Camp Greystone is a Christian

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

for girls located near Tuxedo, North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains in western

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. The camp offers sessions ranging in length from 1 week to 5 weeks for girls ages 5–17. Sessions begin in late May and continue through mid-August.

History

Greystone was founded in 1920 by Dr. Joseph R. Sevier and his wife Edith. Before founding the camp, Dr. Sevier was the minister at First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, GA. The camp originally started on Greystone Mountain in Tennessee in 1920, however, after exploring the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the world, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsy ...

, Dr. Sevier found a permanent location for the camp in Tuxedo, NC. When Dr. Sevier died in 1945, he passed the camp leadership on to his daughter, Virginia, and her husband, Joe Hanna. The Hannas led the camp through the 1950s and 1960s. The camp was then passed on to the Hanna's daughter Libby Hanna Miller and her husband Jim Miller III. Libby used to serve as the senior director at the camp, until she died on September 19, 2017. Jim died January 29, 2010. Their son, Jim Miller IV, and his wife, Dr. Margaret Broadbent Miller, currently own and run the camp. Jim received his Master of Divinity from

Reformed Theological Seminary Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) is a theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition with campuses in multiple locations in the United States. Founded by conservatives in the Southern Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church i ...

in Charlotte, NC. Dr. Margaret Miller serves as the camp's Health Director and is a board certified pediatrician.

Campers

Camp Greystone serves over 1850 campers each summer. Campers live with 8 - 12 other girls in cabins with one or two counselors. These cabins are called different things depending on their size and the age group they house. The order from smallest to largest is tentalows, bungalows, and cabins. The oldest girls live in the Palace or the Castle, two groups of cabins that are larger and have more amenities, such as two showers instead of one. Greystone is structured around a fourfold philosophy of nurturing the spiritual, physical, mental, and social development of young girls. Camp Greystone has a 98% return rate each summer, as well as a waiting list that can take years to get off of.

Program Activities

During the one-week Junior camp session, campers travel with their

counselor Counselor or counsellor may refer to: A professional In diplomacy and government * Counsellor of State, senior member of the British royal family to whom the Monarch can delegate some functions in case of unavailability * Counselor (di ...

to a number of different activities. During the three-week June camp session and five-week Main camp session, campers choose 14 activities to take during the summer. Two-week August camp campers register for 7 activities. Greystone offers water activities in its 3 to . pool, 10 to . pool, and lake front areas. These activities include sailing, kayaking,

competitive swimming Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

waterpark A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming, and other b ...

, synchronized swimming, lap swim, swimming lessons,

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

water aerobics Water aerobics (waterobics, aquarobics, aquatic fitness, aquafitness, aquafit) is the performance of aerobic exercise in water such as in a swimming pool. It is done mostly vertically and without swimming typically in waist deep or deeper water. W ...

, and many, many more. Greystone offers different artistic programs in its . Fine Arts Center. These activities include metal jewelry, crafts,

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

, glass beads, glass fusion, scrapbooking,

sewing Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fab ...

, knitting, painting, and printmaking. Greystone offers active and non-active land activities, including tennis, soccer, basketball, track, cross country, softball, volleyball, prep sports,

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

, ballet, tap,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, gymnastics, tumbling, fencing, fitness, high adventure, high ropes, summer reading, creative writing, French, Spanish, cooking, guitar, riflery, archery, dog camp, drama, modeling, dance team,

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object ...

, jump rope, card games, and more. Campers can also register for special activities, which they take in addition to their everyday activities. Greystone's riding program offers private lessons, group lessons, and trail rides. Campers can also register for

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

trips throughout the summer. Campers raft at the Pigeon River in Tennessee or at the Chattooga River in South Carolina, and ride at the camp's own 60 horse barn. There is also another smaller barn for trail rides.

Recognitions

Greystone was featured in '' Life Magazine'' in 1941 in an article titled "Life Goes Calling at Camp Greystone." Greystone was also featured in the 1956 ''Ties: The Southern Railway System Magazine'' in an article "All Aboard for Summer Camp," which featured Greystone campers traveling via train to attend for the summer. More recently, '' Town & Country'' magazine photographed Greystone and its campers for its July 1992 article titled "The Boys and Girls of Summer." Thomas Nebbia, retired National Geographic photographer and book illustrator, visited the camp in 2008 to photograph a natural take of camp life.

References

{{Coord, 35.220337, -82.435151, display=title Greystone Greystone Buildings and structures in Henderson County, North Carolina