Tar Hollow 4-H Camp, how do I begin to put into words such a remarkable place that has helped make me the person I am today. It is more than a state park if you are lucky enough to come during a 4-H camp you begin to see just how special of a place it is. It was a part of my life for nearly 10 years and a place that, as it grows and changes it always feels like home. Summer camp is such an integral part of the 4-H experience but it is so much more than that, the memories that are made last a lifetime.

From the moment I enter camp, the excitement builds to see what the summer holds; eager to meet the new campers, sing the newest and the best classic camp songs. A place that brings together fellow 4-H members but quickly become something special and your camp friends become family. As a counselor there was no greater joy than seeing your campers and their personal growth during their time at camp. Throughout my time at Tar Hollow things have changed such as a new water front and slide but the heart of the camp remains. The essence remains and that is the ultimate draw, the beauty of camp is what makes it the best place in the entire world.

--Molly Michael, Fairfield County 4-H Alumni

As a child I went to Tar Hollow for the first time and I cried because I had to stay, asking if I really had to stay. The cabins were just bunkbeds and a lone light in the ceiling, the bathrooms were somewhere else and shared by many. Not my idea of a place to stay for days. Yet, three days of fun, independence, and experiences I’d never had, meant when my mom came to pick me up I cried again because I didn’t want to go home. Over the years, I returned to the hills of Tar Hollow as a camper, counselor, and worked on the permanent staff. I wouldn’t trade my time spent in Tar Hollow for anything, the experiences helped shaped my life and the friendships made with those who sat around the same campfire for years are memories that warm my heart.

Waking up to a dewy morning on the hills of Tar Hollow has no better feeling, some days I catch a hint of that morning Tar Hollow smell, and just stop in my tracks. It reminds me of walking down the hill, to join everyone around the flag pole for morning roll call and flag rising. The days at Tar Hollow were always filled with learning new skills, challenging activities, some competitiveness, and the making of friends, and most importantly memoirs to cherish for the rest of my life. Meal times brought all of us together as one giant family enjoying conversations, songs, laughs, and the Gizmo (which I ended up with a few times at meal time). From a day that began with a creative greeting at flag raising, crafts, games, line dancing, hiking to the Spillway for a picnic, tribe meetings to plan for campfire and other events, then the evening hour brings us to flag lowering and the nights activities. Campfire and candle-lighting were my favorite nightly activities. Sometimes I still find myself telling about skits or moments from campfires. I can’t hear the song “The River” without getting a little misty-eyed picturing everyone lining the docks and beach with candles glowing.

You see I can’t imagine as a kid and teen not spending parts of my summer surrounded by campers and counselors making memories and my heart smile. Tar Hollow isn’t a place you go for camp, Tar Hollow becomes a part of who you are, and from all my trips down to camp I’m a better person and partly why I became a teacher years later. For Tar Hollow Residence Camp will forever be a place where I’ve been able to, “make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold!” -- Submitted by Tessie Lucas, Ross County 4-H

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4-H Camp is a tradition in and of itself. As a camper, it was the anticipation, nerves and excitement of spending a few days with friends, who would be in your cabin and what new friends you would have by the end of just a couple of days. As a counselor, it was excitement of camp finally happening after all the training and preparing and the nerves of making sure your campers have a great time. Tradition is about line dancing in the lodge, holding a campfire that has been the same for generations, candle lighting services, raising of a flag, and having one place in the ever growing fast changing world that takes a person back. -- Melissa (Hurtt) Carter, Ross County 4-H alumni