Camp Lightfoot

Camp Lightfoot. . Children in coal towns like Helen were sure to find many activities that kept them entertained throughout the year. Of course there was a theatre in town where the children watched the latest movie or serial. In the spring time, many could be found playing baseball, just as their fathers and older brothers were for the company. The game of marbles was also a favorite of children, and marble rings were found scratched in the dirt throughout town as boys and girls battled to build their own collection of marbles. , As the effects of the Great Depression hit the area, a social worker in Fayette County, and an employee of the Koppers Coal Company had a discussion on a street corner about their wishes for miners children to have the same mind and body building activities available to other school children. The idea of a camp was discussed, and two years later, in 1935, the camp became a reality. For the next five years, Koppers Coal rented the Fayette County 4-H Camp where children of their employees spent their summers. Seeing the success of the camp, they purchased 83 acres of land along the Greenbrier River in Summers County and in 1941 Camp Thomas E. Lightfoot saw its first campers. For the next 43 years, children from coal camps of Koppers Coal (later Eastern Associated Coal), including those from Helen spent their summers enjoying activities such as crafts, nature study, swimming, boating, canoeing, riflery, archery, and other sports.