Camp Monocan (1948-1971)

Year(s) Operated: 1948-1971
Location: Nellysford, VA

After investigating over 200 sites in an eighteen-month period, the Piedmont Area Council camp site search committee under F. L. Showalter settled on a 400-acre tract of land near Nellysford in Nelson County, which it purchased in December 1946. The area that the base camp would occupy was former farmland bisected by Allen Creek, which would be dammed the following year to create a ten-acre lake. The northern half of the tract rose up the side of Crawford Knob and included the disused Allen Mine, which had been a source for copper in the late 19^th century.

Construction of camp facilities began in 1947 with the backing of a $26,000 fund (this amount would increase to $80,000 by the end of the decade). Initial plans called for a two-story farmhouse on the property to serve as a makeshift administration building, but when fully-developed, the camp would boast a dining hall, administration building, health lodge, caretaker’s house, and multiple campsites for tents and Adirondack-style shelters. The camp officially opened for long-term campers on August 8, 1948.

During the second half of the 1940s, Piedmont Area Council leaders searched for a separate site on which to develop a camp for African American Scouts. The most promising location was near the community of Sycamore in Pittsylvania County, and would have provided camping for three to five troops. However, with the development of Camp Monocan, this quest was abandoned in favor of offering a special week during the summer for black troops; this was a common practice for many Boy Scout councils until Scouting began the process of desegregation in the mid-1960s.

The camp’s first emblem was a simple, round logo featuring Crawford Knob with its iconic band of rock cliffs along with a seemingly out of place pair of dead trees. These trees were indeed landmarks during the early days of the camp; they were located in the yard of the historic two-story log farmhouse that came with the property.

In addition to traditional camp activities such as archery, rifle shooting, Scoutcraft, and aquatics, campers had the opportunity to participate in special programs. Scouts made frequent trips to explore the abandoned copper mine tunnels on Crawford Knob. In 1960, Camp Director Ed Andrews appointed Errett Callahan, Jr. to operate a “mountain man” program at the edge of camp. There, Scouts learned primitive skills including firestarting, trapping, hunting, and shelter building. One boy from Troop 15 in Elon reported that Callahan “boiled snails to eat, too…he cracked the shells just as though they were peanuts. And he made syrup out of wild blackberries!”

Camp Monocan was also the site of intensive land management and wildlife conservation efforts during the 1950s and 1960s. The camp was designated a wildlife refuge, and numerous projects were conducted to encourage the health of local species. The Camp Monocan Conservation Award was created in 1950; more than forty boys earned the ribbon in the first year. In 1951, Robert H. Giles, Jr., who served on nature staff at Camp Monocan, wrote an article about the camp’s conservation efforts in Virginia Wildlife magazine. He noted that Scouts had constructed more than fifteen wildlife shelters and planted many acres in native forage crops to provide sustenance to resident fauna, including 114 species of birds.

Of the many personalities associated with Camp Monocan, perhaps none was more beloved than David Paul “Pop” Ottinger, who served as the ranger (caretaker) of the camp from 1959 through its closure in the early 1970s. He and his wife Evelyn had three Eagle Scout sons, and they fully embraced the Scouting life. Pop was an active adviser (adult leader) in the Order of the Arrow, and handcrafted wooden neckerchief slides that were given as gifts and awards to campers and staff members.

Under the guidance of Ottinger and others, the local lodge of the Order of the Arrow (OA) flourished at Camp Monocan. Koo Koo Ku Hoo Lodge 161 gradually grew to include hundreds of members who pledged to help develop youth leaders, perform service to the camp, and promote the virtues of Scout camping to troops throughout the council. For many, the highlight of the week at Camp Monocan was the Friday evening campfire program where the OA selected new members (who had already been elected via secret ballot by their troop) during a visually-dazzling ceremony that included a colossal bonfire along with flaming arrows arcing over Deer Lake.

In 1971, the camp was sold to BLM Corporation, a real estate investment group associated with Wheat First Securities. The group, which had already purchased over 13,000 acres in the neighborhood, soon began the development of a large mountain resort which became known as Wintergreen. One of the firm’s primary interests in the camp property was Deer Lake (now known as Lake Monocan), which would provide water for snowmaking machines seven miles distant on Black Rock Mountain.  Today, the former camp property is used as a recreation area for residents of the surrounding Stoney Creek neighborhood. Several buildings remain, including the dining hall, cook’s cabin, and a staff cabin.

Following Camp Monocan’s sale in 1971, Blue Ridge Council in Roanoke offered Lynchburg’s Piedmont Area Council the use of Camp Ottari on the Blue Ridge Scout Reservation for the summer of 1972. In March 1972, it was announced that the two councils would merge to form the Blue Ridge Mountains Council. In 2016, over a hundred former Scout campers and staff members attended the first-ever alumni reunion at Camp Monocan. At the reunion, they traded recollections of the old camp, toured the extant facilities, and reconnected with friends that they had not seen in many decades. Scouting remains strong in 2018. Each summer, thousands of Scouts from throughout the Lynchburg, Roanoke, and Danville areas and beyond attend summer sessions at Camps Ottari and Powhatan on the 17,500-acre Blue Ridge Scout Reservation in Pulaski County.