Camp Alkulana — a ministry of the Richmond Baptist Association — has served as a summer haven for Richmond's inner-city children since 1915. But what many Virginians don't know is that Alkulana is available year-round to other groups looking for a quiet retreat or wilderness adventure.
Located in Bath County's Allegheny Mountains, the camp offers overnight accommodations for as many as 122 people in a retreat house, insulated cabins and screened-in, rustic cabins. For daytime activities, Alkulana can accommodate 150 people.
In addition to overnight accommodations, the camp offers large-group seating capacity in a modern dining hall, a barn-turned-gymnasium for indoor group activities, and many outdoor activities, like a 45-foot rappelling tower, climbing wall, canoeing, overnight hiking trips and guided tours through nearby caves.
Though first preference is given to Richmond Baptist Association churches and then to other Virginia churches, Alkulana's facilities are available to other groups too.
“Non-church groups can come, provided that what they do doesn't conflict with our purpose,” said Paul Brasler, chair of the Camp Alkulana support team.
Alkulana staff can tailor the camp's resources to accommodate virtually any group — ranging from students ready for outdoor adventures, to women looking for a yoga retreat, to men wanting to put their skilled labor to work to help improve camp's facilities. In colder months, men sometimes use the camp as a home-base for hunting trips, while other groups have stayed at the camp overnight and skied nearby at the Homestead during the day.
Groups can plan their own retreats or work with Alkulana staff to create the experience.
“We can design everything they want,” said Brasler.
Though Alkulana offers competitive prices, the camp offers various ways for groups to save money too.
While some groups come just for retreats, other groups also do skilled labor around the camp — where some of the infrastructure dates to the 1920s. The camp gives discounts to groups that combine labor with their retreats.
Some groups choose to save money by bringing their own food and cooking in Alkulana's full kitchen facilities. Other groups let the camp provide both food and someone to prepare it throughout their stay.
Groups that are interested in taking advantage of Alkulana's adventure activities can hire the services of experienced, trained guides who have worked at Alkulana during the summers.
Mila Spaulding, currently a member of Goochland Baptist Church in Manakin-Sabot, has been to Alkulana many times over the years — both for retreats and to do missions projects for the camp — with her former church, Monument Heights Baptist Church in Richmond.
Often her groups have chosen to hire former counselors as guides and have been impressed by the good service and reasonable prices. Counselors have led Spaulding's groups through team-building exercises on the ropes course and climbing wall and on more extreme canoeing and caving adventures.
The counselors' presence provided an added bonus too, she said. They helped her group connect to Alkulana's larger mission of serving Richmond's inner-city children.
“The counselors would explain to you how the campers during the summer participate in the activities,” she said.
Now at Goochland Baptist Church, Spaulding and other church members are collecting tennis shoes for campers who often arrive at camp with only one pair of shoes. The church also is gathering a work group to spend time helping improve the camp's infrastructure.
During the summers Michael Williams serves as head counselor of Alkulana's summer program, but during the school year he is on staff at Randolph-Macon Academy, a college preparatory, military boarding school for middle and high school students.
“We use Alkulana annually as a simulator for coaching and teaching the best of our best cadets, so they can be living role models for the younger cadets they will mentor,” said Williams. “Several of our cadets have cited Alkulana as the single most influential positive experience of their leadership building, and ask when they can go back.”
He says that Alkulana's affordable facilities and location near George Washington National Forest make it an ideal setting for team- and leadership-building.
To learn more or to schedule a retreat go to www.alkulana.org or call Gracie Kirkpatrick, camp director, at (804) 329-1701, ext. 206.