I’ve had this subject on my mind for a while because I went to Camp Chattahoochee, only one time and in the 1960s. The location of Camp Chattahoochee is now the Chattahoochee Nature Center on Willeo Road in Roswell.
I wonder how my parents found this camp or decided I would go there and sadly they are not around for me to ask. Maybe I wanted to go to camp-I’m not sure! I did enjoy tennis and riding horses at the time, and those two activities were offered. There was a sleepover option but I did not want to participate, so I attended day camp along with one friend from our neighborhood off Chamblee Tucker Road.
It’s funny how a popular song from a time is often part of your memory and the song I associate with Camp Chattahoochee is “Light My Fire” by The Doors. The song played on the radio as the camp bus went around various stops in our area to pick up more children. This also helps me place the year, probably 1967 or 1968.
The path of our bus took us down Chamblee Tucker Road across Buford Highway and then we turned right to a neighborhood across from DeKalb Peachtree Airport and picked up some kids there before making our way to Roswell Road and the camp.
A search of Atlanta newspapers doesn’t reveal much about the camp, but an ad appears in the 1965 Atlanta Constitution. Camp Chattahoochee is described as a camp for boys and Camp Greenbriar for girls both in Roswell Georgia. The have both day and boarding camp and the director is Horace Holden. I don’t recall the name Camp Greenbriar from my experience.
I still have an information sheet and a t-shirt from Camp Chattahoochee. There was an open house on a Sunday afternoon for parents and campers to meet staff. Chattahoochee t shirts were to be worn on the first day of camp and cost $1.50.
Don’t know why I held onto this, but it is my Camp Chattahoochee t-shirt!
Camp included many activities to choose from, including arts and crafts, tennis, horseback riding, fishing and canoeing. Campers were to bring a tennis racket and fishing equipment each day if they wanted to do those activities. The information sheet also suggests campers bring long pants if planning to hike or ride horses. My neighborhood friend and I had recently taken horseback riding lessons in Tucker. Wonder where that was?
On the last day, we were divided into groups to put on skits. My group did a skit that involved us falling out of our canoes fully dressed. I may be wrong, but I don’t think any life vests were involved in this activity.
Camp Chattahoochee is a vague memory to me, and I only went the one year. Camp wasn’t really my thing, but I had plenty of opportunities to play in the wooded areas around our house in the 1960s and to visit Lake Allatoona with my family for fishing and other outdoor activities.
Chattahoochee Nature Center is a beautiful place, a nature preserve on 127 acres on the river. They have trails, programs, events and exhibits. They also have special event spaces that embrace the outdoors. When I visit there however, you can bet I’ll remember this is where I spent 5 days at Camp Chattahoochee.