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Alderson, West Virginia
Established: 1898
Camp
Details
Established in 1898, Camp Greenbrier for Boys
is the oldest privately owned summer camp in
the United States. The camp was founded by Dr.
Walter Hullihen and Mr. Horace S. Whitman along
the Greenbrier River on the outskirts of the
town of Alderson, West Virginia. Prior to its
birth as a summer camp, the property was the
home of the Greenbrier Industrial Exposition.
In 1890, the Exposition moved about 12 miles
away to Fairlea, and evenutally became known
as the West Virginia State Fair. But when the
Expostion moved, it left behind the perfect layout
for a boys camp, and in
1898 Greenbrier hosted its first campers.
Camp Greenbrier began as an educational and
athletic camp for boys, with classes in the morning,
and athletic events in the afternoon. The academic
program of the camp's early days was compulsory,
and included Latin, Greek, German, French, English,
physics, chemistry, algebra, geometry, trigonometry,
and history. The athletic program consisted of
baseball, tennis, swimming, canoeing, track,
riflery, and hiking.
Over the years, Greenbrier gradually turned
into the traditional summer camp it is today.
Academics are now only a minor, and optional,
part of the program. Many things are like they
were over 100 years ago, however.
Campers sleep in tents, swim and canoe in the
river, and hike in the beautiful Alleghany Mountains.
And boys continue to come from all across the
United States, and from many foreign countries,
to attend.
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