THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 11, 1994 TAG: 9407110021
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK MOBLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BETWEEN IVOR AND ZUNI LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
Behind the fence, the tall wooden fence, the grass isn't greener. Virginia Lottery scratch cards are still a buck. And families play and stay together.
The difference is . . . strangers are friendly. The only sounds are birds, the splash of volleyball in the pool and the crunch of sandals on gravel. Thanks to all the environmentally sound pesticides, bugs are scarce.
And - oh yeah, almost forgot - everyone's naked.
White Tail Park, the eighth-largest nudist camp in the country, held its twice-yearly open house over National Nude Weekend. Four hundred showed up to strip down and check out life among those unafraid to walk uncovered.
Business people, an architect, a firefighter, a pilot, a mail carrier, college students, children and the retired gathered to do much less than non-nudists would imagine they'd do. They sat around the pool and walked the nature trail and read the newspaper, all while tanning all over.
``I like the freedom,'' Bud Obst, 57, a commercial airline pilot from Virginia Beach, said Sunday. ``Sun comes out, first thing I think about is taking off my clothes.''
``It's the only place I've ever been where everybody is equal,'' said George Matze, an architect from Reston. ``If I left a $1,000 bill on a picnic table around here, it would be there when I got back.''
The shock of abundant flesh wears off quickly for most visitors. ``Up close it's like any conversation, you notice the person more. At a distance you notice the body,'' said Donna Matze, who was floating with her husband, George, in the pool.
When proprietor Robert Roche, 43, opened White Tail nine years ago, some Southampton County administrators were up in arms. Roche said the local and state police sent scouts in. ``We ended up with a lot of policemen as members,'' he said. ``There's one in the pool.''
Roche added that the membership rolls have included a judge, a Catholic priest, a rabbi, two ministers and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
Such law enforcement officials should feel right at home. Camp regulations state: ``Intimate contact, suggestive behavior, overt sexuality, vulgar language, conduct that is legally criminal, intoxication, use of illegal substances or any other unseemly behavior is strictly prohibited and may result in expulsion from the grounds and/or revocation of membership.''
In other words, White Tail Park ain't Orgy, Inc.
It has been the site of a dozen weddings.
The Kids Nudlympics are still a few weeks away, as are the East Coast Nude Chili Cookoff and the Homemade Ice Cream Competition. But Saturday's guests got free square dance lessons.
On a typical summer weekend day, 650 to 800 people visit White Tail Park.
The compound includes 18 cleared acres on a 45-acre site. There are 18 mobile home sites and ample space for RVs and tents in view of the volleyball and paddle ball courts.
The clubhouse is an octagonal building painted white and Band-Aid pink on the inside. First-time visitors are led there to watch a short tape that begins ``Welcome to Our World . . . Family Nudism in North America'' and includes shots of nude couples walking hand-in-hand through a meadow and a clothes-free girl turning cartwheels on a beach.
The clubhouse is called Farrington Hall, after White Tail's oldest member, Dick Farrington. Though he's 76 and has lost the sight in one eye, he still serves as the camp photographer. He is thus the only person allowed to carry a camera on the grounds without official permission.
Farrington became a registered American Sunbathing Association nudist in 1982, but had favored nakedness ``so far back I was just a kid. I can remember running around the prairie in South Dakota when I was 7 years old.''
Adult nudists sometimes have feelings of trepidation about bringing their children, Roche said. But once the kids arrive, they're hooked.
``Before you know it, the doors are open, the clothes are in the back seat and they're gone,'' Roche said. ``They're very much at peace with their own bodies and their perception of their own bodies.''
Roche said he's had success recruiting everywhere but his own back yard, among the residents of Ivor, Zuni and environs. ``What I don't have is a lot of local local members. They're all afraid someone is going to see 'em here.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo by IAN MARTIN
Dick Farrington, 76, left, is the oldest member of White Tail Park.
The Southampton nudist camp held an open house for National Nude
Weekend.
ABOUT THE CAMP
White Tail Park is open year-round. For information, call
859-6123. Day-visit fees begin at $20.
by CNB