Camp Alkulana was started in 1915 by the Richmond City Circle, the precursor to today’s Richmond Woman’s Missionary Union. These women were inspired by a call to “definite personal service,” in other words, they wanted to do meaningful Christian ministry with their neighbors in Richmond. Under the leadership of the camp’s first director, Nannie West, Camp Alkulana offered a summer camp experience to children from Richmond who would not otherwise be able to afford it. In 1915, most of the children who attended lived in Richmond’s East End and had parents who worked in the city’s factories, or even worked there themselves. Originally the camp served only girls, but expanded to include boys in the late 1940s.
Camp Alkulana has been in continuous operation since it began in 1915, which makes it the oldest camp in Virginia. The kerosene lanterns, which shone from the windows of the first cottage, appeared as bright eyes shining through the forest. Thus, the word, “Alkulana,” meaning “bright eyes” became the official camp name.
Though the camp’s first grounds were in Elmont, just north of Richmond, the camp moved to its current location in Millboro Springs in 1917. There, deep in the Alleghenies, campers gained access to the boundless space and endless program resources provided by the George Washington National Forest. Cave exploring, hiking, and swimming have been popular Alkulana activities since our very first summers spent in Bath County.
Today, the camp continues to offer an affordable summer camp experience to Richmond area children, focusing on those that are eligible for free and reduced lunch at school. Throughout the year, Alkulana offers ongoing supports in Richmond to its campers through large group gatherings, a mentoring program for older campers, and a targeted leadership program for its junior counselors.
Camp Alkulana is a ministry of the River City Faith Network, which also hosts three ministry centers in the city: South Richmond Baptist Center, Church Hill Christian Wellness Center, and Oregon Hill Baptist Center. Our primary partners are Richmond Baptist churches, camp alumni, and other individuals.
Come Along, Join Our Song
In celebration of the camp’s 100th anniversary in 1915, our camp director, Beth Wright, created a book about Camp Alkulana’s history. Together with then-staff member Anna Tuckwiller, many volunteers, and willing alumni participants, we collected stories about campers from the 1920s through the present day and weaved them together with photos from our archive. Alumni Merit Carrington did all of the layout and graphic design work. The book, Come Along Join Our Song is a tribute to the thousands of people who make up the Camp Alkulana legacy.Here’s a preview of the forward, written by historian Fred Anderson:
Forward
Camp Alkulana, the retreat set in rural Bath County which has provided a summertime experience for inner-city Richmond youth, turns one-hundred and within these pages Beth Reddish Wright has told its unique story. She chronicles its storied history with the passion and understanding of an insider. As camp director, Beth would be expected to know its present, but her inquiring and interested nature led her to invite others, including camp alumni and leaders, to share their remembrances of its past. She has woven the historical record and the reminiscences of so many into a book which captures the spirit of Camp Alkulana, holding up its magical presence for the thousands of “Bright Eyes” who have played on its grounds, splashed in its stream, fellowshipped in the cabins with newly made friends and, along the way, learned some of life’s best lessons.
The camp was a part of the great camping movement which swept America in the early Twentieth Century and was linked to the settlement house concept found in many of the major cities. The children attending the “Goodwill Centers” operated by Richmond Baptists became natural candidates for the camping experience. The camp and the centers also were an expression of “woman’s work,” an enterprise largely supported, operated and directed by Richmond Baptist women. Through these social ministries, the Richmond women met needs within their community and contributed to the lives of coming generations. In the fullness of time, the camp became interracial, reaching out to a segment of the population which otherwise would never had experienced the special joys of a Christian camp.
The book is a tribute to the remarkable women who led the program across the century. These include the actual directors as well as the core of volunteers who offered support.
Camp Alkulana is a success story—a uniquely American, distinctly Christian, proudly Baptist story with its primary focus upon influencing the lives of one city’s youth. It is more than a place. It is a feeling. Beth Wright has caught that feeling and the reader will not go away empty handed or empty hearted.
Fred Anderson, Executive Director
Copies of the book are available for sale on Amazon or by contacting the camp office here
.Sample Pages
