CLAIBORNE COUNTY — Just four miles off busy U.S. 61 South is an unplugged world almost exactly as it was a half-century ago.

Each summer, more than 300 kids willingly leave behind text messaging, YouTube, emails and iPods for the rustic cabins at Warner-Tully Memorial YMCA Camp. For a week, their schedules are ruled by the ringing of a camp bell, signaling wake-ups, lights-out and everything in-between.

Warner-Tully is 50 this year.

While its nine cabins, named for such Native American tribes as Yazoo, Apalachee and Chickasaw, are now air conditioned and have bunks built only a couple of years ago, not much has changed since those cabins were first occupied by 7- to 13-year-old campers and their counselors in 1960.

“There are no cell phones, no computers,” said Casey Custer, the camp’s “Big Chief” as well as associate executive director of the Vicksburg YMCA. “There’s no instant communication — they communicate by writing letters. By and large, camp is a place where you’re going to get away from that stuff, unplug and be a kid in the great outdoors.”

Herb Wilkinson, the longtime director of the Vicksburg Y, has overseen camp operations since 1967. “I feel very privileged to have been associated with this camp for this period of time and at this point in its history,” he said. “It’s gratifying to see it evolve and to have people who once attended as campers coming back with their children.”

Warner-Tully began operations after Bart Tully, a descendant of one of the founders of Anderson-Tully Lumber Company, donated 108 acres to the Vicksburg YMCA, and C.L. Warner left a $125,000 gift in his will, a memorial to his son, L. Glover Warner, who had died in a drowning accident as a young father.

“They were men of vision who established that camp,” Wilkinson said. Beginning a year or two before the camp’s first season, they tramped through the property, staked out ground to be cleared, checked bridges and had cabins and camp facilities built.

One man memorably involved was the late Dr. Walter Johnston, for whom the camp infirmary is named. “He was instrumental in the camp’s development,” Wilkinson said.

The first summer, 260 campers attended. Minutes of an Aug. 9, 1960, YMCA directors’ meeting at the camp record that “two of the boys’ camping periods had been well attended with near capacity enrollment, and that a satisfactory number was present for the third and final period,” adding that, “for the first year, this was very gratifying, and future years should see a very marked increase.”

Vicksburg insurance agent and longtime Y board member Ronnie Andrews was one of those in that first season. “The place was brand new, and it was nice,” said Andrews, who was 9 years old that summer and had camped only in tents before. “It had a brand new swimming pool, nice cabins, it was modern. In 1960, it was Cadillac.”

Andrews recalled friendships made, campfires, canoeing and other activities that still make up a camper’s time at Warner-Tully, the only residential YMCA camp in Mississippi. Louisiana has none.

“It was a wonderful, Christian, loving atmosphere,” said Peggy Teller of the years her two sons, Blake and Todd, were campers. Blake also was a counselor for several summers and ,looking back, they remember the s’mores, watermelons, bonfires and the big mudslide, Teller said.

“We just loved going to take them because they would jump out of the car and say ‘goodbye, see you in a week,’ and have a wonderful time,” she said. “They went with their friends and they met friends that ended up being at Ole Miss with them.”

“Over the years we’ve offered thousands and thousands of kids from all over the country the opportunity to come and enjoy summer camp,” said Custer, who spent his first week there when he was 7 years old.

Custer’s uncle Albert McKay was Warner-Tully’s original caretaker, and his aunt, McKay’s wife, Geneva, was the dietician. Custer came back for more, eventually becoming a counselor-in-training as a 13-year-old, then a junior counselor and senior counselor.

Counselors often come from the ranks of former campers. Their guidance helps younger kids settle in and adjust when homesickness threatens.

“It’s the best experience I’ve ever had,” said Allison East, 18, who’s been a counselor for four years and a camper since she was 5. “I know I would be a different person if I’d never had Warner-Tully in my life.”

East, Vicksburg High School’s 2010 valedictorian, said the older kids know they could probably make more money taking a different summer job. “It’s never been about the money,” she said. “I’d work at least two weeks for Casey for free, that’s how much I love it.”

Andrews said he can’t remember the name of the camp director way back in 1960, but he remembers his counselors. “They made it fun,” he said. “They were instrumental in making sure we had a good time and we didn’t get hurt.”

He and many other former campers and counselors have continued their association with the camp by serving with the “Y’s Men,” who raise money and help with work projects, and on the YMCA’s board of directors. Andrews’ four children have also been campers there.

After periods of declining attendance had organizers scaling back to three sessions, Warner-Tully has thrived in recent years, offering four weeklong camps for 7- to 13-year-olds and two mini-camps for those not quite ready to be away from home for a week. Registrations are up despite a flagging economy and the many other summer activities competing for kids’ attention.

“There have been peaks and valleys,” Wilkinson said of Warner-Tully’s 50 years. “(But) the YMCA residential camping experience can be the memory of a lifetime. Those that give it a chance and participate oftentimes come away with very meaningful experiences — both for the young person and the family.”

“Warner-Tully has definitely turned the corner and in our 50th year we’re poised for another 50-year run,” Custer said.