A SPECIAL TENNESSEE RETREAT
in RURAL ROLLING HILL of the
WESTERN HIGHLAND RIM
Welcome! This is a warm and open invite to scouts in the region to visit this creativity camp. Created by a Girl Scout Alumnae who looks fondly upon her scouting experiences as a scout and leader, this 5 acre retreat center and small burgeoning farm with an additional 12 acre riverside campground featuring huge pasture field, extensive wooded area and a trail from the bluff down to the river bed with a nice swimming hole is a perfect opportunity for troops in urban or suburban areas to have a rural farm experience from learning about the garden to interacting with the chickens, donkeys, peacocks, cats, two farm guard dogs including a tripod Pyre, and two rabbits in a safe alternative to the few sanctioned Girl Scout camps in Tennessee. Those in rural areas are also welcome to explore the different landscape found here near the Natchez Trace and service opportunities are available.
From primitive camping and Buffalo River access to accessing the lodge or artist residency house, accommodations for your troop is varied but suitable for your troop's age and skill level. See some pics of the lodges below.
Assistance with workshops to earn badges is also part of this experience. As an artist, graphic designer and a former graphic design professor with 20+ years interacting with students, Val can help with a variety of the many badges that include art and of course the camping badges are just a natural outcome of your visit. See some of the pics below of some of the badges Val would love to work with your troop.
CALLING ALL SCOUTS
CREATIVITY,CAMPING,SINGING,EXPLORING
SUMMER LIGHTNING BUGS &
STARRY NIGHT SKIES
Some of the Badges You can Explore & Earn
my fave Camp Song:
Hmmm, I want to linger.
Hmmm, A little longer.
Hmmm, A little longer,
Here with you.
Hmmm, It's such a perfect night.
Hmmm, It doesn't seem quite right.
Hmmm, That this should be,
My last with you.
Hmmm, And come September,
Hmmm, I will remember,
Hmmm, Our Scouting days,
Of friendships true.
Hmmm, And as the years go by,
Hmmm, I'll think of you and sigh.
Hmmm, This is good night
And not good bye.
Hmmm I want to linger.
Hmmm A little longer.
Hmmm A little longer,
Here with you.
STAR-GAZING OPPORTUNITY
"MAKE NEW FRIENDS BUT KEEP THE OoooLD,
ONE IS SILVER AND THE OTHER GOoooLD."
CONTACT VAL TO ORGANIZE YOUR EXPERIENCE
& LOCK IN YOUR SCOUTING LOW RATES
Empowering girls and young women to strive to reach your fullest potential in a supporting and enriching environment that has many years experience with Girl Scouting.
Contact VAL to plan your visit at mail@campwonderwander.org or the house phone 931.321.3520.
LODGING INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE.
On The Buffalo Campground: One of the biggest motivating factors in establishing this campground retreat center was all of my memories growing up in scouts camping. From summer camp in a river lodge to lake side cabins or treehouses, to primitive camping and a wider-opportunity trek to Wyoming and back to Florida, I wanted to create a unique space for others to enjoy.
*PLEASE NOTE: ALL SCOUTS ARE WELCOME TO ORGANIZE AN EVENT OR UTILIZE THE CAMP FACILITIES. HOWEVER, DUE TO VAL'S BACKGROUND IN Girl Scouts SHE IS MUCH MORE EXPERIENCED WITH THE TYPES OF PROGRAMMING, BADGES, AND OPERATIONS OF THAT ORGANIZATION AND THEREFORE THE MARKETING INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE IS GEARED TOWARDS GIRL SCOUTS. Boy Scout BADGES THAT MAY BE COORDINATED FOR WORKSHOPS INCLUDE ART, COMMUNICATION, PHOTOGRAPHY, PULP&PAPER, AND POTTERY.
The Donkeys
During your visit you are invited to say hello to the camp Donkeys. Follow them on IG: @duckiethedonkey
These precious animals love people. Pepper - the largest standard - is in training to be a helper and guest walker. There are 13 in the donkey drove with the final two foals coming spring 2023.
Val Sloan
Val is a (former) graphic design tenured professor turned coach and curator of creative experiences. She was a girl scout growing up and also a leader for 5 years. She loves handcraft and is interested in creating all sorts of opportunities at the camp from collage, traditional candle making, to a new found passion for pottery.
Camp Cats
The camp cats have a few jobs to manage including catching bugs and field mice (bopping them on the heads:) and looking cute for your pictures or drawings. They are itching to be your muse and maybe asking you to sit to borrow your lap. You will see Buttercup (pictured here) and others on duty that will probably find. you for a belly rub.
ABOUT VAL & CAMP WONDER WANDER
Hi I'm Val!
I grew up in scouts which was a community to help me adapt when my family moved every few years. I credit my time in scouting, from brownie thru the silver award, and as a Girl Scout leader for 5 years in my 20s as a major contributing factor to much aspects of my adult life. For almost 20 years, I've been a graphic design professor at several universities which also requires relocating for that work not unlike the military. My ability to be creative, to make new friends, to leave a place better than I found it, to adapt and pursue new adventures is a trait that was nourished as a Girl Scout. I have many fond memories of those times from the variety of craft projects, to the survival camping and annual summer camps, singing songs around the campfire and on hikes, selling cookies, making new friends yet keeping the old, and adventures that gave me courage and confidence such as learning to sail, horseback ride, fish with a net, first aid and c.p.r., learning to cook, and being creative in many ways. I was one of 8 girls in Florida selected after an extensive training and interview process to participate in a state-run-wider-opportunity that was a 3-week road trip with 2 leaders in a van. We departed around my 16th birthday and drove from Florida all the way to Wyoming to camp at the Girl Scout National Center West (which is now part of the Nature Conservancy, I've heard), and a road trip back including white water rafting in Colorado and watching a rodeo in Jackson Hole. We visited national monuments and stayed in places such as Air Force base quanset huts. That love for adventure finally manifested in my ability to travel with University students nationally and internationally, on a University Fulbright-Hayes group project in Egypt in 2011, and for my own sabbatical where I spent 5 weeks in Japan.
Growing up one faces challenges like being bullied, or being new to a school and having to make new friends while trying to fit in. That can happen in adult-life as well. And after many challenges in my adult career track as a professor, I reflected on that young girl I used to be when thinking about what I really want to do with my life after encountering those types of negative work environments. Out of that manifested Camp Wonder Wander and the artist residency center - Sarasvati Space. I realized I want to create that environment of summer camp that I cherish so much for the child in all of us, all year round.
I love the smell of the earth especially after a good rain storm, seeing the starry night, animals, cooking, exploring. I've always been a photographer and I have a new found passion for pottery so the studio at the camp will have pottery facility by end of 2018. Some recent pics of me on my travels and with some of my animals or animals I've encountered on travels are below:
