(Written by Joe Nelson)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Mountaineer Area Council of Scouting America wants Morgantown area residents to help them celebrate the 70th anniversary of the opening of Camp Mountaineer.
Former camp staff, leaders, and attendees are expected to take part in the festivities that are scheduled to begin on Sunday, July 14, starting at 11:00 a.m. Wes Matheny, a long-time scouting enthusiast and organizer of the event, encourages those who have spent time at Camp Mountaineer to come up and join the over 100 former scouts, staff members, and leaders and enjoy a day of activities to celebrate seven decades of summer camps.
“We thought it’s been a long time, and since this is the 70th anniversary of Camp Mountaineer, we thought it would be appropriate that all the scouts and scouters that attended and served on the staff be invited for the alumni get together,” said Matheny.
The reunion celebration will include scouting themed activities as well as guided tours around Camp Mountaineer facilities. This includes showing off many renovations that have taken place over the past fifteen years with the help of local organizations like the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust, as well as a showing of classic pictures with stories from camp alumni. Matheny also mentioned that there are chances to use some of the unique camp equipment that has campers coming back to Camp Mountaineer year after year.
“The biggest adventure we have at Camp Mountaineer is the tandem, quarter mile, zipline,” said Matheny. “Which will be available for everybody to ride who has the nerve and the courage to jump on it and go, because it’s a pretty exciting trip,” he said.
Matheny also added that there will be a buffet luncheon that will take place at noon, with tours of Camp Mountaineer scheduled both before and after food is served. Attendees will be given tours by a combination of active staff members and alumni to show off camp amenities such as the trading post, shooting ranges, and chapel, all of which have received renovations with the help of local donors. This will include a chance to show what campers have experienced over the course of 70 years.
“You can ride around and see all the facilities we have,” said Matheny. “The renovated bath houses, the new zipline, the new trading posts, the state-of-the-art archery range, state-of-the-art rifle range, state-of-the-art trap shooting range,” he said.
In its 70 years of existence, Camp Mountaineer has hosted scouting based summer camps and youth programs that have served tens of thousands of county residents during that time. This has been achieved with the help of not only scout leaders and camp staff members over the past the past seven decades, but also with the help of community partners such as Med Express and the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust. With so many participants involved in helping Camp Mountaineer make an impact on youth every summer, Matheny encourages anyone who wants to take a walk down memory lane to come join them on Saturday.
“We have staff members from the 50’s all the way up to today that are going to be participating, so we’re pretty excited,” Matheny said.