The Hilltop Camp & Summer School for Girls
~ by Julia Pearson
The first camp in Brown County opened in 1924 on the ridge known as Town Hill just southeast of Nashville— and it was for girls. The summer camp movement, in its infancy in the United States at this time, provided an experience in natural surroundings for many youngsters to thrive and transform in body, mind, and soul.
Hilltop Camp was the vision of its founder and administrator, Kate Andrews. Spending her early years in Seymour, she returned to Indiana after graduating from Wellesley College, doing graduate work at Chicago and Columbia Universities, and traveling in Europe. An accomplished educational administrator, she taught at multiple Indiana high schools and seven years at Western College in Oxford, Ohio. She was the principal at Seymour High School for 15 years, followed by a nineyear tenure as Dean of Women at Hanover. Andrews visited Brown County and built the“ Valley View” cabin for her own use in 1916.
With certified teachers on staff, the Hilltop Camp and Summer School for Girls was accredited by the state board of education, thus providing advanced and remedial academic offerings for its attenders. Seven girls attended that first year. The three Nashville girls went home at night, while the others stayed in log cabins.
Cabins were built by Brown County homesteaders in the 1800s from Weed Patch Hill and the Helmsburg area. They were dismantled and reassembled on the hilltop. Four cabins were eventually increased to ten cabins, each identified by name: Skyline, Bluebird, Wren, Lookout, Rush, Hoot Owl, Chipmunk, Pee Wee, Wood Thrush, and Whippoorwill. Seven were designated for the girls, with a dining room, and two cabins for the director and staff.
The number of campers increased to around 100 girls, ages 6 – 18 years, from Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio, Nebraska, Missouri, Florida, and all parts of Indiana. With the passage of years, the facilities expanded to include an outdoor theater, tennis courts, swings and see-saws, and trails.
There were two four-week sessions that lasted for two full months, going from mid-June to mid-August. Through 1941, fees were $ 135 for a full season and $ 75 for one term. Fees were later increased to $ 150 for two terms and $ 85 for one term. Days began at 6:30 a. m. and depending on
56 Our Brown County • May / June 2024