Who We Are
Rapp Nature Camp began in 1986 as one of the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) "Natural History Day Camps," with Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection as co-sponsor. The camp has continuously operated since then. When PEC discontinued its camp program in 2014, the camp operated under the auspices of Headwaters Foundation for two years. It is now an independent nonprofit organization, with Lyt Wood, the camp's founding director, hosting the camp since 1995 and serving as Camp Director since 1998. Year-round camp staff includes a Camp Director and Administrative Director. During in-camp sessions, 2-3 additional staff help manage the children and camp operations. The camp site includes 11 acres of land near Shenandoah National Park, just south of Sperryville along the Hazel River. The camp's mission is to allow individuals, especially children, to discover for themselves the wonder and beauty of the natural world and to understand what it means to be a part of a community of living things. Activities are almost all outdoors and center on such life lessons as community building, working cooperatively, listening and observing carefully, and speaking with confidence and clarity.
What We Do
Our program has three main parts. Session 1 of our summer day camp for children 8-12 years old has been the core of our educational program for 35 years. Daily activities include: identifying plants and animals, catching and releasing moths and butterflies, hiking in the Hazel River, camping in the woods, oral presentations at our annual Open House, spending time alone at individual "Quiet Spots," and sharing our nature observations. Session 2 for teens allows older campers to connect their earlier camp experiences with in-depth natural history studies and to consider their own connections with the lives of younger campers to follow in future years. We introduce conservation and environmental issues such as habitat preservation and pond and stream studies. Visiting instructors teach mycology, tree care, falconry, and nature art. Every year, the campers write and draw for our newsletter, News from Singing Creek. Our Perennial Campers series for adults offers field trips including mushroom hunts, bird hikes, cloudspotting, tree identification, and stillwater paddling on the Shenandoah River.
