Camp River’s Bend (db)

A new boys camp on the Cowpasture river in Millboro is being started and we have been selected to design and build the major structures, and manage the installation of the infrastructure. We hope to provide spaces that many will enjoy for years to come.

the road in

Construction starts with a few flags and a soil engineer. Local excavating contractor, Donald Kennedy, needed a line of flags to locate the drive from an existing road, across a field, and down to the river bottom location we’ve selected, with help from the camp director, Matthew Richardson, for siting the facilities of Camp River’s Bend. John Burleson, of Burleson Engineering, has come highly recommended to design the Large Alternative Onsite Sewage System (AOSS) necessary to locate a summer camp facility on this sensitive ecological riverbend. Extensive soil testing was completed and approved by the state for John to proceed.

water and power

The past several weeks have been spent constructing a small “power house” to centralize our electric and water service. We selected Richard Simmons well drilling to find a flow substantial enough to support the demand, and after drilling down over 500′, 18 gallons/minute was decided would be adequate. Our local electrical cooperative, BARC, was also on site to bury over a 1/4 mile of primary electric cable and set 2 transformers. After all the ditch digging and excavation work, it became evident that we needed to install a subsurface drainage network to route the natural spring water that was percolating into most of the open ditches. This afforded us the opportunity to improve the topography around the building sites to better the surface drainage too.

 

 

bath house start

Once the inaugural session of camp ended, which utilized temporary bath and kitchen facilities, Andrew got to work finalizing the design (link below) and permitting of the permanent bath house. Once we were given the green light from the county, we got to work using the same local excavator that completed an extensive amount of brush clearing on the CRB site. Cody Ralston made quick work of digging and installing the perimeter drain, so we could begin form construction and plumbing. Cox Plumbing, of Waynesboro, was on hand to complete the below-slab drain pipe installation and our favorite concrete man Steve Sweet, of Lexington, followed close behind to place and finish the new slab.

PDF of bath house schematic design plan