Hollingsworth Outdoor Recreation Center

Practicing the good old ways

Heritage Building at Hollingsworth Outdoor Center

Whisk students, groups, and families back to a simpler era. The Hollingsworth Outdoor Center — located near the GHS Family Y in Simpsonville, South Carolina — offers hands-on activities and explorations on a beautiful 55-acre site.

The 1823 plantation site of Dr. Thomas Collin Austin contains a lovely manor house and a well-preserved set of outbuildings that are unique in the upstate. These include a springhouse built on an artesian well and a washhouse used to wash clothes.

Hands-on activities led by knowledgeable staff give both children and adults a vivid connection to the folks who lived on the property 140 years ago:

  • Brick making: Engage in a craft practiced on the Hollingsworth property.

  • Broom making: Participants will cut broom straw from the fields and craft their own broom.

  • Pioneer tools: Participants will learn about the use of woodworking tools from the 1870s and make a shingle or a rough-hewn bench.

  • Cooking and butter making: Learn how food was prepared in the 1870s and make butter and cornbread.

  • Spinning wool: Using cards and drop spindles, participants learn to make their own yarn.

Journey with us to another time

Contact Greg McKee 864-963-3608 or gmckee@ymcagreenville.org for more information.

Check out our Facebook Place Page (and be sure to Like us) to see highlights of the events and happenings at the Hollingsworth Outdoor Center.

Upcoming events at the Hollingsworth Outdoor CenterInspired by "The Hunger Games," we're hosting The Survival Games to teach archery and outdoors skills.

Hollingsworth Survival Games Using the book and blockbuster film "The Hunger Games" as inspiration, the Hollingsworth Survival Games will teach participants outdoor skills such as archery, fire building, shelter construction, and orienteering (map and compass use) during the morning. After lunch, participants will compete — either as small groups or as individuals, depending on the wishes of the groups’ leaders/individuals — to see who is the champion at the skills learned that morning.

Dates: Monday, June 18; Monday, June 25; Monday, July 9; Monday, July 23; Monday, Aug. 6

Cost $8 per person for YMCA members; $9 per person for non-members. In addition, to fight hunger in our community, we're requesting participants bring a canned food donation for local food banks. 

Recent Hollingsworth Outdoor Center activities

Spring Fling 2012

Hollingsworth Outdoor Center is one place in the Greenville area to participate in archery More than 75 family members took advantage of great weather and a variety of outdoor activities to make the First Annual Hollingsworth Outdoor Center Spring fling a big success. Participants made bricks, crafted homemade brooms, hand dipped candles, toured the historic Oakland plantation site, and shot archery.












 

 

 


 




Cub Scouts make bricks
Members of Cub Scout Pack 833 make their own bricks at the YMCA Hollingsworth Outdoor Center. This activity was part of the cub scouts pursuit of their Wolf Badge. The scouts are sponsored by Advent United Methodist Church in Simpsonville.