Activities
On the first afternoon of camp we have a “registration” for classes. If you, as a parent/guardian, have an activity that she “must” take, then indicate it on the application. We will make sure that she includes that requirement in her schedule. If she has a “must not take” (due to allergies or personal preference) then let us know that as well. Parents find comfort in allowing their daughters to make these choices on their on…all of the activity choices that we offer are great and she will make great decisions! Encourage her to take what she enjoys or perhaps enjoy things at camp that she may not participate in on a regular basis during the rest of the year. Even if she signs up for an activity that her “bunk mate” may not be taking, she will do so with the confidence that she will quickly expand her camper friendships!
Absolutely, during the first few days of camp we realize that she may want to make a change. Though most of our campers remain excited about their original schedule, we want all of our campers happy, so they have a few days to make a few changes.
For the summer of 2025 a decision has not yet been made about out-of-camp trips.
No, there are no extra charges for any of our activities. We do ask you to bring hard-sole shoes or boots, with a heel, for riding classes. We provide riding helmets. You are welcome to bring your own if you have one. We also request that you use one of your white Riverview shirts to Tie-Dye or bring a solid white t-shirt with you for Arts & Crafts Tie-Dye day if you are taking Arts & Crafts!
Camp Life
The best way to communicate is with letters and emails. We print emails daily to put in your daughter’s cabin mail box to delivered right after lunch each day. We also offer a system called Bunk1 with a “bunk notes” option that allows your daughters to email you as well! If you are concerned about your child, you are welcome to call the office to talk to us and we will help you determine if a phone conversation with your child is the best option. Phone calls and mid-camp visits are not encouraged and are not practical because they interrupt the camp schedule and they will most likely initiate homesickness that, honestly, creates stress for the camper. If a child is anxious or homesick while they are at camp we handle each situation individually and want to do what will create a successful, comfortable, experience for both parent and child without compromising the camp program for your child. Of course, the Directors, Susan Hooks or Donna Bares, will call you for your input if necessary to help with any adjustment issues. One of the comforts of camp for your camper is that we are a private community of “Riverview Girls” only…and during their stay here they live out their camp dream with friends, staff, and programs where they learn to be creative and self-reliant! They become immersed in the “camp culture” that is so pure and precious to them. This is one of the fundamental reasons camp is so successful! Following us on Instagram and Facebook offers frequent and immediate updates! Most parents (and campers when age appropriate) follow us throughout the year to see camp updates and notices.
Our role is to protect your daughter from exposure to what “other children” might bring to camp on electronics. We ask that electronic items and other valuables be left at home. Mobile cell phones or pagers, smart watches, electronics, DVD or MP3 Players, IPods, IPads, gaming devices, radios, tape recorders, CD players, lap top computers, computer gaming devices, jewelry, and other easily damaged items, are not recommended for camp use and should be left at home. Riverview reserves the right to hold these items in the office until closing day. Camp is a busy, fun, activity-filled, relational community that enhances your daughter’s life in ways far beyond “electronics”! Most campers will tell us that they “love” not having the “electronic stuff” while they are at camp.
Please see our packing information page. This page also contains a downloadable .pdf checklist.
Parents will need to fund a spending account each of their children. We have a snack shop in The Boutiki gift shop that we open each day. We allow campers to purchase two snack items and a drink from the snack shop at each visit to The Boutiki as well as purchases from the gift shop area. The price of each of her purchases will be deducted from the money in her spending account.
Your child will also need to purchase a tribe outfit that they will wear on special days at camp. To help preserve the money in her account you will have the opportunity to purchase her team uniform on opening day and pay by cash, check or credit card, or she can purchase her team uniform and have it deducted from her spending account.
A part of the opening day schedule is for your daughter to select her tribe. She will draw a card that will designate a team for her. As an alternative, she may choose to be in the team of a family member. While our cabins are filled with girls within the same age range, being in a team allows girls to get to know campers of all ages. Teams offer good-sportsmanship, healthy competition, and another way to have fun while meeting new friends. Leadership skills emerge as older campers enjoy the opportunity to become team leaders!
During the two-week sessions, we sleep until 9:00 on Sunday mornings and then enjoy a pajama breakfast complete with homemade doughnuts! It is a relaxing morning. We have a Worship Service in the gym and for our Catholic campers we provide transportation to Mass in Fort Payne, AL (15 minutes away). On Sunday afternoon we enjoy a Swim Meet between the tribes and a picnic on the “Gazaboo” for supper.
Our counselor to camper ratio is 5:1…not including our Directors, administrative and leadership team and our medical staff, etc. There are two senior counselors who live in each cabin with campers rooms adjacent. One or two junior counselors are assigned to be with the girls in each cabin during any cabin time. Our camper cabins for ages 6 to 11 accommodate 16 campers. There will be 8 campers (4 bunks) in two separate rooms. If you have a friend or friends who are attending, you can choose to be in the same room or in the same cabin but have bunks in separate rooms!
Riverview Cabins: Our cabins for campers ages 12-16 are normally two-story large cabins with campers living in rooms together with counselors’ rooms adjacent. The capacity varies from 20-35 and we will have from 4-8 counselors assigned to these cabins.
Camp is here to offer fun, friends, and more friends for your daughters with “cozy cabins” for them to enjoy living in. They will love their cabins because they are “arrogantly rustic” with the benefits of having a place we can live in and play comfortably and safely. Moms who have camped with us and whose daughters now attend Riverview, love having their daughter stay in “their cabins” and they love that they are familiar!
All of our cabins have bathrooms and showers inside the cabins. We have two bathrooms in our smaller cabins and as many as four bathrooms and showers in our larger cabins. They are all enclosed for privacy.
Since we are on top of Lookout Mountain, we have cooler nights and days so there is no need for air-conditioning. We have ceiling fans and window fans, with just the good “Mountain Air” coming in through screened windows with flaps that close in the event of “liquid sunshine”.
There is a place on the application to indicate cabin mate requests. The camper cabin mate requests should be within one year age and one grade of your own daughter. Our goal is for your daughter and her friend(s) to be happy, so we prefer that the requests be mutual requests. As your daughter’s number of friends “grow” over the years of attending camp, she will want to continue to camp with them…and we are prepared for the “growing list” and always do our best to keep friends together. Need to add a camper friend who has enrolled late for camp to her cabin-mate list? Just let us know via email to info@riverviewcamp.com.
We will place her in a cabin with other girls her age/grade who are also attending camp for the first time. Of course, she will be with campers who have been here before who are eager to include new campers into their circle of friends! One of the great opportunities at camp is for girls to meet other girls from new places and often make lifelong friendships from these cabin mates. One of our counselors’ main goals is to make sure girls are making new friends and that everyone in the cabin is included. The very nature of opening day at camp and our program offers immediate bonding with other girls (usually about 15 minutes, literally!). Once all parents have departed from the cabin, “a bonding cabin time” will help new and returning campers adjust quickly!
What time do we pick up on closing day?
Who will her counselors be and how do you choose them?
Closing day procedure will be similar as opening day procedure. Campers can be picked up between 9:00 and 11:00 AM Central Time. You will drive to your daughter’s cabin, pick her up and then bring her back by the office to check out. If you need to pick up earlier let us know so we can have your daughter ready to go. If you are running late please give us a call—we will let your daughter know so she will not be anxious or concerned.
Food
With care and individually! The more information you can give us up front the more we can prepare our staff.
Our medical staff and food service staff work together to help manage children with food allergies. In the event of severe specific allergies, parents may bring some substitutions to leave in the dining hall coolers, freezer, etc. for our food service staff to prepare at meal time specifically for their camper. (Example: gluten free items/special milk, etc.) Additionally, we are a NUT-FREE camp all summer. We want to talk to you to answer your questions specifically, so please call the Directors/Management. 256-634-4043 We are here to help!
Remember, you will meet with the medical staff on opening day and you can call them during the camp session for consultation and updates. If your daughter has severe allergies, please give us the “Plan of Action” that you utilize with your daughter’s particular allergy.
Riverview Campers love our food selections! Meals are served family style, with “camper friendly and parent approved” appetizing and nutritious menus, we offer plenty of local fresh produce daily!
We are Nut-Free all summer every session!
If you have any questions, parents are welcome to call camp management prior to camp. Parents will meet with our nurses and/or physician on opening day to discuss any health issues as well.
Medical
We are Nut-Free all summer every session!
If you have any questions, parents are welcome to call camp management prior to camp. Parents will meet with our nurses and/or physician on opening day to discuss any health issues as well.Registration
Please submit your application as soon as possible. We will take campers on a first-come basis and on a space available basis. If it is necessary for you to change a session later in the year, we will do our best to accommodate you. THERE IS NOT A DEADLINE and we continue taking applications until spaces are unavailable. You will be notified quickly if you have to be placed on a waiting list and we will hold your application in order of arrival until a space is open and then process your application. If you have additional application questions, please call us at 256-634-4043 so we can help you.
Late arrival: There is no reduction in fees for late arrivals.
Early departure: In case of leaving camp early due to documented physical illness, the camp will credit the unused camp fee as a pre-registration deposit for the next year. Otherwise, there is no refund or credit for any other early departure reason.
If a cancellation is made before March 1st all fees paid may be returned except a $700 non-refundable deposit.
A non-refundable $700 deposit applies to each sister even if cancellation occurs at different times.
Beginning March 1st and before April 1st half of the camp fee paid can be returned . However $350 of the non-refundable deposit may be transferred to the following year for the same camper or transferred to a sister’s camp fees.
After April 1st all fees are not refundable but are transferable to the following year’s camp fees or to a sister except $350 of the deposit.
For session changes after April 1st that reduce the fee, any credit balance may be applied to transportation fees, or applied to the next year’s registration.
Girls ages 6 to 16 attend Riverview Camp! I We have accepted campers that are about to turn 6 as well, if you as a parent feel she is socially independent enough to enjoy camp! We have adequate numbers in all age groups. It is an amazing combination of wonder and delightful camaraderie as girls of all ages enjoy camp together, while taking activities and living in cabins with their own age/grade range! If she is 16 years old she can still attend camp, even if she will be turning 17 the day after she arrives at camp.
Delightful families! You will join other families who are seeking opportunities for their daughters to be in Christian environments for safe, exciting and fulfilling opportunities, including getting to meet girls from a diversity of families and faiths. We are privileged to have many campers of moms who were themselves campers and counselors with us!
• Two-Week Session 1 (Sessions A and B are one-week session options during Session 1)
• Two-Week Session 2 (Sessions C and D are one-week session options during Session 2)
• Two-Week Session 3 (two-week campers only)
• Two-Week Session 4 (Sessions E and F are the one-week session options during Session 4)
Some campers enjoy combining one-week and two-week sessions for a 3 week or longer stay. (Example Session 1 and Session C). Others combine multiple two-week sessions for an even longer camp experience!
Both one and two-week campers will enjoy the experience and benefits that camp offers. Most of our campers attend a two-week session, though we have one-week campers who attend each session except Session 3 which is our only two-week session with no one-week option.
If possible, we recommend that your camper attends for two-weeks. Campers tend to get “settled in” during the first week and the following week they spend more time developing skills in activities, making stronger friendships and enjoying the feeling of “my camp”. While this experience begins and is meaningful in the one-week program, it is firmly absorbed in the two-week progression. If she initially signs up for one week and wants to extend her stay, you may add on another week if there is a space available!
Each session we have campers who are multi-session campers who attend three, four, five, and even up to eight weeks. Multi-session campers enjoy a chaperoned excursion between sessions to nearby Chattanooga.
As you can see our one-week options are a part of our two-week sessions! If you have more than one child that you are sending to Riverview and you are considering sending one child for two weeks and one child for one week, we recommend that, if possible, the one-week camper attend the second one-week program in that session! It is usually easier for your two-week daughter to anticipate the arrival of her sister than for her to have to see the departure of her sister in the middle of her two-week program!
We understand that the younger camper needs more guidance, direction and personal-care time. Counselors are trained to assist the younger children with their daily needs, including personal hygiene, scheduling and meal times. We have programs in place to make this an easy transition for your young child. Please let us know any specifics about your child’s daily needs…we are here to help! Your daughter may find it helpful if you organize her clothing in Ziploc bags labeled by day or evening (include t-shirt, shorts, underwear, socks) to assist with her morning and evening routines. Also Velcro tennis shoes will make her camp life simpler. Younger campers need to practice washing their hair in the shower before coming to camp to make camp life easier for them!
Giving camp as a gift is a great idea! Birthdays, Christmas, Valentines, Easter Baskets, etc. are perfect occasions for camp items! This gift includes… new friends and making great memories, s’mores, campfires, tennis, archery, swimming, canoeing, ropes course, climbing tower, chorus & drama, gymnastics, dance, cheerleading, horseback riding, adventure, inspiration, character and confidence building, and so much more!
Girls love living and learning and playing in an environment without the pressure of “boys”…Please watch this video to get the full answer!
Riverview Camp for Girls does not and will never share camper’s or their family’s personal information with third parties, affiliates, or Non-affiliates.
Safety
Above all, we want your daughter happy in a safe place!
We begin the day with flag-raising, then Morning watch and Breakfast! With activity choices that are plentiful, an action-packed three activity morning, then lunch, rest hour and mail time, three more activity times in the afternoon, shower time, dinner, evening program, then a campfire devotion and bedtime, they have time for only fun! We always have a copy of your daughters schedule in the office so we know what activity they are in each hour of the day. Any schedule changes that occur must be made through the front office so we always have an accurate accounting of every child. During each class, the Activity Leader will call roll to make sure that each of the campers are present and will immediately contact the office via radio if a camper is not there. We will immediately locate the child (normally she is just running late because she is changing from her riding boots to her swim suit, etc.)
Smiles, happiness and energy expended all day long in her activity schedule makes for a great nights rest!
