Memories
Stories, Memories, and Such (Intro)
by Tim Stuart Camp Deerwoode was an extremely active place. The campers, counselors, JCs, and farm animals all represented wildly diverse backgrounds and personalities. With that kind of mix, some of the stories of Deerwoode events and escapades have become legendary. The ringleader of this circus was, of course, Bill Mayes. Not only was he …
Writing Prompts
by Tim Stuart / Jeff Guillebeau In 2003, a handful of old-time Deerwoode attendees proposed getting together at Camp each year to shoot the breeze (and maybe a few rifles), and talk about the old days at Camp. We swapped email addresses and kept in touch. Robert Adams became the event organizer, and Jeff Guillebeau …
The Deerwoode Historical Quiz
by Jeff Guillebeau [Answers to be posted later] 1) The sign above the canteen window…what did it read? What’s another name of the word? What does it mean? 2) There’s an historic tree in front of Bill & Liz’s log home on the hill. In the old brochure, there are a couple of kids in the crux of …
Robert Adams
2004 My thirteen summers at Camp Deerwoode remain among the fondest memories of my life. Unforgettable characters like Hank Lewis, Battle Brown, Jim Hill, the Pickett Boys, Sheephead Ed Daniels, Pat Scanlon, Allen Marroy, Cooper Taylor and of course, Bill Mayes, The Man or just T.M. Bill Mayes played a pivotal role in my life …
Alex Nixon
2004 HANK, first period swimming, constructive criticism with Mayes in the JC cabin after midnight, Ronnie Pickett, Ogle, canoe trips, sleeping in rain soaked tents on the island at Lake Glenville, preventive maintenance with Mr. Taylor, Briggs, working in the dining hall, mowing with the tractor, ET McCullough, the cattle truck, shinny, the ditch, the …
John Nixon
2004 Deerwoode was an experience that I have carried with me my whole life. Only Deerwoode alumni can truly understand the experience that we endured as young boys, adolescents, and young men. From taking that first Greyhound from Augusta, wetting my bed in Cabins 1 and 2, running to the river to pick a leaf …
Battle M. Brown
2004 Thanks for the structure and discipline in my life at a time when I needed it. I can’t say how important an influence Bill Mayes, the Deerwoode experience, and the counselors were in my life. Biltmore…Farmers, Pioneers and Indians…Ketchup and Vinegar water…The French Broad…Mud Daubers…”The Cream Shall Rise”…your talley…Schrade…the lanyard… The night of a …
Tim Stuart
2021 40 years ago, I relocated to Florida. Camp Deerwoode was an integral player in that process. Here is the full story of the summer that changed my life. Click on the photos for the full-sized image. Sight Unseen Once in a vision I came on some woods And stood at a fork in the …
Jeff Guillebeau
2012 Sound – Most impressive sound memory? When I was 7-ish, I volunteered Matt Mayes, my brother Greg and me to sing at Campfire, at a morning meeting…sitting on the floor of the old Big Gym. My Dad came over and worked with us. We got together a few songs (I don’t remember which ones…Bill or Liz might). …
Matt Mayes
2004 “The world is not looking for the average man, one content to live off the fat of the land, who likes the tree with one dead limb and never uses the talents God has given him. “ The champion man could be you, but only your best effort will ever do. We were lucky …
Phil Wislar
2004 As a camper, wanting to be just like the JC’s and Counselors! (Pickett, Domingue, Mayes, Adams, Stuart, and so many others!) As a JC, wanting to escape TM and the power of the pencil! As a counselor, wondering if I could live up to the example of those who came before me! 2012 Sight – …
Lee Domingue
2004 What a place….no other place has had a more positive impact on my life than Camp Deerwoode. The challenges, successes and even defeats were worth every minute. I wish my 4 boys (Winston-14; Harrison-10; Grayson-9 and Ashton-4) could experience such a place. Our new girl, Isabella (4weeks) will have to go to Illahee. 2011 …
Jeff Sasser
2005 My thanks to Bill and family for creating something so special that it is impossible to describe. After last year’s reunion I came home brimming with all of these great stories and pictures, and I would try to explain Deerwoode to others and they would just look at me as if I’d taken leave …
Scott Molitor
2011 Greatest Achievement at Deerwoode? Shooting a perfect 50 in a rifle tournament against another camp. After dinner that night, Hank made the days announcements and my score, and our victory was mentioned. Bill held me up like a hero. That was a great moment for a kid. Favorite River Trip Memory? Running through the cow pastures …
Tom Kale
2012 Sight – Greatest visual memory? There are so many, but two that stand out would be the runners emerging from the fog during mile run…and the same fog engulfing the camp-wide capture the flag game…there had always been something magical about the early morning fog at Deerwoode!…Oh, I thought of another one…Bill was cutting a tree …
Robert Thorington
2011 First Memory of Deerwoode? Somehow my mom was the local Deerwoode host for Montgomery. I’ll never forget meeting Bill for the first time in his BIKE shorts & Deerwoode T shirt. I am sure we all remember TM’s uniform. Shortly afterwards I’m on a Piedmont twin engine prop headed to Asheville. Word to the wise, the wing …
John Savage
2012 Sight – Seeing the gates of Deerwoode as I entered the camp each summer. Every time I saw them, feelings of excitement and a few a butterflies were always in my stomach. Sound – The sound of the bell at the gymnasium – morning, day, and finally at night. Touch – The morning dew …
Greg Guillebeau
2012 Sight: Looking Glass Falls every year as a camper Site: Mount Pisgah after a long climb with the campers Touch: Petting the animals in the Nature Area. Smell: the aroma of the wonderful cooking coming from the Dining Hall every day, three times a day Taste: Seeing the steaks that some other cabin won …
Paul McGuire
2012 SOUND – The “perfect quiet” those few minutes before the wake-up bell, when you are awake in your bunk in anticipation of that piercing sound and the day that was ahead… TOUCH – My hands on a basketball, in the Big Gym, learning the game that I love… SMELL – A tie – the …
Duke Pickett
2003 One of the finest memories I have of Camp Deerwoode is the Sunday Decathalon. Getting up at dawn for a one mile run with Flatt and Skruggs music playing on the loudspeaker; competing all day long in 10 events; ending with the swim event and the campfire that night; and who could forget the …
Chris David
2004 Sorry to be so serious, but I look at my Deerwoode experience as one of my anchors for being who I am today. It provided me an environment where I could have fun, be competitive, and learn how to be disciplined. Too many memories to choose from: 1) As a counselor, sitting on top …
Michael Schmidt
2004 Deerwoode was a major influence in my life. I have run into friends from camp throughout the years and it is amazing that we all feel so strongly about a place and experience. I worked at Illahee when I was in college (great experience only guy that lived at Illahee) and taught golf at …
Lee Coleman
2004 Camp Deerwoode practically raised me. Everything I really need to know I learned there (hard work, positive mental attitude, respect for authority, PC+F=P, “yes sir”). That swim lake is still the best waterpark I have ever been to. The opportunity to shoot guns, play all night capture the flag, canoe/tube down the French Broad …
Craig Eubanks
2011 First Memory of Deerwoode? Driving down that windy river road hugging the mountain and wondering what my dad had got me into. Being from a beach community in South Florida this was not my normal habitat. Greatest Achievement at Deerwoode? 1) Setting the all-time sliding record at Sliding Rock. I wore holes through TWO …
Alden Smith
2011 Favorite Memory of Deerwoode? First time I got 85% Matt Mayes walked into my cabin, shook my hand, said “Welcome to the club, my friend.” Favorite Dance or Spaz Day Memory with Illahee, Keystone, etc.? The look on the man’s face when a Keystone girl who refused to wear shoes on the wild ride …
David Fisch
2011 First Memory of Deerwoode? Dropping my older brother off when I was 5 and started crying because they wouldn’t let me stay….. Greatest Achievement at Deerwoode? Beating Francisco Garcia in the wrestling tournament two years in a row after losing two years in a row…either that or a perfect week in the kitchen twice without losing a …
E. Dan Smith
2004 My kids love to hear the Farmers, Indians and Pioneers stories. It feels just like yesterday. How in the world did Bill get away with things like dragging us behind the JC car with a rope through the mud and putting a slide down the dam that jumped the road and threw people 10+ …
Zach Sasser
2005 I could see [the bell] swing as boys were premised to push it by a JC who had the look of a man filled with the lore of the bell itself. It always took several boys to swing it, and there was a strange dance that was like waking a giant, riding a bull, …
Kris Puri
2005 Memories: 1. I peed on Cabin 13’s Chimney and a few days later fell on some slippery roots by the Cabin, real bad. I am I still cursed or was it a one time thing ( I hope)? 2. Playing capture the flag in the middle of the night with ketchup bottles was the …
John O. Knox
2006 Memories = Greatest childhood experiences imaginable. Bill Mayes was one of the finest men that I have ever met. The webmaster was my first counselor and he was a great guy as well. Wonder if he still has the dulcimer and the rebel flag. Saddened that such a great institution no longer exists but …
Jeff Templon
2006 I am not too sure about the years, it was a long time ago. Never forgot it though. Wild story = Hearing “the panther” growling outside the cabin window? Or hittin’ the rooster tail just perfect at the falls by Lake Toxaway? Or the summer we all did the Farmers and Indians thing buck …
Jeff Edwards
2004 The following are excerpts from an email I sent to Bill Mayes prior to visiting Deerwoode with my family in the summer of 2002: I still have a few souvenirs from camp days: photos (including, I think, a “professional” one with you and us campers playing basketball), pottery we made, Deerwoode “canoes” strung together …
Christopher Fowler
2005 Deerwoode has shaped my life. The best times of my life were spent there. The Wild Ride, Spaz Day, Thor the gun nut counselor, Renegades, FIP’s, Sliding Rock, Ghost Town in The Sky, Cracker Jack, Horror Stories in the lodge, many more than can be put here. Wild story: Having to try and help …
Tim Everett
2012 Sound – Most impressive sound memory? — “Mealtime is here, the board is spread, thanks be to God, who gives us bread.” Touch – Physical recollection? — The rope that went out over the swimming lake. And letting go. Smell? — The smell from the firing range after shooting .22s. I love that smell. …
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