Return to Camp Centennial Milestones
Alderson, West Virginia
Established: 1898
Camp
Details
Established in 1898, Camp Greenbrier for Boys is the oldest privately owned summer camp in the United States. The camp was founded by Dr. Walter Hullihen and Mr. Horace S. Whitman along the Greenbrier River on the outskirts of the town of Alderson, West Virginia. Prior to its birth as a summer camp, the property was the home of the Greenbrier Industrial Exposition. In 1890, the Exposition moved about 12 miles away to Fairlea, and evenutally became known as the West Virginia State Fair. But when the Expostion moved, it left behind the perfect layout for a boys camp, and in 1898 Greenbrier hosted its first campers.
Camp Greenbrier began as an educational and athletic camp for boys, with classes in the morning, and athletic events in the afternoon. The academic program of the camp's early days was compulsory, and included Latin, Greek, German, French, English, physics, chemistry, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and history. The athletic program consisted of baseball, tennis, swimming, canoeing, track, riflery, and hiking.
Over the years, Greenbrier gradually turned into the traditional summer camp it is today. Academics are now only a minor, and optional, part of the program. Many things are like they were over 100 years ago, however. Campers sleep in tents, swim and canoe in the river, and hike in the beautiful Alleghany Mountains. And boys continue to come from all across the United States, and from many foreign countries, to attend.