The story below is an excerpt from our May/June 2014 issue. For the rest of this story and more like it subscribe today, view our digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
On a typical Tuesday afternoon in the summertime, a gaggle of girls giggle among the rocks and rhododendron of Camp Dixie. Some swim and some paddle canoes, just as generations of other campers have done at this 350-acre oasis nestled among Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.
Here, near Clayton, Camp Dixie has welcomed boys and girls summer after summer – since 1914 – for activities like backpacking and dramatics. But it’s not just for kids ages 6 to 15. This camp also offers adult programs, like Babes in the Woods, a weekend at camp just for women – with yoga, hiking, karaoke and crafts.
The weekend of Aug. 1-3 marks the centennial celebration for Camp Dixie, one of the oldest traditional summer camps in the United States. All campers, staff and families from any of Camp Dixie’s 100 years are invited to attend, says Emily Kling, co-chairman of the centennial committee and a camper here in the 1960s.
“For me, this had a very positive impact on my life, because I was a very shy kid. I fell in love with the outdoors, and I based my college experiences on what I learned in camp,” Kling says. “It was the camp itself and the traditions and the people.”
Want to Go?
Camp Dixie
706-782-3717; campdixie.org
