Camp Mont Shenandoah

Nannie Crump West, Christian missionary and youth advocate, founded Camp Mont Shenandoah in 1927 for girls from Virginia's elite families. This residential summer camp, like others established along the Cowpasture River early in the 20th century, embodied the ideals of America’s camp movement, a reaction to the perceived physical and moral decline associated with urban living. Here girls were taught to develop self-reliance, strong character, and appreciation of nature’s beauty through outdoor adventure. The camp’s Rustic-style buildings, most dating to the 1920s, were designed to blend with the surrounding landscape. Camp Mont Shenandoah is among Virginia’s oldest independent residential girls’ camps.