. And for all purposes, the Camp ROCKS program helps to fund the mission of the Camp Alleghany Alumni Association: to unite, to give, to enrich.
Celebrate the spirit of ‘Ghany – order your CAMP ROCKS custom inscription and become part of this inspired installation.
Pricing Options
To order a rock you’ll visit our online Alumni Square Store, choose your rock size, enter your message, and then check out. All rocks will be held for installation in time for the 50th Anniversary of Family Camp this summer (which happens during our 95th summer of camp)!
- Small Camp ROCKS: 1-25 characters — $80.
- Medium Camp ROCKS: 26-50 characters — $100.
- Large Camp ROCKS: 51-60 characters — $120.
We hope you’ll order a Camp ROCKS today and we also hope to see you at Family Camp!
— Cloud Quarngesser, Alum, Camp Alleghany for Girls
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