The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1922-03-02
PLAYGROUND AT JOCASSEE
Mr.. Brown Plans Big Development
for Joscassee Valley.

A dispatch from Walhalla says
For number of months, w. M.
Brown, one of the most progressive
and enterprising business men Of
Oconee County, and former Mayor Of
Walhalla, has been working upon ex-
tensive plans for the development of
summer playground and recreation
center on his vast holdings in Jocassee
| Valley, about twenty miles above Wal
| halla, and to-day gave out the Follow
! ing interesting facts in reference to
his project:
! Mr.. Brown believes that in this
section was once the hunting ground
of the Red Men and that it should be
the play ground of his pale face sue
cessors, and that it would be if ample
provisions were made for lit. There
fore, he is planning the development
and equipment of a colony of summer
camps for boys and girls, to be known
as the Jocassee Camps for BOYS and
girls. The plans call for the develop
mcnt of four distinct camps, one for
Junior girls, one for Junior boys and
the other for Senior boys. The nu-
celus Of these camps vii! be the old
Whitewater Inn, which is being
thoroughly overhauled and repaired
and equipped with an up to date
water, lights and sewerage system.
In this building will be located the
central kitchen and large assembly
halls, and Accommodations for about
one hundred and fifty girls.
The camp for Junior boys will be
located nearby and dleted from the
central Kitchen. The camp for Sen
lor boys will be located some distance
will
ment, consisting Of large dining and
assembly halls, permanent wooden
barracks and commodious athletic
field.
: Accommodations will be completed
this year for at least two hundred
boys and girls. The camps will be
opened June 1st to October 1st., ant
it is expected that during this time
. several hundred young people will
have come and played and climbed
swan, fished, dreamed and loved, anc
, gone back to their more civilized anC
, conventional mode of life, stronger
and better equipped for the battles Of
life.
Mr. Brown has associated with him
in the undertaking group of men
and women who are experts in this
line of work and who are thoroughly
capable of conducting it to the most
successful end. The ideal of the most
successful type of summer camp is
not simply for pleasure and recreation,
not simply long drawn out picnic,
but thoroughly organized and sys-
tematic effort to capitalize the play
instinct, the love of nature, and the
call Of the wild, and turn them into
good accounts in developing both
character and physique.
The plan also provides for the ac-
commodation of the parents of the
boys and girls and other persons who
may wish to visit Jocassee during the
summer, in a commodious Lodge or
Hostess House, which will be provided
and conducted under competent man
agement.
1t is Mr.. Browns ambition to fur
nish the equipment and facilities for
making this northwestern corner of
Oconee the natural play ground, the
actual play ground of the state, and
will confess that no more ideal loca-
tion could be found. At the point
where the Toxaway and Whitewater
unite to form the crystal waters Of
the Kcowee where the mountains
rear their heads towards the sky, as
if it were beckoning the people of
the whole state to come hither and
play with them, what more ideal loca-
tion would be necessary?
Mr.. Brown is not a man that,turns
back from or fails in any task that
he has begun, and the people of Geo
nee are looking forward to the Jo
cassee Camp for Boys and Girls be-
ing a reality June 1st., and that chill
dren fom all points within the state,
and other states, too, will take advan-
tage Of this opportunity to visit the
natural playground that Nature and
man has provided for them.