The Greater Cincinnati Girl Scout Council will open its new 304-acre Camp Ross this June.
Camp Ross will have everything from conventional cabin units to "Adirondack” shelters, a simple roof shelter for campers who like to “rough it.”
Funds for the camp, which will cost an estimated $6.2 million, came from years of Girl Scout cookie sales and a special fund drive two years ago. It will serve more than 17,500 Girl Scouts and Brownies in the Cincinnati area.
It has already been used by several Girl Scout troops spending week ends in the camp’s special winterized cabin, designed for year-round use.
Approximately six living units have been completed and will be ready to house more than 100 campers this summer. Eventually the camp will house a maximum 300.
In addition, the administration building, staff house, cook’s quarters, central storage building and caretaker’s house have been completed. The dining and recreation building, infirmary and the AAU-sized swimming pool will be completed by summer.
The pool was built in a Z shape so that two different swimming classes, or meets, could be held at the same time without confusion.
The camp, located at 3459 Layhigh road in Ross Township, Butler County, 25 miles from downtown Cincinnati and nine miles from Hamilton.
A man-made 10-acre lake is in the center of the camp. Developers said more than 60,000 cubic yards of earth were moved to make the lake.
The camp is designed to provide, when completed, facilities for 30,000 Cincinnati area Girl Scouts in 1970. The Scouts’ present Camp Butterworth, built for 2000 campers, now serves only 4 per cent of the area’s Girl Scouts and Brownies.