As summer camp winds down for the season, it is time to reflect on the experience. Girls’ letters home often provide insights and anecdotes about camp life.
Lois Milstead (right) attended Camp May Flather in its first summer. The Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital has run May Flather as its flagship camp since 1930. A temporary camp operated nearby in 1929, and Lois attended that as well.
Her letter appeared in the Washington Post on September 7, 1930.
My Camping Trip
I have just returned. from a four weeks’ stay at the Washington Camp, May Flather, situated in the mountains near Harrisonburg. Va., to which I also attended last summer. This camp is for Girl Scouts.
Although I am not yet a Girl Scout, I enjoy the ways of their life. I hope to become one in the very near future.
The whole four weeks to me were but an enjoyable time. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute while there. I am fond of all kinds of athletics and sports and camp life naturally appeals to me. I play golf and tennis a lot at home, and although I had neither of these sports at camp, there were many interesting pastimes to fully make up for the lack of them.
I will give a brief outline of our daily routine. Revielle, breakfast (just before breakfast we have flag raising), kapers (that is little tasks from each cabin), inspection, classes (forestry, camp craft), swimming, court of honor, dinner, rest hour, classes (handcraft, nature), retreat, supper, camp fire, taps.
I took many overnight hikes and one three-day hike. These were loads of fun.
While at camp this year, I met many of the: girls with whom I was acquainted last year.
Mrs. Hoover visited the camp while I was there. Mrs. Cheatham and Mrs. Flather also came with her. They spent two days and a night with us. They were present for the formal dedication of the new camp site. Mrs. Hoover dedicated a picturesque little bridge and Mrs. Flather, for whom the camp is named, donated much toward it.
Miss Dorothy Greene, the director of our camp, has done much to the bettering of it, making the girls feel at home, and they are trying to live up to the high standards and morals which she has set for them. I had lots of fun at camp, but I was rather glad when the time came to go home, for I missed my mother and daddy.
Lois A. Milstead (age 12), Dahlgren, Va.
I don’t know if Lois ever joined the Girl Scouts. She graduated from the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1938.
Lois worked on the school newspaper, the Commercial Echoes. She married George Goodwin, a reporter, two years later and moved to Georgia.
©2019 Ann Robertson, writer, editor, Girl Scout historian
Wow, four weeks at camp!
Hi –
I emailed you a week or so ago. A mom of one of my girls recently emailed us: I have two tubs of Girl Scout dolls – some dressed like Scouts, some are in vintage uniforms, and one is Juilette Gordon Low. Do either of you know of a Girl Scout museum or something within the council to which I could donate for display? They were collected by a close friend of our family and have been within our family for years. They deserve a good permanent home.
Would you be interested in these dolls? I asked about sizing. She said some were Madame Alexandra sized, most are bigger than a Barbie but smaller than an American Girl doll.
Please let me know if you are interested.
My daughter just got home from May Flather and got a kick out of reading these letters home! She said the camp schedule is exactly the same.