2010 Winter Newsletter

It’s time for the second Camp Dixie Newsletter! Last time we had separate newsletters for the Alumni (Camp Dixie Echoes) and Current campers (Ridge Runner), now for simplicities sake we are combining them. The new newsletter will be called Dixie Doings, this was the name for Camp Dixie’s original newsletter, we have one copy from back in the 1930’s.

If you have copies of any of the old newsletters, please send them in. Scanning them in and sending via email, or regular mail on CD works best, but we will take photo copies or any other readable format. One simple method is to take a digital photo of each page, the end result is a bit sub par but with most modern digital cameras the text is readable.

We sent Dixie Doings out via email. If you didn’t get your copy, just send us an email and ask to be added to the Dixie Doings mailing list. I will try to post them online here soon after publication, but letting Rhonda email them to you is the most reliable and fastest way.

— Jason

From Boy to Man

Those of you who were at the reunion will remember Chris Neilson.  Chris wrote this and graciously allowed us to republish it on our site.

From Boy to Man

By: Christopher M. “Chris” Neilson

(Chris stayed several years in the mid to late 1960’s)

I came to Camp Dixie as a boy,
where I learned the outdoors was a joy!
At first I was homesick and wanted to cry,
but wanted to stay when it was time for goodbye.

In Lapidary I learned to turn stone into a ring.
I even learned to like to sing!
I portaged canoes down many a big dam,
and that’s when I started to become a man!

In crafts I turned wood into a drum,
I even learned to like to hum!
I even rode horses into the woods,
Where showering in waterfalls felt really good!

I picked fresh berries and made pancakes,
And skied and swam in many lakes!
In canoes, I learned to row.
I also learned to shoot a bow!

I helped bail hay in the fields.
I enjoyed many great meals!
I even learned to shoot a rifle.
I really had an early life full!

We assembled at dawn on the tennis courts,
And played all kinds of sports!
I learned to ski on Lake Rabun,
Where I learned to make a campfire burn!

After dusk there was always taps.
At dawn Reveille!
Sometimes we went
Square Dancing in Mountain City!

The Moss Lady stories would
shiver my timbers!
And all of the exercise made
me quite limber!

Time has a way of slipping by,
All I can say is “My Oh My”!
I don’t think I would be who I am today,
If it wasn’t for my many a stay!

I could go on and on but there’s not enough space,
Suffice it to say I love this place!
There’s so much to say and not enough time.
But I must say my dear Camp Dixie…is really sublime!!!