When some visitors come to Truett Baptist Camp in Hayesville for the first time they expect primitive facilities at the site tucked in the southwest corner of North Carolina.

Stillness. Peaceful.

Wood beams on Rutland Chapel give it a rustic look.

LifeWay photo

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, is a place many people are surprised to learn is one of the largest Christian conference centers in the nation. From humble beginnings in a single log cabin, Ridgecrest Conference Center has grown into a 1,300-acre campus with 90,000 square feet of conference space and housing accommodations for more than 2,500.

In 2001 "Camp Cale" was an outdated, under used drag around the neck of Chowan Baptist Association. Leadership debated whether to close up shop and sell the enormous asset or commit resources to upgrade it and make it an attractive, versatile, effective facility.

A winding road brings visitors into Camp Mundo Vista for retreats and camps.

For decades everyone in Minneapolis, N.C. attended Minneapolis Elementary School. Well, everyone but the preacher's youngest son whose family came later.

Bill Copper

Photo by Steve DeVane

Biblical Recorder

CONOVER - Purchased as an unpolished gem in 2000, Hollifield Leadership Center usage grew as a training site for the Baptist State Convention's (BSC) Christian coaching initiative and Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE) process.

For Robert Cooper, it has been exciting to see God work through Camp New Life in Waynesville.

Girls walk to the evening service during a 2007 youth week at Fort Caswell.

Photo by Norman Jameson

Biblical Recorder

A 250-acre oceanfront tract that now serves as a quiet retreat center for church groups and a wide-open playground for youth groups once stood guard for Confederate positions in North Carolina.

A former staff member and current chaplain with the U.S. Army is on the receiving end of South Mountain Baptist Camp's servant heart.

Visitors to Caraway Conference Center have the amenities of Internet access within a peaceful environment.

Photo by Dianna Cagle

Biblical Recorder

Caraway is known to thousands of North Carolina Baptists as home to the summer RA camp for boys. In 1974, the Baptist State Convention opened Caraway Conference Center on the property.

Everything at Camp Caraway centers on Christ.